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Don't even need the angle meter, just to trigonometry. My jig is static, but I have a few different thicknesses of shims that I put at the ends, same size ones for no neck angle but thicker guitar, and thicker ones to make an angle. Took about 2 seconds on a calculator to figure the thickness difference I needed across the whole jig to get 2 degree neck angle. Works like a champ and is much simpler.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Trigawhat?

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Jim Hansen

3 months to go to night school to figure out trigonometry: $1200
3 really thick books on trig: $224
Gas expense: $300

OR just getting a $27 Inclinometer at Harbor Freight 2 miles from my house: PRICELESS

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Nice!

Or you could just use your calculator and this formula

tan(insert your neck angle here)*Length of your jig = Height of the shim you need

I use a 2 degree neck angle and my jig is 21 inches so

tan(2)*21 = 0.733 for my shim

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

tan? we gets them thar thangs down yonder here in floriduh all the time!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Chris - seems like you know your router bits - did a little research and come upon this: http://www.provenwoodworking.com/router-bits.html

Also, I am nearing the end of my jig - it's looking pretty awesome, but still have some tweaking to do - will post pics soon!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Well, come down to Tampa and we can shoot it here, since I'm about to use mine for the first time!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

That jig is nicer than my guitars.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I am nearing the end of building my jig - took some breaks over the past few days to work on the Silver Willow a bit more and now I am even more sidetracked building some custom clamps for the neck to fretboard glue-up. Will post pics soon - mine looks VERY similar to yours Fillipo, but I am trying to add a couple extra goodies on it - necessity is the mother of invention, right? I could see why builders want you to make them one - it is a bit time consuming, however, I should be able to knock any future neck pockets quickly and accurately - I also know why you wouldn't want to make these for people to sell now - they would jump too high from the price on the labor and materials! My sister sent a very cool b-day gift today - I just got in the mail 5 (kickarse) Whiteside pattern router bits. (what a great sis!)

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Absolutely - I understand quite a bit as to how this all works (quite the perspective on things when you actually build something!) but I still want to hear all the tips and tricks! I have added a couple features and should be done in the next day or 2 (insert "woot woot" here)

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Hope it isn't the "tape" trick lol

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

I actually finished my jig a couple of weeks ago - it took a LONG time to make, so I can see why it was said that you didn't want to make one for anyone else - I would have to agree with that - I mean, hey, everything has it's price, but if anyone would want to pay me for 2 to 3 weeks of labor and materials, I might say yes, but I think this bad boy likes it's new home - I am in the beginning of making a jig for my fretboard radii's so I will let everyone know how THIS jig works out when I cut the neck pocket next week.... I TOTALLY tried to use Filippo's creation almost to the "T", but I did add a couple options while pimping mine out, one was and adjustment handle that raises and lowers the ramp - this seems to be cool for fine tuning the angle without holding the heavy door (with a heavy guitar) in place - I basically lift it close to the angle desired, tighten the side knobs, bring the set screw to that level, loosen the side screws, then tweak the height of the ramp to exactly where I want it, then re-tighten the side screws.

I also implemented a "Neck alignment guide" which is basically a slider guide that runs the distance of the base of the body and goes all the way up the neck - it took some tweaking to get it just right but seems to do the trick... my only cost on this thing was the t-tracks, aluminum strips and the handles and some bolts - my friend Steve hooked me up with the scrap birch plywood and all the exotic woods were from my exotic woods scrap box

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

YOU'RE MAKING ME LOOK BAD HERE VIRGIL! I thought two white oak board were good enough.

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Ken

LOL Ken! Yeah, I used a bunch of scrap wood on this - Mahogany flooring what was recycled for the beams, Santos Mahogany, Walnut, Padauk and Black & White ebony - just be proud of me that I didn't do any inlay on it ..... yet.

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Virgil, I am VERY disappointed you used plastic knobs.

You surely must have had some black ebony scraps you could have carved some from? Sheesh, where are your standards?

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Jim Hansen

Jim, I truly believe you have called me on my Shiite. I just can't cut any corners around here. I do have the Ebony and I could have layered it with some Camatillo wood - similar (Perhaps the matching set thingy)to the African Blackwood/Camatillo hex wrench handle I made. Please don't mention this to anyone - thanks.

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Yey dude - appreciate the funny sarcasm when it arises, we don't have THAT many opportunities to do so around here!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

you guys spend to much time making jigs that look pretty... I dont mind spending time working on a guitar that looks pretty but I just like for my jigs to do a good job without taking two weeks to build...

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Hi Shad, as for mine... To be honest, I didn't mean to make it look pretty - it's actually my version of "scrap wood" I have around here - and as for the 2 weeks to make? Well, I am still relatively new to woodworking - a year ago today I had only made a shelf and a podium, so this stuff takes me forever to make - plus my RA doesn't help - I take lots of breaks

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Its all good. I did not mean to come across as well.. cross. they are great jigs and serve the purposes well, but for me personally I just dont think I could do it. somehow my patience for guitar making and furniture just does not bleed over into the tool and jig department. No offense meant.

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~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

No offence taken - I have actually been enjoying building these jigs - they are tools, but somehow, if I am working with wood, I am in nirvana, no matter what I make! I don't think I can make anything simple anyways - If my wife asked for a piece of wood for a shelf, I would wind up in the asylum from the simplicity

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Very nice jig, Filippo!

very awesome Filippo, inspiring as well!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Someone mentioned being able to rout pickup cavities with this thing - how's that happening? Swap out the rails for a template?

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

I've modified it a couple of times so it's hacked up now, but here's what I did differently.

1) there's a center line down the approximate center of the jig. At the far end is a center finder ruler, aligned precisely on the centerline (I just double sided taped it to the jig). When I do the alignment, I place the body precisely on the center line, align the centerline of the neck on the centerline of the body, and align the rails until they're centered on the center finder ruler

2) those pieces of paduak in the foreground are just a touch thinner than 1/8" (.123, or something like that). I put those between the neck and the rails when aligning. Then I use a bushing in my router with a long straight bit, which is far more convenient than doing it with bearing bits...it is for me, anyhow. Having the spacers slightly undersized gives me a a slightly tight fit, allowing me to fine tune the fit. Often, it will drop right in with no fine tuning because of slight runout in the router bit. It would be better if they were made of metal. Then I would have them ground to .125" +0/-.001.

3) For a stop, I place a piece of paduak (like the shim pieces) where the neck ends, shimmed with a shim piece of paduak of course to get the right dimension. The router rides on top of this so I put pieces on either side too so the router doesn't tip.

Anyhow, I don't think this is "better" but I didn't see anyone else mentioning that they do it this way, so I though I'd toss it out there if someone wanted to experiment. Mine has no angle because I started putting the angle in the neck blank, but I did have an angle at one point. I made removable angle blocks that bolted on and allowed me to change the angle. The designs here are far slicker than mine but I get lazy building jigs.

edit: maybe it's obvious, but I use a 1/2" bit with a 3/4" bushing.