Attaching the neck to the box

Hello Folks, I am a newbie and I am getting ready to build mi 1st cigarbox guitar and have a question on how to make the groove in the neck so it will fit well into the top of the cigar box. I bought the Bill Jehle's DVD "how to Build a Guitar" and he uses a router to carve out the material in the neck so it will be almost flush with the top of the box I do not have a wood shop or access to a router, or wish to invest in an expensive router. I got a bench chisel and been practicing in a scrap piece if wood the with and thickness of a neck, but boy it is tough to carve out the slot of approx. 1/32 of an inch (the thickness of the box top. After working some sweat for 2 hr the slot is certainly not flat and smooth so I do not think that it will glue well to the top and be flush to transmit the vibration (sound) to the box. I need some suggestions on how to cut a smooth slot in the neck... I though that perhaps a hand rotary tool like a Dremel with a router attachment and a router bit could achieve this Any suggestions or comments will be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Ronnie Retherford on December 22, 2009 at 3:46pm

Ditto Sam. I use a mitre saw with a piece of scrap wood clamped to the saw as a depth guide. Make the cuts, remove with the chisel, sand flat. I use the same process to thin down necks. Cut the back, remove wood, wood file then sand. I then make cuts on the edges and follow the same process. Time consuming but accurate.

Wichita Sam said:

try this //// mark your 1/4 that you want to remove. (mark both sides of the neck) take a hack saw and cut a series of lines to the mark... This is time consuming but accurate. Break out the pieces of wood inbetween the cuts with a screw driver or your chisel and then sand smooth. Again, it's time consuming but very accurate... should give you a nice some and level surface....

let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out..

the best,

Wichita Sam