Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Winter Build Off 2026 - Yewkulele!
- Thread starter smart51
- Start date
I sort of half plan out my builds in advance and half see how it goes. It sometimes leads me to a point where I have to make a decision, and here I am. How am I going to treat the neck heel / neck joint. I'm probably going to go for a solid body style set neck, rather than an acoustic style dovetail and heel. I just need to commit.
I tried a different method of neck profiling. Parallel sided necks can be shaped with a round over bit, and stick dulcimers are made that way. Tapered necks just don't work that way. I used a 22.2mm / 7/8" round over bit for this. The neck is 3mm wider at the heel and a fraction narrower than this at the nut. The result off the tool was a slight ridge by the heel that was easily planed off, a perfect semicircle in the middle, and something that started to hint at a V shaped neck by the nut. All of this was easily sanded into a lovely round shape. It's quite chunky, but I do like a thicker neck profile.
I also seem to have found the worlds thinnest fret wire. I wanted thin side-to-side but this wire barely stands up above the fretboard. It may have to be re-done if it causes problems.
I tried a different method of neck profiling. Parallel sided necks can be shaped with a round over bit, and stick dulcimers are made that way. Tapered necks just don't work that way. I used a 22.2mm / 7/8" round over bit for this. The neck is 3mm wider at the heel and a fraction narrower than this at the nut. The result off the tool was a slight ridge by the heel that was easily planed off, a perfect semicircle in the middle, and something that started to hint at a V shaped neck by the nut. All of this was easily sanded into a lovely round shape. It's quite chunky, but I do like a thicker neck profile.
I also seem to have found the worlds thinnest fret wire. I wanted thin side-to-side but this wire barely stands up above the fretboard. It may have to be re-done if it causes problems.
I don't think you need a dovetail. Just route a pocket like you would a bolt on, but glue the neck in.
Yeah. Being an archtop, I need 3° of neck angle, so I either need to cut 3° into the neck and have a flat pocket, or I need to cut the pocket at 3° and have a flat neck. Or cut both flat and glue on a 3° tapered shim once I've dry fitted it and checked it all works.
I'd think putting the angle into the heel would be much easier than the pocket. You could dry fit and and adjust it till you got it just right. The same can be said of the shim, but I'd be worried it could affect the glue up, or be visible and not as nice looking.
Slow down man! Some of us haven't even cut a piece of wood yet!
I love how this is coming together. May get my dad to build me one of these. Could I perchance get your build specs in pdf at some point? 
I'm loving this in so many ways! Can't wait to see and hear it all finished up.
I've made a comically chunky test bridge to put the strings on and see what's what. It plays; and there's only 1 fret that buzzes.
Slightly on the down side, I must have mismeasured somewhere. The taper for the E string barely sits on the nut. I'd aimed for it to be a few millimetres past it. Somewhat more on the downside, the neck has developed a back bow since being shaped. With the truss rod as tight as it would go, it was still bowed. Now the strings are on and up to tension, it is almost straight. I'm hoping that it might move slightly now it's under tension so it gets a slight positive relief.
Slightly on the down side, I must have mismeasured somewhere. The taper for the E string barely sits on the nut. I'd aimed for it to be a few millimetres past it. Somewhat more on the downside, the neck has developed a back bow since being shaped. With the truss rod as tight as it would go, it was still bowed. Now the strings are on and up to tension, it is almost straight. I'm hoping that it might move slightly now it's under tension so it gets a slight positive relief.
I was just going to leave it, but this is a great idea. There's enough meat in the heel block to do it too.
It is a 2 way rod that is turned the other way as much as I dared, plus another quarter of a turn.
