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I have never seen anything like this suggested in books or tutes, and was less than impressed with what was used during my class.
Now I have set up shop, I came up with this , and thought newbies might find it useful.
I glue the fretted fingerboard to the bolt-on Mortice and Tenon neck first, but that's me.
This holds a blank securely, suits different scale lengths and head angles (head support pivot on screws into main body), gives access for shaping heels and head flares, and can be used to secure the neck on its side as well as inverted, useful for working of the fingerboard edge area.
Overall height of the main part is about 7.5 inches, width at fretboard area is about 1 1/2"".
I use a workmate to secure the holder as I find it easy to move around, but it can also be held in a vice or secured to a bench.
See what you think.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Very cool Colin! I'll have to build one of these, looks like it does the job well and is simple to build.

Thanks for sharing,
Joe

Nice jig! Thanks for posting.

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Ken

Nice!

How do you keep that part where you clamp the head from pivoting, once it is adjusted for the headstock angle? Is there a wing nut or something we're not seeing in the pictures, or...? If it is not secured, how does it support the headstock?

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I'm not speaking for Colin but I have one similar to this and use a hinge as the pivot point.The clamp is enough to hold the headstock.Once the neck is clamped with the two clamps it's as solid as needed.Nice job Colin,your is nicer then mine.
Tom

You answered than quite nicely actually!
I did think of using a hinge, but opted to clamp the head holder to the head of my first neck, postion it to see how it fell, and then put the screws in.
Thanks for the compliment Tom, mine's actually a bit rough (as most of my first built jigs'n things!), but does the job OK.
Colin

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

built one similar after I toured the Martin museum. Works great!

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Rob

There's nothing new.......
Any chance of a pic?
If yours was inspired by Martin tour and mine is similar, I must have done something right!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Nice, I'm going to make me one.

I have one of these too, I think it's in Bob Benedetto's book. Colin's is nicer than mine too.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Made this one out of an old oak table found on roadside. Also used the table for 2 backs and sides sets. Had to pad the bolt and wingnut.

I built the same jig. I found a piece of a glue-lam (laminated structural beam) at a house construction site - while picking up some framing lumber scraps for jigs and such. It is 1-3/4" thick. The holes at the first and 10-12th fret are 1" from the top surface for easy addition to measure the thickness of your neck blank - others have shown that feature. It has a 1 X 1 screwed on that is a stop to quickly stick it in the vice. It is long enough that it fits in that corner vice and allows great access from a stool on the left. I made the holes wide enough that they can handle a 12 and 14 fret neck of various scale lengths. The stop at the heel is to keep the blank from moving to the left.

Ed