Here we are again the seperate pieces of mahogany have been glued togeter to form the neck blank and its time to mark out the shape of the guitar neck and cut it back to the correct profile, then carve it into the correct shape. The only thing I am a little disapointed about at the moment is the joints at the base of the neck near the tailstock there is quite a big gap between the joints but I think this is a combination of my poor planing and my decision to mix a bit of mahogany sawdust with the glue. Will try something else next time but I am going to carry on because I will make more mistakes in the construction of the guitar.
In the previous post I had marked out the profile of the tailstock. In the book it suggest that this is cut out with a bandsaw - I dont have access to a bandsaw at the moment so I am going to have to make a series of saw cuts bak to the line with a handsaw and then take out the excess with a chisle.
This went so well I used the same process to remove the excess wood on the back of the guitar nech. Once removed I planed the surface back with the block plane.
After a bit of research I rounded the edges of the blade of the block plane and this stopped it from digging into the timber.
Next I had to trim the headstock to give the correct angle. Again the book suggested that the profile be cut with a bandsaw but I had to do it with a handsaw.
Once I had the correct profile then all I had to do was plane back to the lines.
Next the guitar neck was marked in plan for cutting.
Once again I have no bandsaw so all this cutting had to be done by hand - as I am getting more confident the time between realising I have to cut it to the time I do cut it is getting shorter.
I have chasen aslightly rounded headstockinstead of square. To form this I am back to a series of saw cuts shaping with the chisle and then sanding back.
The tail of the guitar neck is slightly tapered from front to back and this excess timber also needs to be removed - back to the hand saw.
The tailstock now needs to be shaped with a chisle and sandpaper.
Here you can see the wide joint at the base of the tailstock mentioned right at the start of this post, caused by the joint not being clamped together properly.
Thats the end of day 17- the whole process above actually took another 12 hours total thats 91 hours total on the project so far.
In the previous post I had marked out the profile of the tailstock. In the book it suggest that this is cut out with a bandsaw - I dont have access to a bandsaw at the moment so I am going to have to make a series of saw cuts bak to the line with a handsaw and then take out the excess with a chisle.
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| Series of saw cuts to remove excess wood |
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| Excess wood removed with chisle |
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| Excess wood sanded back to profile line |
After a bit of research I rounded the edges of the blade of the block plane and this stopped it from digging into the timber.
Next I had to trim the headstock to give the correct angle. Again the book suggested that the profile be cut with a bandsaw but I had to do it with a handsaw.
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| Trimming headstock with a handsaw |
Once I had the correct profile then all I had to do was plane back to the lines.
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| Planing headstock of guitar to the correct profile |
Next the guitar neck was marked in plan for cutting.
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| Guitar neck marked for cutting |
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| Close up of guitar headstock ready for cutting |
Once again I have no bandsaw so all this cutting had to be done by hand - as I am getting more confident the time between realising I have to cut it to the time I do cut it is getting shorter.
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| Cutting guitar neck |
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| Cutting guitar neck with handsaw |
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| Guitar neck cut out |
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| Guitar neck cut out |
I have chasen aslightly rounded headstockinstead of square. To form this I am back to a series of saw cuts shaping with the chisle and then sanding back.
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| Headstock ready for cuting |
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| Series of saw cuts to remove excess timber on headstock |
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| Some of excess timber removed (note hacksaw) |
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| Headstock shaped and sanded |
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| Marked tailstock being cut with a handsaw |
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| Tailstock being cut |
The tailstock now needs to be shaped with a chisle and sandpaper.
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| Tailstock being shaped with a chisle |
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| Shaped tailstock |
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| Shaped tailstock, note the faint lines of the joint |
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| Botom of tailstock |
Here you can see the wide joint at the base of the tailstock mentioned right at the start of this post, caused by the joint not being clamped together properly.
Thats the end of day 17- the whole process above actually took another 12 hours total thats 91 hours total on the project so far.
