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I just purchased a Standard Welded End Truss Rod from LMI
(http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproduc ... welded+end) and in the description it says that the channel for it can be made with a table saw. I already knew this could be done but never really thought about exactly how to do it. You set the hieght of the blade to the channel depth but you can't just run it through the whole board and if you stop at the end of the channel it will not be square cause the blade is circular.

For those of you who have done it or know how to, could you please explain how to do this? I'm considering this method because my school wood shop doesn't have a bit that small and i don't have the funds to go buy one.

Thanks master luthiers

Why can't you just run the slot all the way through

I do it.

You can always (if you don't want the channel all the way through the length of the neck) add a piece in the channel to close it off.

The headstock veneer will hide the channel cut through at that head end anyway.

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Jonas:

Assuming your neck blank is still in rough form, you should joint (surface through the jointer in the school shop) the face surface (to be attached later to the fretboard), and the side of the neck blank that will be riding the table saw fence. Check to see if you have a 90 angle, then surface plane the side opposite the side that will ride the fence. I leave the back of the neck unsurfaced. The cross section view should now be a rectangle, with three surfaced sides.

At this point I cut the headstock angle at the nut location (double check your plans). Then carefully draw the center line of the top surface (the surface later glued to the fretboard). The rough neck is still square or untapered (the center line is the same distance from the fence the entire length of the neck blank). I extend the centerline over the neck edges so that I can see it, when the neck face is against the table. Set the height of the blade (depth of channel). Set the blade just right of the centerline and bring the fence to the right, jointed, side of the neck, locking it in place. Before sawing, double check your centerline by placing the opposite edge of the neck on the fence ( the blade should be on the other side of the center line edge.

I then run the blank with the face down against the fence the entire length of the neck. Then, place the opposite edge against the fence (face side still down) and run it through again. With a 1/8" kerf you now have a 1/4" groove for your rod. If the adjustment of the rod is through the sound hole I cut some 1/4" stock to fill the headstock. This won't be seen after the faceplate is glued to the headstock.

Whew, I could sure show you quicker and more clearly than I can write it.

Hope this helps.

Danny R. Little

Doesn't the standard LMI truss rod require a 1/4" wide slot? If it does that is a pretty standard spiral router bit size that your school shop should have.

Alternatively there is nothing wrong with slotting through as Rod suggests.

I do all of mine on the table saw. Just cut all the way through, then close it off with a nicely fitted piece. The headplate covers it.

I'm doing a neck through electric, so that's why i was thinking i couldn't just slot through like an acoustic. It's a 24.5 scale so i think i might have enough room to slot through before the end of the board and block the channel off so that it's sqaure. All the materials and plans are at school so I can't look off it now.

I'll take a look at it tomorrow at school and check if everything sizes up.

Jonus...I would cut the slot on the table saw through the head stock up to the bride pick up cavity and stop then use a filler strip to fill the void between the bride and neck P/U. the slot between the P/Us could be used to run the wire from the neck position P/U back to the control cavity. I have seen many guitars done this way using a decorative filler strip such as abalone and it looks quite nice.
If you go this route, start your first cut with the fence at its farthest point and move then narrow the gap between the blade and fence with each succeeding pass. I hope that made sense??? If you do it backward your slot may not end up being uniform.

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A lot of redundant replies here....5 people all saying the same thing

I like that idea a lot. I'm building a neck through explorer which will have a pick guard so the slot will be covered. The slot is only going to be 3/8" deep though and there would not be enough space for the various wires to go down the channel. I do love the idea though, if i was using a deeper truss rod it would save so much time and look pretty sweet too. I'll save it for the next one