Thanks everyone. I do really like my Ryobi router and find it works perfect for what I am doing. I like the fact that it has a .5 inch collet and a .25 inch collet. For shaping pieces (which you will see later) it is a must to have the .5 inch collet able to take the large bits. Less vibration and chatter. The router is powerful enough to do most jobs.
As for the reasons that I layer the peghead veneer under the FB. One I like the look of it and. 2, yes it is better for the break angle for string tension. 3, I like to think of my instruments as players. These instruments are to be played and played hard. Things wear out and need to be replaced once in a while. Nuts do some times wear down to the point that they need to come off. I have had to work on many basses that have had the peghead veneer butts up against the nut (usually on parts basses where someone has glued a paper thin veneer on) making it difficult to remove without damage to the thin veneer. Also it is harder to match a nut to the slot if it is not standard. My nut specs vary as I make them out of larger stock.
On to the build. This time I will make the fret board and glue it onto the neck blank. The truss and carbon fiber is inlaid and ready to go.
Here is my fret board making jig. it is the Stewmac model and seems to work well. Their saw is Ok but I an going to look for a better one. Anyway, I made this small table bracket so that I can mount it into my vise. My shop is small so I go for the modular thing. I use good quality carpet tape to stick the FB onto the template.
The metal template under the FB is the Stewmac 34-35 inch scale bass template that works with the miter box. Since I am making a 33 inch scale bass the first fret becomes the nut cut off and I have to cut an extra slot to make 24 frets. I use the clamps to secure the template and fret board flush up against the wall of the miter box so that the slots are 90 degrees from the edge of the fret board. I cut my board so that is square and flat before doing any of this.
With the FB completed I can move on to prep work for glueing it onto the neck. I use a sharp chisel to remove the part of the plug that sticks up above the glueing surface. I use a ruler to make sure everything is flat.
I then mark the center line down the top of the neck at the nut and heel area. I make sure that from the heel end I can see the line wrap over the edge. Using my homemade neck profile template, (which consists of a piece of plexiglass cut with the neck profile and with a line scribed down the center) I line it up with the center line and pencil my profile shape. This is to see where the neck shape will be so I don't spread glue in areas I don't need to. I also mark the center of the FB at the nut end and mark a center line for the last 3 inches on the underside of the heel end (this is because I use an over hanging FB and have to look up from below to see the center line to match up to the line on the center of the neck heel). Once that is done I center the FB onto the neck using the center lines and marks to make sure that the FB is on straight. I then clamp the FB into place and use my template to trace the shape on top of the FB. Using my drill and famous toothpicks (pat pending), I make guides for the FB to go on right. I use the pencil lines to see where the neck profile will be and drill in the waste area that will be cut off when shaping the neck profile. I then can apply glue and use the toothpicks to guide the FB into place.
Next I use about 1001 clamps to squeeze the whole mess together.
When it is all dry I can saw out the basic profile. I just rough it out and will true it up later. Since Wenge is darker I have a hard time seeing the lines so I attach my template back on the FB so that I have a guide. Again, I am just roughing it out so I do not want or need to get to close to my precious template.
Here is a closer look. See....plenty of room between the saw and template.
One side down one to go.
Here is a shot of how the FB and neck look after the saw.
For my next trick I will use this .75 inch bearing bit chucked into my router to shape out the actual neck profile.
I keep the template on the neck and stick it down to a piece of scrap wood to keep my bit off of my table saw. Made a mistake once and got to see fireworks and sparks galore.
I just run the router down each side trimming away the excess wood. Be careful of the nut and heel area where you can go too far off and give yourself a funky looking headstock. My template has little ears at the end that I can feel with the router and stop in time.
And here she is all sleek and sexy and ready for radiusing.
Sorry for the longer post but I wanted to get some process details for everyone to check out. I know my techniques are pretty low-tech but they work for me and they can work for you as well.
Please check back soon for more progress shots.
