If you have a sharp block plane setup very fine, purpleheart machines beautifully. You can work your edge down flush in minutes.
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Winter Build off 2022 - Sardonyx F
- Thread starter postalflunkie
- Start date
Had a good productive day out in the garage 
Measured the heck out of the fretboard, marked the center line for future reference then measured everything again. Next I dug out a piece of aluminum angle stock, clamped the fretboard on with the nut end flush and the heel end just over a 32nd out. Planed it down, flipped it over and did the other side, checked all the measurements again and now it fits perfectly.
With that fixed I cut and hammered in the zero fret. First time I tried using one I blew out the end of the fretboard (that was already glued down) and ended up using a regular nut anyway. Then I cut slots for the string guide and sat that off to the side.
So with the fretboard ready I got back on the neck blank. Ran it through my planer to square it up and get rid of the dried up glue, then cut the headstock angle for a 10° tilt back
Cleaned the saw marks with a hand plane and then cut the slot for the trus rod.
Measured the relief for the top, accounted for the curly maple cap and then cut that off on the bandsaw. Next up I used a safety planer in the drill press to clean up that cut and its now ready for the fretboard.
A couple dabs of silicone and a piece of tape over the truss rod, spread some glue, put the fretboard on and align it then clamp the heck out of it.
In a couple hours I'll go out and scrape the squeeze out before it's totally hard.
I finally feel like this thing is started now.
Measured the heck out of the fretboard, marked the center line for future reference then measured everything again. Next I dug out a piece of aluminum angle stock, clamped the fretboard on with the nut end flush and the heel end just over a 32nd out. Planed it down, flipped it over and did the other side, checked all the measurements again and now it fits perfectly.
With that fixed I cut and hammered in the zero fret. First time I tried using one I blew out the end of the fretboard (that was already glued down) and ended up using a regular nut anyway. Then I cut slots for the string guide and sat that off to the side.
So with the fretboard ready I got back on the neck blank. Ran it through my planer to square it up and get rid of the dried up glue, then cut the headstock angle for a 10° tilt back
Cleaned the saw marks with a hand plane and then cut the slot for the trus rod.
Measured the relief for the top, accounted for the curly maple cap and then cut that off on the bandsaw. Next up I used a safety planer in the drill press to clean up that cut and its now ready for the fretboard.
A couple dabs of silicone and a piece of tape over the truss rod, spread some glue, put the fretboard on and align it then clamp the heck out of it.
In a couple hours I'll go out and scrape the squeeze out before it's totally hard.
I finally feel like this thing is started now.
Frets are all hammered in and filed flush with the edge of the fretboard.
For those in the "what's the best fret tang nipper" discussion I use a cut off disk in my dremmel.
I'll go back after the neck gets rough shaped and fill the end of the fret slots with purpleheart dust and CA glue.
I didn't get a picture, but I also drilled for the side dots and filled them with glow in the dark powder and set them with CA glue
For those in the "what's the best fret tang nipper" discussion I use a cut off disk in my dremmel.
I'll go back after the neck gets rough shaped and fill the end of the fret slots with purpleheart dust and CA glue.
I didn't get a picture, but I also drilled for the side dots and filled them with glow in the dark powder and set them with CA glue
I honestly don't know how I ever made anything with my wimpy old nine inch bandsaw. This new (to me) one horse twelve inch machine cut through hard maple like butter, no blade drift, never bogged down, just cut and cut and cut 
So that got the neck roughed out. We now have this
Figured why stop here, let's glue on the wings of the headstock
Later that will get a flame maple cap on the front and a maple veneer on the back, both with a purpleheart vaneer in-between the layers.
So that got the neck roughed out. We now have this
Figured why stop here, let's glue on the wings of the headstock
Later that will get a flame maple cap on the front and a maple veneer on the back, both with a purpleheart vaneer in-between the layers.
I was having so much fun with the bandsaw that I just couldn't stop. I changed out the blade to a 3/8 inch blade for tighter curves and started on the body wings.
With those cut out there was only one e thing to do... FIRST MOCK UP!
I also split the flame maple for the cap and traced he pattern on it to see what we have.
I'll have to glue those two pieces together, then I can cut it out also.
With those cut out there was only one e thing to do... FIRST MOCK UP!
I also split the flame maple for the cap and traced he pattern on it to see what we have.
I'll have to glue those two pieces together, then I can cut it out also.
I cleaned up the headstock with my safety planer, (which does an ok job but you will still need to do a lot of block sanding) then glued the veneers on the back side.
While tat glue is drying I put the robo-sander in the drill press and got rid of all the saw marks on the body wings. I used the blue tape and super glue method of sticking them to the template (best trick ever).
I know it's slower than a template bit in the router, but no tear out makes it worth the time.
While tat glue is drying I put the robo-sander in the drill press and got rid of all the saw marks on the body wings. I used the blue tape and super glue method of sticking them to the template (best trick ever).
I know it's slower than a template bit in the router, but no tear out makes it worth the time.
I have to admit, I've had my doubts about the size of this headstock design and whether my template was very accurate 
I mean, this thing seems small... like Danelectro kind of small...
Well, I trusted the photos and made the template by scaling the photo to the nut width, so here we go
Not bad actually
Only problem. I saw was a little maple discoloration on each side that was hidden in the wood
I can live wih that I suppose.
So I love to mock things up whenever I can...
Given he small size ofthe headstock I think everything fit pretty good
I mean, this thing seems small... like Danelectro kind of small...
Well, I trusted the photos and made the template by scaling the photo to the nut width, so here we go
Not bad actually
Only problem. I saw was a little maple discoloration on each side that was hidden in the wood
I can live wih that I suppose.
So I love to mock things up whenever I can...
Given he small size ofthe headstock I think everything fit pretty good
Cool grain pattern on the front of the HS.
I would (you do what you like) totally rotate the AD tuners slightly so the key shafts were more perpendicular to the edge where they cross it, not parallel to the EG key shafts.
\ /
_ _
But not that steep, limitations of ASCII art.
Those headstock veneers look really good...I can't wait to see the volute carved. 
Started carving the neck last night. I mostly used the good old Shinto rasp and both a straight and curved spokeshave. Then I started on the volute. I used my robosander to take off most of the excess, then fine tuned things with a cutzall rasp. It's still got a long way to go yet.
More sanding on the neck today. Got it down to a tolerable thickness (I admit, I like thicker necks than most people) it's .8 at the zero fret and .92 at the 12th fret. Skinny fast necks are nice, but I like the added sustain a thicker neck offers.
I also got all the little lumps smoothed out around the volute. And I filled the fret slots with some purpleheart dust and super glue.
With the neck shaped up to about the 14th fret I needed to get the body together before I shape the heel. So, the Bass side got glued on.
Tomorrow I'll glue on the treble side.
One thing for sure, this base shouldn't have neck dive issues, the upper horn ends between the 9th and 10th fret
I also got all the little lumps smoothed out around the volute. And I filled the fret slots with some purpleheart dust and super glue.
With the neck shaped up to about the 14th fret I needed to get the body together before I shape the heel. So, the Bass side got glued on.
Tomorrow I'll glue on the treble side.
One thing for sure, this base shouldn't have neck dive issues, the upper horn ends between the 9th and 10th fret
Went out this morning to get the lower wing glued on. Pulled the clamps, checked the joint out, got everything ready to start gluing again...
So, two things I learned today
One, if your using the cut-offs to help with clamping attach the foam (if your using it) with double stick tape first
And Two, before applying to much clamping pressure make sure the piece didn't walk any. The darn thing moved about a eight of an inch toward the fretboard really buggering up the bottom end of the body.
If you look closely there's a faint line on the neck blank where it should have been
So, off with the clamps, had to use a rubber mallet to knock the piece off, re-glue (check alignment) re-clamp (check alignment) wipe off excess glue (check alignment), on and check the alignment one more time
So with all that done, it now has a more recognizable shape
I let that set up, then I'll need to trim the back side of the neck blank flush with the body wings, bob the end of the neck blank off and start working on the top wood.
So, two things I learned today
One, if your using the cut-offs to help with clamping attach the foam (if your using it) with double stick tape first
And Two, before applying to much clamping pressure make sure the piece didn't walk any. The darn thing moved about a eight of an inch toward the fretboard really buggering up the bottom end of the body.
If you look closely there's a faint line on the neck blank where it should have been
So, off with the clamps, had to use a rubber mallet to knock the piece off, re-glue (check alignment) re-clamp (check alignment) wipe off excess glue (check alignment), on and check the alignment one more time
So with all that done, it now has a more recognizable shape
I let that set up, then I'll need to trim the back side of the neck blank flush with the body wings, bob the end of the neck blank off and start working on the top wood.
Back out to the garage. First thing was to get the clamps off. The front side came out nice and even with the neck blank, so nw it's time to flatten out the back side.
I stuck on some 3/4 MDF for the router to ride on, and put a bid flattening bit in, and slowly cut the center down a little at a time until it was flush with the wings.
Next up was bobbing off the tail end of the neck blank.
There's some sanding I'll need to do to get that curve flush, but for the most part it looks like a bass now.
I put it on the scale to see how much chambering I might need to do and as it sits right now its 5.6lbs. It still needs the 1/4 inch thick top added and all the hardware but overall that's not bad.
I stuck on some 3/4 MDF for the router to ride on, and put a bid flattening bit in, and slowly cut the center down a little at a time until it was flush with the wings.
Next up was bobbing off the tail end of the neck blank.
There's some sanding I'll need to do to get that curve flush, but for the most part it looks like a bass now.
I put it on the scale to see how much chambering I might need to do and as it sits right now its 5.6lbs. It still needs the 1/4 inch thick top added and all the hardware but overall that's not bad.
With the wings glued on and the back cut flush it's now time to shape the neck heel.
I'll cut down most of the excess with the angle grinder and a flap disk.
Then I cleaned up the curves with a rasp and smoothed it all out with a ribbon of sand paper.
There's still a lot of fine tuning to do tomorrow, but I like the way its turning out
I'll cut down most of the excess with the angle grinder and a flap disk.
Then I cleaned up the curves with a rasp and smoothed it all out with a ribbon of sand paper.
There's still a lot of fine tuning to do tomorrow, but I like the way its turning out
Watching someone else carve a neck heel is very satisfying!
