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First Build: SC5 Headless

#141
Got some more work done on the headless end of the neck.

Cleaned up the spot for the headpiece.
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Also added a 1/2" piece of Chechen to the back of the neck to thicken up the neck in the volute area and started the shape the volute with the drum sander.
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#144
Had time for a little more work today.

I used my router and a straight edge on a template to cut the slot for the nut.
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I decided to use 1/8" Maple dowel for the position markers on the side of the neck. They turned out pretty well. I used CA to glue them in so I wouldn't have to wait for my epoxy to cure.
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After I got the position markers glued in I started masking off the body and neck (with packing tape) to get them ready for gluing. I decided to use epoxy for this step, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow night to take the clamps off. At this point I hope I've got all of the basic stuff right. If not it's going to be a lot harder to fix any serious mistakes.
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#145
I also asked Norstrand for some advice on the pickup. I was going to go with a Big Single, but going straight to the jack combined with the wood combination and pickup placement might make it sound really bright. Stew suggested a Dual Coil parallel wind wired in series instead. I'll probably take his suggestion.

For anyone considering use a Hipshot headless system, Bill recommends that the bottom surface of the headpiece be 1/2" below the slots for the strings in the nut. This ensures you have enough of an angle on the string behind the nut.
 
#149
In order to make things a little easier, when I build the next neck I'll use a 5/8" bearing on my 1/2" pattern bit to leave the neck blank 1/16" larger all the way around. Then I'll install the side position markers (a little deeper than normal). That way when I do the final cut with the pattern bit to get the neck to size I won't have to clean up the side position markers in a seperate step. I'll also be sure to do all of this before I glue the piece on to the back of the headstock so I can run the neck all the way across my router table without having to change directions or lift the neck off of the table.
 
#150
So, the lesson for the day is that epoxy will find a way to go exactly where you don't want it too regardless of how well you mask things off. I had high hopes of going home and just having to pull the tape off to find everything perfect underneath. After about 3 hours of cleaning up cured epoxy that managed to work it's way around the masking this is what I'm left with.

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Unfortunately I think I'm going to add the neck pickup back in ...
I'm using a cheap router and router table. I know the table isn't perfectly flat and I don't think the router bit sits at 90° to the table like it should. When I'm trimming a body to shape it isn't a big deal. However, when you start to do things that are a little more critical, it's a big deal. In the two pics that follow you can see a small gap on the bass side of the neck pocket at the bottom. That's because the router put a bit of an angle on it when I was cutting the neck blank. The other sides are all good and tight. If this was the only problem, I would probably try and fill it with some epoxy and Chechen dust. However, the epoxy also penetrated into the end grain on the Chechen top. I can't sand that out because it probably goes all the way through the thickness. So, instead of trying to fix it, I'm just going to add a neck pickup which eleminates both issues.

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Some day I'll learn. This is the second time epoxy and end grain have played nasty tricks on me. I think in order to make it work, I should have used some finish (or sealer) along the top edge of the neck pocket before I glued the neck in.
 
#154
It's possible that when you finish the body (depending on what finish you use) that the epoxy staining won't show. You could do a test on some scrap to find out. People who make acoustic instruments often use water-thin 'Superglue' to glue rosettes in soundboards and binding and purfling, etc. This is notorious for soaking into end-grain and staining so they usually seal the rosette and purfling channels with shellac which doesn't stain.

Of course you still have the problem of the slight gap and I'm afraid that however you try to fill that, it's still going to show. One solution might be a thin book-matched cover plate which covers the whole neck extension.
 
#155
Dave Higham said:
It's possible that when you finish the body (depending on what finish you use) that the epoxy staining won't show. You could do a test on some scrap to find out. People who make acoustic instruments often use water-thin 'Superglue' to glue rosettes in soundboards and binding and purfling, etc. This is notorious for soaking into end-grain and staining so they usually seal the rosette and purfling channels with shellac which doesn't stain.

Of course you still have the problem of the slight gap and I'm afraid that however you try to fill that, it's still going to show. One solution might be a thin book-matched cover plate which covers the whole neck extension.
Click to expand...

If I was going to fill the grain before I apply the finish, then you are correct. Since epoxy makes a great grain filler, you wouldn't notice the spot at the end of the fingerboard because the rest of the top would look the same. However, I don't plan on filling the grain before I apply the finish.

Although it would look nice (if I had the piece of the top that used to be in the neck pocket), I would rather not jut put a cover on a mistake if at all possible. I either want to fix it so that you can't tell it ever happened, or get rid of it. In this case, I think adding the neck pickup (which I was going to originally do anyway) is the easiest way to go. It is going to make a little more work for me though since I will have to have some sort of electronics cavity and electronics. I don't think I would want to wire two pickups straight to the output.
 
#158
I think the second pick up solution is probably the best. In the end it looks just as good and gives you more tonal variety. Keep up the good work, this one is looking great.
 
#159
Thanks Hopkins!

Started shapping the neck last night. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this (much less used a hand plane or a spoke shave!) so I'll be taking it slow. I can already see why people like to rough shape their necks with some sort of power tool. However, I can use a little extra practice so I'll be doing all of the shaping by hand. I also need to pick up a half round wood rasp and a contour gauge. If I get really brave I may try and carve out a nicer transition from the body to the neck. I don't really need to since upper "fret" access is pretty good as it is, but it might be fun to try and it looks so cool when done right.

I would like to publicly thank Wilser for his video clip on youtube. I found it very helpful (especially the tip on angling the hand plane).
 

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