Okay, I jumped in to this wonderful hobby last night by picking up materials for my first build. Local cigar shop hooked me up with some boxes and I picked up some poplar 1x2s. Got home, measured things out and started trying to remove wood on the neck so that it would fit into the box and the lid would close. I have limited handtools and a few hand power tools. I first tried a long rasp that I had and after about 10 minutes, realized that this was not going to work. Then I took a small hand saw and sawed straight down to the depth that I needed and did this every 1/4 inch. I then took a skil saw and removed the pieces. This was very uneven and now I have to take the rasp and try to straighten it all out. Is there an easier way to remove this wood without a band saw? I have a Dremel but could not figure out a way to use it. I don't mind buying what I need and if a band saw is what I need, I guess I can find one but would prefer to keep things on the cheap. Thanks.
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Learn to use a chisel and mallet, keep the tool sharp, clamp the work down firmly, work steadily and work safe, and the skills you learn will serve you well for years into the future. You don't need a bandsaw, I made over 250 guitars before I went and bought a bandsaw.
you can avoid this cut alltogether , by just attaching the neck to the inside of the box .. and then placing a fretboard on the neck that is the same thickness as the box lid to make it flush .
ie; if your box lid is a 1/4 inch thick ,, use a 1/4 inch fretboard .. so its flush on top .
What are you using as fretboard? I like the idea of a separate fret board but that seems like more cutting and extra steps. Is there a board sold in that size that is easy to find?
yup - your local wood shop should have fretboard width wood .
cut it to length and glue it on .. no extra steps . actually way easier .
You can get the same 2" width boards that are thinner. Just glue to the neck board and you're good to go. You might consider keeping the fret board at least 1/8" higher than the box lid so you have enough room to strum and still low action over the frets. Unless you're doing slide-only.
Coping saw will do it, but I'm not sure it's faster than a chisel.
Second what Ed said: use a sharp chisel to knock the slices out. I smooth with a rasp/file combo, but, remember, that part doesn't show, so it just needs to be "smooth enough"--which means whatever you want it to mean.
Yep, and the same method works great from my super-high tech, newest model, most favorite, money can't buy poverty, workbench.
That's awesome. Lol. Might have to give that a try so I can watch television while I am working. Of course the wife might frown on all the sawdust.
I'm sitting on a 5 gallon bucket and I have my smartphone sitting on something next to me. Streaming Netflix. :)
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