Making the neck
When making the neck for your guitar you will need to build several different components and join them together to complete the neck. The different components are the neck blank, the fingerboard, the peg head and also you will need to cut out the neck pocket in the body to receive the neck. You will also have to buy and install a truss rod along the length of the neck to allow for adjustment of the straightness of the neck.
Preparing the neck Blank
When choosing your neck blank you will want flat sawn or quarter sawn hardwood. this wood should have no knots and be relatively defect free. For a neck blank with a glued on fingerboard the neck blank should be 19mm thick (allowing for a 6mm fingerboard). Plane up all sides of the blank to the required thickness and width. You should leave the neck blank longer than the overall length of the neck and peg head.
Building the Peg Head
The peg head can be made out of three pieces. The middle of the peg head is actually made from the neck blank. The peg head is made wider by gluing on two extra pieces of wood. These pieces of wood should be made out of the same hardwood as the neck. To glue these pieces on you should follow the same procedure as described for gluing up the body.
The peg head can be made in any design you want but be sure to mark out the position of the machine heads and the position that the strings will be in when the strings are tensioned. The peg head should have a thickness of 13mm and you should glue on a veneer of about 2-3mm on top of this giving a finished thickness of around 15-16mm. (The peg head should never be any thicker as this will make the machine heads near impossible to install.
Making the Fingerboard
The fingerboard should be made out of a hard dense wood. The most common types are ebony or rosewood. The finger board should be planed to a thickness of 6mm. This can be carried out by hand or by use a thicknesser. If you plan to plane the the fingerboard by hand you will need to plane evenly on both sides. To secure the fingerboard to your work surface a good tip is to use double sided sticky tape.
Most fingerboards have a smal radius. This radius varies from on manufacturer to another. There are radius blocks which you can purchase that make this process very easy and are well worth investing in as trying to radius the neck using a standard flat sanding block can be extremely difficult!
Installing the truss rod
Inside nearly every guitar there is a component which is known as a truss rod. This rod is installed along the lenght of the neck and allows adjustment of the straightness of the neck through tightening or loosening a bolt located at either the head or where the neck meets the body.
To install a truss rod you need to cut a channel along the lenght of the neck. The channel size will depend on the truss rod you have purchased. The best way to create this channel is to use a router. Once you have created the channel you must apply glue to it and insert the truss rod. It is important to use enough glue as if there are any hollow spots this can cause an annoying rattle which can only be corrected by removing the fingerboard and re-gluing the truss rod.
Inserting the Frets
Before you insert the frets it is important to have the fret positions marked out correctly. To do this use the formula as described on the “Designing Your Guitar” page. Once you have the positions marked out you will need a saw with very fine teeth. A good type saw for cutting fret slots is a backsaw. The width of the cut should be smaller than the width of the fret tang.
When cutting the fret slot begin by very carefully making a shallow cut along the fret line. Once this first cut has been made you can put a square across the neck to use as a guide fence and this will ensure a straight cut perpendicular to the lenght of the neck. Next you will need to get your fret wire and apply a rdius to it. The radius of the fret wire should be slightly less than the radius of the finger board.
When inserting the frets it is best to use a fret press bit that can be inserted into a standard drill press. If you do not have a drill press you can also insert the frets by hand using a hammer. If you choses to do this by hand you need to be sure to use a hammer made out of a material that is softer than the actuall frets to avoid damaging them. A standard plastic or wooden hammer is perfect. Begin by appling a small bit of glue to the fret. I personnaly use super glue for this as capillary action tends to pull this glue down into the fret slot nicely. Once you have applied the glue to the slot insert the fret by hammering in the edges of the fret and then work your way towards the centre. Continue with this process for all the frets. It is best not to start at the first fret and work your way up the neck fret by fret. This can cause stresses to build up in the fingerboard and is not recommended. Instead, insert the frets randomly along the neck.
Fitting the Neck
To fit the neck you will need to make a neck pocket. This neck pocket can be made by using a router with a ball bearing cutting bit. To make the template for the neck pocket, clamp the neck to the body exactly where it is going to sit. Trace the shape of the end of the neck onto the body. line up two lenghts of wood on either side of the neck and clampthese in place. Remove the neck and leave the two lenghts of wood in place. This will give you the perfect lines for the necl pocket.
Once the neck pocket has been created, insert the neck. The neck should be secured by first pre-drilling four 4mm holes where the neck is going to sitting in the pocket. Next simply screw the neck into place and then you are done. If you wish you can apply a little glue to this joint however this will make it more difficult to remove the neck if you ever wish to do so.