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Post by Double Yoi on Mar 22, 2014 7:51:51 GMT -5
Gents, I have recently began the endeavor to hand carve my own necks, Starting with bolt ons. I have a good handle on the shaping of the neck itself, but could use a pointer on the transition to the headstock and heel. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom to bestow, please do. My first couple of runs on pine have ended up ok, but I really want to perfect those transition before moving on to the good wood. Thanks Fellas.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2014 9:58:07 GMT -5
Is Cyn1 listening?
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Post by sumgai on Mar 22, 2014 14:56:53 GMT -5
DY,
As you no doubt already know, the transition on the headstock portion is called the "volute". Google that for more info, but the main take-away is that there are two general shapes: quick and a bit pointed, or gentle and rounded. Most guitarists don't really care, so long as they don't perceive a "bulge" as their thumb works down towards the nut region.
I imagine that the same holds true at the butt end where the neck joins the body, but I could be off a little. After all, any set neck/thru neck will have a pretty steep transition, when compared to what we see on a bolt-on neck. Although there have been some custom one-offs that have attempted to make that joint area thinner overall, I don't recall that anyone has brought such a beast to market.... yet.
HTH
sumgai
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Post by lpf3 on Mar 22, 2014 18:05:01 GMT -5
This guy says it better than I can, and he has a video to boot.
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Post by Double Yoi on Mar 22, 2014 21:13:32 GMT -5
Perfectly explained!!! Thank you fellas.
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Post by Double Yoi on Jan 3, 2015 7:18:01 GMT -5
UPDATE
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Post by cynical1 on Jan 3, 2015 12:05:20 GMT -5
Hey, nice fireplace.
Making necks. I give you points just for trying. Constructing guitar and bass necks is as much of an art form as it is a science. If your intention is to do every bit of work in the build you're going to be spending the first several months just building and tweaking the jigs and fixtures. Your tooling and equipment cash layout for building necks is considerably higher than any other part of the instrument. Even with the proper tools and fixtures, you can still end up creating beautiful firewood.
For me, I gave up making necks in 2008. I know this because that was the year of the flood. Once 20+ years of jigs, tools and templates spent 6 weeks under water I knew I was out of the neck business for good.
My advice, for anyone who wants to build necks, is to haunt eBay, Craigslist or your local music shop and grab every twisted, bowed, split or otherwise unplayable neck you can find...and make it playable. Take a normal neck and make it a shredder neck. Scallop a few. Change out the frets, nut, fingerboard, truss rod...make it a different scale by adding an extended fingerboard and adding frets. Make a one piece neck a 5 piece neck and reshape the profile. Make clever little inlays. Add some binding. Change the headstock profile and relocate the tuning pegs...whatever you can think of. If you can spend 6-12 months just doing that, then you have the wherewithal to start building necks.
Another exercise in neck building is to see what everyone else is doing. Take a small dial caliper, flexible rule and a short metal rule with you to Guitar Center. Find guitars you like, or are traditional best sellers. Start checking the dimensions on these different guitars and basses. Check the ones you hate, or other players shun, too, because you don't want to be "that guy" building necks. Over time you you will build a catalog of specs, profiles and scale lengths that players want.
Why? This is probably like pointing out the hole to the man laying at the bottom of it, but the neck is the single most important part of any stringed instrument. Look at the guitars you sold, hated, or avoided like the plague. It was the feel of the neck that either sold you, or drove you away.
So, you made some nice firewood. That happens. To everyone, regardless of skill level or years in the trade, it happens.
You can do this. Why you'd want to may escape me...but this is within your skill level to learn.
Well, that's it for me. Gotta take the cat in for her shots.
And it's good to see you lurking around here again. Don't be a stranger.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by Double Yoi on Jan 4, 2015 17:26:49 GMT -5
Thanks Cyn, For the kind words of encouragement, and sage advice.(As Always) The good news is those are pine, 2x4s to be exact. Practice makes perfect. The origin of this post was due to the issues I had in the transitions from heel to neck, and head stock to neck. I had an apprenticeship with a local luthier a few years back and took away a strong grasp of the use of the spoke shave. The filing of the transitions, not so much. We built tilt backs and cut in the volute so it appeared very natural to carve in those transitions.
Fixtures, jigs, and templates..Wow, you nailed it Cyn. I build them for everything. Build them to build each other it seems. My advice, read everything you can on the subject you are trying to master. Dry run, loose fit and tweak. Use others knowledge, no matter if they build furniture, or turn pens on a mini lathe for their kids. One last cool tidbit, if you look at the home improvement stores, back where they cut wood for customers. You can find scrap pieces of nice plywood, MDF, and if you're lucky..good wood. The best part is its all FREE!!! Free is good. Take care Bro.
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Post by blademaster2 on Aug 27, 2015 16:19:00 GMT -5
Please pardon me being late to this post (new to this site). I built my first electric guitar at age 17 using mostly hand tools and a powered hand-held jigsaw. I possibly spent more time than others due to my lack of jigs and other powered equipment, but the resulting guitar still works and plays well and I still love it. The only assistance I had was a family friend who cut the maple lumber for me into the rough sizes I needed to get started (I cut the head angle from that) and a local luthier who cut threads into the steel rod for my truss rod and cut the fret slots into the ebony blank fingerboard I had purchased (I immediately copied the fret spacing onto an aluminum ruler and used it for the next two guitars I built after that). I only used chisels, rasps, sanding blocks, and scrapers to get the shape and fit (it was a bolt-on neck for the custom body design I also made). I attached a photo of this same guitar (now more than 30 years old). It looks a little amateurish, and the subsequent guitars were much more polished, but this one is still very playable. Bottom Line: It *can* be done if you have the will to do it, even if like myself you have no money or experience. Attachments:
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Post by cynical1 on Aug 29, 2015 19:19:53 GMT -5
Blade -
I saw your posts in the Gallery. Very nice work. And you are right, you don't need an arsenal of tools, jigs and fixtures to build a neck. As you've shown, the results can be stunning.
As a business, a lead time of 3-6 months on a neck is financial suicide...for you and your business. DoubleYoi was looking more into the "make a living" side of the affair than the genuine aesthetic. If someone orders a Strat scale, reverse Tele headstock with 22 frets, a modified C shape and a 10"-16" compound radius, 6010 profile frets...you better have a price and lead time available over the phone and the tooling on the wall to crank that one out.
Don't get me wrong, the love of craft is primary...but eating is a tough habit to give up.
HTC1
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Post by blademaster2 on Sept 3, 2015 10:01:17 GMT -5
Thanks, and no argument there. I have never considered my love for the instrument to provide any way I could make a living from it, so the notion of it never crosses my mind.
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