The neck begins life as a quarter-sawn plank of walnut, which I plane flat, and the
edges square. A saw cut at 100 is then made across one end of the plank. The sawn
faces are then planed perfectly flat using a very fine cut on a block plane. The
cut off piece is then turned round and glued in place using a jig. This becomes the
headstock. The reason behind using a scarf joint such as this is it not only is it
a more economical use of wood than a one- piece neck it is also much stronger as
there is no ‘short grain’ on the headstock so there is much less chance of a break
at the headstock should the guitar fall over or be dropped. The remaining wood is
then glued onto the other end of the neck to produce the heel.
At this point I rout a channel for the double acting truss rod to sit in, and drill
the holes for the bolts and barrel nuts that will attach the neck to the body later
on.
Next the neck and body must be routed for their mortise and tenons in this jig, then
checked for alignment.
The fingerboard is planed flat and to thickness, the slots measured and cut, then
radiused before cutting it to shape- a lot of work that I didn’t have space to show.
Now the fun of shaping the neck can begin. Using spokeshaves, rasps, planes and scrapers
to make a great neck and some very expensive sawdust!
