Last time I mentioned it has come to my attention that folks are often doing things in the wrong order which can lead to avoidable difficulties. I also fessed up that I made the same mistake on a recent build...lets try to fix it! What do you do if you have already cut out your neck and haven't cut the truss rod slot! How to make it as hard as humanly possible - LIVE! (this could go horribly wrong) Carol will be standing by to heckle me with your best Q's!
Measure twice, cut once...
I thought of a fix for this yesterday. Stick a piece of wood the same thickness as the neck, and that has a straight edge, to the bench. This will be the edge for the router guide to follow. Next, stick the neck blank to the worktop next to the straight piece of wood but make sure the router bit lines up at both ends first. Once the router bit lines up and everything is stuck down properly, you should just be able to route the truss rod slot as normal. It’s just making sure that the truss rod centre line is parallel with the straight edge of the other board that is crucial.
Hope this makes sense. See you in the live stream today. 🤘😁🤘
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
I'm a bit peeved that I've not been able to watch live for the past two livestreams but I'm all caught up now.
So right at the end of todays stream, Mark, you were holding a strip of wood above the trussrod slot saying this would be glued in underneath the fretboard. The first thing I thought was of glue fouling the trussrod/slot. Is this something you could demonstrate on Saturday?
Pretty much all the other builders I've seen online just glue the fretboard on over the trussrod. Thoughts?
So right at the end of todays stream, Mark, you were holding a strip of wood above the trussrod slot saying this would be glued in underneath the fretboard. The first thing I thought was of glue fouling the trussrod/slot.
@peter-johnson The piece of wood you are referring to is called a fillet. It actually reduces the risk of any glue getting into the truss rod slot when gluing the fretboard on and binding up the truss rod, rendering it useless. It also stops the truss rod from potentially rattling in the slot under the fretboard. You only apply a very thin layer of glue on the two sides of the fillet before pushing it into the slot to cover the truss rod. You have to make sure no (or a minimal amount) glue gets into the slot and so long as large amounts don’t run into the slot, it won’t bind up the truss rod. I have made many necks using this method now, thanks to @markbailey, and every one works perfectly well (truss rod too). I understand your concerns, I was the same at first, but it’s absolutely fine. It’s all on the course.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸