Official Luthiers Forum!

Do you guys do any prethicknessing to your neck blank BEFORE construction?
Like.... is it feasible to thickness the blank to the 10th fret thickness before adding the heal and scarf joint?
Also, what about thicknessing the headstock, for the scarf, before glue up?
I’m just at the end of a neck carve and, as usual, am looking back to see what I can do next time to be more accurate / efficient.
B


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I use a safe-t planer and do both after. I can use a shim under the nut location and get the correct taper. This guitar has a larger than normal taper as the fret board is going to be on a 4 mm wedge. Part of the Gore classical bolt on bolt off.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Yes, I thickness to 5/8" at the nut and 3/4" at the neck joint before gluing the heel and headstock. This also provides an opportunity to eliminate runout in the neck blank. I like the back of the neck to have long open pores. Runout = pinhole pores, which feel irritating and need to be filled.

Tapering the thickness from the top side also pushes the scarf transition line toward the end of the neck, which can sometimes give you that bit of extra length you need on a blank that's otherwise too short

I like the headstock to be as thick as possible when glued on, since I carve a pretty big handstop lip. Thinning and flattening the rest of it is a bit of a pain, but goes pretty quick peeling up huge chips with my trusty gouge.

That’s interesting....
How do you figure how high to raise the headstock end?
No need for a hold down? Just be careful?


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Most plans have the thickness at the first and 9 or 10th fret. I calculate the slope of the taper rise over run ... the difference in thickness between the two points divided by the distance between the two points. I multiply the distance between the heel end of my blank and the leading edge of where the shim will go by the calculated slope. The product is the thickness of the shim.

When doing the headstock two hands would be guiding the headstock into the safe-t planer, I removed my hands to take the picture. One does need to be careful,

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I use my safety planer to thickness the headstock. I don't know why I never used it for the neck taper.

Brilliant idea John! Thanks for posting!!!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

If you do a "hidden scarf" or modified bridle joint you can taper the neck shaft sides as well as the thickness of the neck shaft, and moves the joint line to the "chin" of the peghead. It also allows you to shape the peghead separate from the shaft. I like it because it saves on wood and allows thinner pieces to be used.
I usually taper the neck shaft thickness with the power jointer.

I do mine exactly like John does, safety planer with a shim under the nut.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I've always band sawed mine but the Safety planer and shim are a great idea. I have a neck that is getting close to that point so I'll give it a try.

I used the safety planer at first but gravitated to this approach a long time ago and it works great for me.

The neck blank is rough sawn and the fretboard and headstock surfaces planed flat on the jointer after truing one side of the blank. Then the truss rod slot is cut on the router table and the carbon bar slots on the table saw.



The heel block is glued flattening the area of the block with a drill press disk sander and the neck cut to length on a miter saw.
Using a plexiglass neck profile template and a fretboard template that keys in the trussrod slot the profile is marked as well as the taper.










Cut outside these lines with the bandsaw using a jig that keys in the truss rod slot to hold the neck parallel to the blade.










I made a Robosander jig that has interchangeable bases that match the profile of the various neck shapes I use with the neck being held via pins in the truss rod slot. This sands the final profile into the neck quite accurately assuming the jig is shaped correctly.





After gluing the headstock veneer and shaping the headstock I thickness it with a common belt sander jig.



There is a little freehand work on the volute area with the drill press drum sander holding the neck parallel in the same truss rod indexed jig I use on the band saw but these steps give me a profiled neck with a properly thicknesses headstock.

Just another approach.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

With safety planer like John, available at stew Mac...

I basically do the same method as the safety planer , but I use my pin router with a large bit and a tapered jig with a key in the truss rod slot.

I have tried all the different ways shown for thicknessing the head, but I have found the fastest,safest and most accurate way to simply set the fence on the bandsaw and cut it.
With my big band saw it cuts it within a few thousanths so only minimal cleanup finishes it.