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The hardest part of making a neck with no power saw

There is something about using a coping saw and a chisel to make a guitar neck. a great feeling knowing you made the guitar without more than mainly just a drill . Those cuts in the neck for the cigar box to close and the recess the headstock require difficult and time-consuming effort for me...
I'm thinking of a jigsaw? to make those cuts but also wanted to know what other tools people use to cut those areas. I seem to make the most mistakes at these points because of the chisel/sanding.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Leslie/Runaway Veal Music on November 27, 2014 at 11:10am

Your awesome....how's that one from harbor freight you mentioned earlier in the post...passable to cut grooves?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Leslie/Runaway Veal Music on November 27, 2014 at 11:26am

I got a chisel set from harbor freight (hah) pretty inexpensive I think under 10. I cut slots to a measured line (never really gets exactly to the line or goes a liitle over) I cut the slots with coping saw(never straight like you said but I try) about 1/2" from each other or a bit smaller. Cut slots for the amount to be carved out...then I use a 1" chisel and chunks fly out fairly easy. It's never perfectly level...then the rasp/file...then sanding ...lots of it...uggg. Although it makes you feel like one of those ancient marble cutters/artists from Greece ...
I think that's all fine if your hands, back an patience are all in tact. I need a bit of help with a power tool at this point...it's hard to tell exactly how to use the hand router for the carving out process for the necks due to the large round thingy blocking my view but I'm gonna study the videos you sent!!!

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Permalink Reply by Jon Leslie/Runaway Veal Music on November 27, 2014 at 11:46am

This is what trying to do...I don't know how this happened and I thought I had chiseled enough space to fit with the piezo pick up and still have the box lid closed but I was wrong ...didn't want to make the neck too thin in that area...I ended up with the Piezo on the underside of the neck

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on November 27, 2014 at 11:57am

Nothing wrong with that, John. It will definitely sound different. You'll likely hear your hand moving up & down the neck. You could always re-position the piezo to the underside of the lid, just above or below the neck brace, if its current locale sounds unsavory.

Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on November 28, 2014 at 9:51am

I was not very clear. I love my jigsaw for doing some parts of a neck, like shaping the headstock or cutting the top relief. I use it for a lot of other stuff but to round off the back of a neck I prefer to do it by hand with a spokeshave.

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on November 28, 2014 at 12:21pm

I thought about doing a vid building a guitar without electricity. Just a basic stick through box screwed and glued but it time consuming.

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Permalink Reply by gary sheldon on November 30, 2014 at 11:49am

I wouldn't recommend a jigsaw. I have a scroll saw which is pretty useless except for occasional cuts in thin plywood. If you are using hardwood for the neck, the jigsaw or scrollsaw just doesn't have the punch to get through it. I can't get a straight cut in oak with the scrollsaw. When I push the work, the blade just turns and I have no control over it.

Beg, or trade something or some labor for use of a tablesaw or bandsaw. Have everything laid out before you show up and bring your own clamps, pencils and measuring tools. That way, the owner of the saw doesn't have to stand around while you get set up.

There are affordable table saws, but they are not so good and I think they are a bit dangerous.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on December 1, 2014 at 4:20am

Out of curiousity I've built a couple of necks only using hand tools. I've got a pretty complete shop but get much more satisfaction using non powered tools. I do use scarf joints for the head angle and I lay out the 7 - 10 degree angle and draw a pencil line. Then use your best saw to follow that line. You can touch up the cut with a sanding block and 80 grit paper for a tight fit. Shaping the neck starts with a draw knife, a spokeshave, rasps and a cabinet scraper and then sanding. Here's a vid I made of that process last year. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/slow-but-satisfying-my-most-bor...

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Permalink Reply by Richey Kay on December 1, 2014 at 6:05am

I've tried using power tools a few times, but always miss the hands on feel. I have used only hand tools (and an electric drill) for about my last 20 builds...

Thinning the headstock and recessing the neck under the lid are jobs for chisels and rasps. If I tried to use a coping saw or jigsaw for this I think I would make a mess!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on December 1, 2014 at 7:40am

Exactly Wayfinder! I highly reccommend the Dragon rasps which I use in the video. Prior to getting them from Stew-Mac I was using decent quality Nicholson rasps and the difference is like hatchet compared to scalpel! I also use them to fit the opening in a box to the neck extension. Slow enough to not mess up but fast enough to not be tedious.