Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on October 4, 2009 at 6:06am

In case it makes the problem clearer, here is a picture of the gap:

Permalink Reply by Gobi on October 4, 2009 at 6:06am

a real good circle Saw should do the job!?
Just saw a wedge from good wood und glue it between - or did I get you wrong?

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on October 4, 2009 at 6:16am

Gobi said:

a real good circle Saw should do the job!?
Just saw a wedge from good wood und glue it between - or did I get you wrong?

I don't think you misunderstood. I didn't mention, though, that I'm working almost completely with hand tools at the moment, though. I might try to plane / file / sand down another piece of the red oak fingerboard material, rather than "building up" the wedge.

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on October 4, 2009 at 6:33am

Tres, I think you might be on track here with the sand/plane method but let me combine what you were thinking with what Gobi said:

Instead of the wedge, do like Gobi suggests and use a table saw with the fence angled ~ 1-2 degree or less. This would make a more uniform cut than would be sand/file/plane (I know it did for me when I needed to redo my fingerboard.)

One thing you might want to do is to cut the neck down instead of the fingerboard. This would be less noticeable in my opinion as an oak fingerboard would be darker and might show as a "mistake".

one thing I did to angle the neck back was to raise the slot for the tailpiece and cut it down flush with the lid. less noticable.

Hey here is a silly idea... Whats to say you couldn't make some scarf-like joint inside the box. Instead of ~13deg some use for headstocks, you could scarf it so that just the neck was angled 1-2 deg or so.

Auuugh, I'd have to show ya let me get a drawing of this.....

-Wes

Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on October 4, 2009 at 6:51am

here ya go. Dunno if I like it but thats the idea. You would probably want to reinforce the neck inside the box tho. I usually do.

Attachments:

• scarfneckfortres.pdf, 152 KB

Permalink Reply by Gobi on October 4, 2009 at 8:36am

Also a good idear!
By the way - I'll have the same problem on my "Inter-National" :(

Permalink Reply by bairfoot cajun on October 4, 2009 at 11:06am

one thing i do to get proper neck angle is to block plane the end of the neck that is in the box,[the top side of it] and it allows the neck to angle enough to get a nice action on the strings.but in this case if you did do that it would leave a gap in the front of the box under the neck which you would have to fill in some how.maybe on yer next build you could try block planing the back of the neck that is in the box. hope this helps.

Permalink Reply by Kevin Lawton on October 4, 2009 at 9:58pm

Tres, the 'wood-working' method for this would be to simply add a 3/16" shim to the neck, mark the profile you want it to have along the sides, and then just plane it down to the mark. An 'interesting alternative' would be to make the finger-board from 1/2" stock materia and plane the taper onto it before fixing it to the neck. The 'engineering' method would be to make the shape of the neck extension, the bit that goes through the body, shaped in such a way that the neck winds-up in the position you need without using a shim. The easiest way to do this, as it is what I do, is to plan it out with a side-on-view draw on paper first and then get it right before marking out and cutting th wood.

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on October 5, 2009 at 4:22am

Thanks for all the feedback -- I probably won't get back to it for a bit, but you've given me lots of stuff to consider.

Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on October 29, 2009 at 3:38pm

Just a quick followup: I ended up using Kevin's first alternative ("add a 3/16" shim to the neck, mark the profile you want it to have along the sides, and then just plane it down to the mark.") I'm really pleased with the way the fingerboard is angled: the action should stay low and even all the way up the neck.

Thanks again, all! I will post pix soon.

Permalink Reply by Randy Beach on November 11, 2009 at 5:22pm

I am makeing my first cbg also.I am makeing it from oak. I glued 2 pieces of oak together to give me and 1-1/2 by 2-1/4 to give me a good thick plank to start with. I cut my angle on my neck form body to nut. and rounded the back of it useing a wood rasp.made my neck heel and it left enough at the nut end to make a nice head stock.when I was thinking of installling the neck to the body I was thinking along the gibson style with the angled neck. I set my miter saw on a 1degree angle and set the cut height I wanted at the body of the cbg.glued the neck on to body with plenty of wood glue and three wood screws into the heel.took water and cloth and cleaned up the glue that ran out and so far so good. I have a 24 fret finger board length lol. I am looking for a 4 string bridge and was wondering if one could be made useing a fender style 6 string bridge and cutting it off to give me what I want. will this work ? My fret board at the body is 2" and at the nut about an 1-1/2. any suggestions on this? thanks Randy

Permalink Reply by Randy Beach on November 11, 2009 at 6:21pm

Ted Crocker said:

Sounds great Randy. Yes, you can cut down a Fender style bridge or you can just remove the 2 outside saddles. You could also get a piece of angle steel or brass and fabricate your own base for it.

Good Luck,

Ted

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