I got lots done today, so I figured I'd update the site!
Describing setting the neck is kind of difficult, so hopefully my pictures will help.
Before setting the neck, I drilled through the neck block to fit the neck attachment bolt.
Describing setting the neck is kind of difficult, so hopefully my pictures will help.
Before setting the neck, I drilled through the neck block to fit the neck attachment bolt.
Then the surface of the body where the neck attaches needed to be sanded....
Then the "cheeks" of the neck joint needed to be carved out... I did most of this with my Dremel (thanks to my dad for sending me a Dremel!).
Here's a picture of me "flossing" the joint.... basically pulling sandpaper through the joint, making minor adjustments to the fit of the joint.
2 adjustments needed to be made - the side-to-side adjustment of the neck, as well as the angle of the neck front to back (which controls the action of the finished guitar).
2 adjustments needed to be made - the side-to-side adjustment of the neck, as well as the angle of the neck front to back (which controls the action of the finished guitar).
Every minute or two, I bolted the neck to the body and clamped the fingerboard in place with a long straight edge along the centerline of the fingerboard to check my progress.
When I first started making adjustments to the neck, the centerline alignment of the neck to body was out by about 3.5 mm at the tailblcok. By the time I was finished, it was dead on - the line that the straight edge is lined up with IS the centerline of the guitar body.
Final neck angle looked pretty good. With a straight edge set along the surface of the fretboard, the straight edge extends to fall about 1 mm above the bridge.
The fingerboard extension seems to fit well along the top too!
The neck joint may not be perfect, but it looks pretty good for my first attempt, don't you think?
The whole process took me about 4 hours! All this work means that the guitar should play good when its put together!
After setting the neck, I moved on to fretting the fingerboard......
The whole process took me about 4 hours! All this work means that the guitar should play good when its put together!
After setting the neck, I moved on to fretting the fingerboard......