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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on October 14, 2009 at 10:41pm

A neckstick would be a good solution i think, take a piece of wood about the same length as your box and make a neckpocket in it (like on a regular electric guitar) that you can bolt the neck to. Your pressure distribution is much larger that way because the tention isnt going to push on the crossmembers at the top of the box like it does now but linear to the neck itself since your basicly enlonging the neck.

You probibly gonna need an extra tool to cut the neckpocket, a wood chizzel. The rest can be done with what you have. You take a pencil draw out the shape of the neckpocket on the wood, mesure the depth of the pocket, take a drillbit and tape it off at how deep it has to be according to your mesurements, start drilling within the drawn lines on the wood untill you have a lot of holes where the pocket is gonna be and simply chizzel that out. Clean that up with the dremeltool and your good to go

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by David L. on October 15, 2009 at 12:31am

Thanks Bluesdog,

For the neckstick do you make it the depth of the inside of the box so it can be fixed to the top and bottom or do you have a free edge and just glue to the top? Also what would you recommend for the wood? Final question - Do you think screwing a metal plate on the underside of the stck would help or would the screwholes weaken the stick (could always glue I suppose)?

Regards,
David

Bluesdog said:

A neckstick would be a good solution i think, take a piece of wood about the same length as your box and make a neckpocket in it (like on a regular electric guitar) that you can bolt the neck to. Your pressure distribution is much larger that way because the tention isnt going to push on the crossmembers at the top of the box like it does now but linear to the neck itself since your basicly enlonging the neck.

You probibly gonna need an extra tool to cut the neckpocket, a wood chizzel. The rest can be done with what you have. You take a pencil draw out the shape of the neckpocket on the wood, mesure the depth of the pocket, take a drillbit and tape it off at how deep it has to be according to your mesurements, start drilling within the drawn lines on the wood untill you have a lot of holes where the pocket is gonna be and simply chizzel that out. Clean that up with the dremeltool and your good to go

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesdog on October 15, 2009 at 12:59am

Your welcome David, i'd choose the same depth as the box and fix it at the bottom and top but i guess that doesnt matter as much as long as the piece of wood is thick enough.

As far as the wood goes, any hardwood will do just fine for as far as i know.

You mean like a neckplate or all across the back of the neckstick? Your gonna need a neckplate or else the screw's might rip trough the wood, a metal plate all across the length of the stick would be unnecicary i.m.o. I dont think the holes will weaken the stick that much but you would need a pretty thick metal plate to compensate the weakening from the holes, your better of getting a nice quartersawn piece of wood saw that in 2 (lengthwise) and glue them back together with the grains oppostite to eachother. That would make a pretty tough stick and should have no problem coping with the pressure/tention.

Best wishes, Frans

David Lloyd said:

hanks Bluesdog,

For the neckstick do you make it the depth of the inside of the box so it can be fixed to the top and bottom or do you have a free edge and just glue to the top? Also what would you recommend for the wood? Final question - Do you think screwing a metal plate on the underside of the stck would help or would the screwholes weaken the stick (could always glue I suppose)?

Regards,
David

Bluesdog said:

A neckstick would be a good solution i think, take a piece of wood about the same length as your box and make a neckpocket in it (like on a regular electric guitar) that you can bolt the neck to. Your pressure distribution is much larger that way because the tention isnt going to push on the crossmembers at the top of the box like it does now but linear to the neck itself since your basicly enlonging the neck.

You probibly gonna need an extra tool to cut the neckpocket, a wood chizzel. The rest can be done with what you have. You take a pencil draw out the shape of the neckpocket on the wood, mesure the depth of the pocket, take a drillbit and tape it off at how deep it has to be according to your mesurements, start drilling within the drawn lines on the wood untill you have a lot of holes where the pocket is gonna be and simply chizzel that out. Clean that up with the dremeltool and your good to go

Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Wray on October 15, 2009 at 2:39am

David, you might try a full piece of ply the full lenth on the back. put a smaller piece on front of it towards the tail to fasten the bridge and string fastening to. Or you could cut 2 pieces to run from head end fastened to the side of the neck running from neck end to tail end , cut a square corner out of the head end put a piece across just like the one with the screws in it (in the picture) You could run a block accross the tail end for string and bridge fastening.

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Permalink Reply by David L. on October 15, 2009 at 9:00am

Hi Wray,
Thank you for the information.

Could anyone tell me the pecking order of the different woods possible please ie hardwood/plywood/MDF/any other when it comes to adding strength?

Thanks,
David

Wray said:

David, you might try a full piece of ply the full lenth on the back. put a smaller piece on front of it towards the tail to fasten the bridge and string fastening to. Or you could cut 2 pieces to run from head end fastened to the side of the neck running from neck end to tail end , cut a square corner out of the head end put a piece across just like the one with the screws in it (in the picture) You could run a block accross the tail end for string and bridge fastening.

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Permalink Reply by Wray on October 15, 2009 at 10:01am

David, It's been my experience that mdf is only good to use as a filler for table top laminations and such. Hardwoods are pretty strong, softwoods will flex or bend under pressure. Plywood on the other hand doesn't normally flex much (when used in the same thickness as dimensional lumber). It doesn't warp & bow as bad when influenced by humidity or similar conditions. But there's really not anything more beautiful than a finished piece of hardwood. I guess it just depends on what or where you're gonna use it. Hope this helps, Wray

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