September 21, 2008

Yes, it’s been 3 weeks since I’ve posted anything to the blog.  I haven’t made much progress up until today.  I spent quite some time working on the neck, shaping with a spoke shave and rasp.  It’s getting very close to the true shape.  Next step was to build a jig to allow the shaping of the tenon on the neck at the right angle.

080921neckjig1.jpg

I used the jig on the O’Brien DVD as a model.  It took two weeks to complete, but mostly due to inactivity rather than difficulty.

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The slot in the rear is for the router to shape the tenon.

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The platform can be adjusted to ensure level, and angle based upon the angle measured between the guitar top and the top of the rim.  It took me quit some time to devise a way of discovering the angle, then transferring it to the jig.  Suffice it to say it includes using a level, a sliding bevel and pencils.

I did run into several problems, including an improperly seated router bit which damaged my collet.  As I could not find a replacement collet quickly, I bought a new router (which I needed anyway).  It’s a man thing.

The end result is reasonable, and I was able to dry fit the neck to the body.  What remains is some selective shimming, marking the end of the neck to drill the holes for the neck bolt receivers.

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