This project started out with intentions of building a "quick and dirty" test bed to experiment with a few ideas, but morphed into something else. I just cant seem to help myself.

What it turned out to be however isnt yet known, as of this writing I am still tinkering with it and it is not yet finished. But however it turns out (or doesnt!) I think it may be a chance to share some ideas and tips for those with one or more of these situations:

  • Limited tools and experience
  • A lack of access to wood products beyond the common stock at the local big-box store.
  • Intimidated by the thought of executing a scarf joint, but desire to do a conventional set back headstock.

Follow along if you choose, as I show how I made a carved neck with little more than a 1X2, a couple of saws, a chisel, a rasp, some sand paper, some clamps and a basic "workmate" style work bench. I used no power tools in creating the neck, just to share a method for anyone interested.

Some thoughts on carving and chisel use-

It is important to use a sharp tool and learn to safely do so. A slip with a chisel or other sharp tool can do a lot of damage to you and your work. If you havent done so yet, learn to properly sharpen your tool, they generally arent acceptable as purchased. I prefer pretty good quality blades and hone a micro bevel onto them.

Practice on some scrap wood, and learn to never cut toward any part of your body. Think through your plan and secure your workpiece well. Use small cuts and motions. Ignore those crazy videos where guys tear away great amounts of wood at full speed. Learn to carve out small chips, slice long narrow slivers and gouge inside radii. Learn to read the grain so your blade doesnt dig in. Learn to plane with the bevel up and when to turn the chisel bevel down and carve. Experiment with planing at angles across the grain. With practice you may find you can quickly learn to shape pretty close to finished with good techniques and tools. And you will learn that the basic chisel is a most versatile tool. And again, be careful. this is supposed to be fun!

I had previously drawn up a plan for a 3 string 22.5" scale neck with an integral fingerboard and chromatic fretting by determining my nut and bridge location first, with the bridge being roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the way from the end of the chosen box. It is a neck-thru construction with the neck "tail" forming the string tailpiece.

I chose this particular box because I liked the way it looked, but also because I planned to build this to primarily test some ideas, I also chose a box that I knew had a bit of a warped lid, and ply construction, so I dont have real high hopes of exceptional acoustic performance. It may have had a better chance if I had used the bottom of the box as the soundboard, but to be honest, I just couldnt resist the way the top and label looked. We'll see how it sounds in the end!

I also planned a 10 or 12 degree headstock angle, a 2 degree negative neck set angle, 1/8" minimum clearance to the top and bottom of the box, a carved heal, simple piezo disc pickups, a Corian nut and a combination hardwood/Corian bridge. The finger board surface is 1/4 above the box where it meets the neck.

I chose Poplar as I figured it was easiest to work with manually and readily available.

The design I had drawn showed that with this scale length and box size, I would end up with 18 frets, so I tweeked the plan so the 18th fret would end up aligned with the end of the box for asthetics.

Well lets get started:

I started by laying out a profile of my plan on the side of a 1X2

The first cuts create the basic neck profile. I cut them before joining the halves to make sawing easier. I began at the headstock with a back saw to make the straight cut, then I cut the curved section with a coping saw. Its slow and tedious but shows it is quite possible. My advise is to take your time and let the saw do the work,, and cut slightly outside the lines to allow for final shaping.  While making the longer cuts I used a scrap as a wedge to reduce binding. The following pictures show the procedure.

 

I then joined the two halves:

The various end cuts in the box area were made with the back saw, and areas between were slotted and chiselled out to reduce sawing:

After further smoothing and carving with the chisel I cut two ears and attached them to the headstock area;

After some triming and planing with the chisel I had a nice basic neck blank;

I made a full sized template from my plan for a headstock, and transferred it to the neck, carefully referencing the nut location. Then cut and sanded the head stock shape;

Then I began carving and shaping the heal and the neck to head transition area:

I After the heal and head end shapes were pretty close to where I wanted them I carved the neck area to join the two. I have to confess that at this point I did break out a spokeshave as it is much faster, but you can certainly shave, plane and carve it with a chisel if needed. Go slow and stop to check your work often, shave smaller and smaller amounts as you get close to the final shape. I used a 4 way rasp and sandpaper as I shaped and smoothed further until I had a semi finished neck. I then further flattened the fingerboard surface with a piece of "stikit" 120, then 220 on a peice of marble. (This is a door threshold from the local big box home supply store, about $10):

After fine sanding the neck I was ready to move to the next stop.

(Continued)

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Heres a view of the neck and box during a mock up trial.

 

Next I laid out and marked my nut and fret positions:

Using a fret saw with depth guide and a little framing square as a guide I cut the fret slots and cut a 1/8" deep slot at each end of the nut location, again slotting and chiseling out the waste. I then cleaned up the nut slot with a 1/8" file from a needle file set.

 

Then I laid out and drilled 1/16" holes for side fret markers, used a drop of super glue in each one at a time and installed 1/16" plastic rod, cutting it off and tapping it just above flush, trimming with a with a razor blade and sanding them all flush.

Now for some fun. This is where I ran into my first serious problem with this design. I found that the frets didnt really want to stay securely down due to the softer than commonly used wood. What seemed to work was to flatten out the pre-arched fret wire to match my flat finger board and apply a small amount of glue into the slot and install the fret wire, the clamping with a caul until dry.

I used Titebond, and applied it by creating a little tray and application knife from a piece of clamshell packaging.

 

I also had a caul and clamps in place while trimming and filing the ends fof the frets flush to minimize the chance of loosening them.

I then beveled and rounded off the ends to a semi finished state, leaving the tedious procedure of final dressing until after testing/proving the rest of the build so as to not waste too much time at this stage.

Sorry, that ones blurry!

 

Next we mount the neck into the box.

 

Before mounting the neck into the box I drilled the end for the string mounting, and fitted it for ferrules made from rivets. I also drilled a hole for pickup wiring and drilled my headstock for tuners.

Here is a step to be careful. You want to drill them straight and accurately and your bit is going to want to wander. It was very hard to resist going over to the drill press. Start with smaller bits and work up to the final size, carefully reaming for the tuner bushings.

I then put two coats of Minwax antique oil finish on the neck, masking off areas to be glued. This finish was another experiment as I wanted a somewhat natural finish, but wanted a rustic matte look that protected the wood to some degree. I applied a coat, let it sit about 15 minutes then wiped it off and let it dry 24 hours. Then I buffed it with a cloth and repeated. So far I am pleased with the simple result.

 

 

 

I wanted the top to be securely attached, so I added some material to reinforce the neck joint and to provide a place to eventually glue the top on.

If you arent equipped to rip 1/4" strips, I would suggest an assortment of basswood strips from a hobby/crafter store in the usually found in the modeler department. Heres some pics of how I cut, fitted and installed them.

 

 

I thinned some strips with a model builders plane. Note the use of a stop block to plane the wood against.

 

 

 

And how I used a small sanding block to trim the ends of my strips to get a good fit.

 

Next I will show the piezo disc install, then the nut and bridge fabrication and installation.

 

great blog mark, really coming together. you using a mag pickup? the way the neck is designed theres plenty of strength if you decide to route out a hole for the pup
Very promising looking build, like the way you've done the neck and headstock!

Thanks guys, I just hope someone finds something helpful here, thats why I do it.

 

Merl, I planned to keep this one very basic and minimalist. For now it is getting a pair of piezo discs so I can experiment, no volume pot or anything. I built it with a neg neck set so I could experiment with the bridge, so it could get a rod under the saddle later. And yes, if it works well otherwise and I feel the need there is plenty of substantial material to do a few other things.

I really just wanted a little easily transportable sized instrument to mess around with, and to experiment with a few ideas while keeping it simple and using common inexpensive materials and basic hand tools as much as possible to use as a "teaching" tool here.

I am not sure about the short scale and how I will like the sound. I hope it doesnt sound too "toyish". I tend to like a something capable of a deeper growl than this thing is likely to provide. I am inclined at this point to go with a 3,4,5 string from a med acoustic set and try tuning it GDg, we'll see how that works out, it may not work at this length.........

One thing I can tell you about the experience already is that the people who build this way really need to at least buy a cheap jigsaw..... :-)

Piezo installation:

Heres the second place I found unexpected trouble. I have never messed with the discs, but wanted to use them as an example here on how to get some extra fun out of this at little cost and effort. Well at least the cost part worked out.

I read all over here about how people would just break open the common piezo buzzers and apply them with two faced tape to the inside of the lid.

I have a lot of experience with soldering, both large and small, so I figured it would be no sweat........

Freeing the discs from thier prison took some pretty agressive attacks with a pair of pliers, breaking away the lip of the shell all around the perimeter and then prying the disc off the other end of the housing.

This revealed the buzzer had a little oscillator circuit that needed to be removed, and leads re-attached to the disc to eliminate the extra circuit.

The leads provided were a little short for my needs, and very light guage. I thought I might get a more secure attachment if I stepped up to a little heavier guage. This was probably my first mistake............

Soldering the black wires to each of the discs on the copper back plate went smoothly, no problems there. But where the red wires were to be attached is a very thin film like material on the top of the ceramic disc. I found it a little hard to get a good solder joint, and every time the wire got jostled ever so slightly it would pop off, film and all. Its not the solder joint, just the fragility of the film you have to solder to.

I got one done and applied a piece of tape to the top to help secure the wire from pulling on the film, the other took about four tries and by the time I got it there wasnt much film left to solder to! And the heavier guage wire just seemed to aggrevate the problem due to the reduced flexibility.

I finally got it secured and tested both discs by temporarily attaching the leads to a jack and plugging into a practice amp. Taping and humming into them made some noise so I proceeded with the installation.

Note that some discs have two different circuit segments on the top, you can hook the red lead to both, or just the larger one, it doesnt seem to make much difference. And also of note is that these things look and feel pretty fragile and insignificant, but they will take some pretty rough handling, outside of the previously mentioned problem.

I hooked the two discs together in parallel, attached one to the underside of the top on each side of the neck in the bridge area. They are attached with foam mounting tape, then I put a piece of "racer" tape over them to support the wires and additionally put a dab of hot glue on the wires where they came out from under the tape, as additional strain relief.

Next time I might try encasing some in a way that provides attatchment more like a common watch battery is installed. Or just go back to rods under the saddle. Or mag p/ups.........

I had already scraped the paper from the lid edges and box lips as necessary for glueing the top on, so I installed the jack, hooked up the discs and tested them one last time. Then glued and clamped the top on securely. Any further trips to inside this box will require surgery! (Crossed my fingers.)

 

Picking up where I left off, after some delay.

I masked off the headstock and sprayed two light coats of laquer on the face, and allowed it to dry thoroughly.

 

I then applied my logo, (water slide decal, I will do a seperate tip discussion on making these.) After allowing the decal to dry, I applied two more coats of Laquer and once dry, installed my tuners.

 

 

 

In this side view you can see one problem area created when we build with such compact headstock designs.

The tuner shafts stick up very far. This is in part because I carved a little too much off the back of the head to get to where I was pleased with the results. I had intended on about 5/8" thick, but by the time I was happy it was about 1/2".

The problem is, if you dont wrap the strings from the bottom of the shaft (good practice anyway) you will end up with little or no break over the nut. In the following pictures you will see how to solve this issue.

As a side note, ukelele tuners could be used, as they are generally designed for thinner headstocks. In some cases you can also "shim" the tuners by applying a veneer or cap to the back side of the head.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, fabrication of the nut and bridge.

This is an area where you especially want to go slow and ease up on the final fit. Captain obvious points out that its easier to remove material than put it back. For example, start with a high string action and ease up on the final height.

I cut a corian nut blank slightly larger than the width of my nut slot, width and allowed plenty of height for shaping, slotting.

Then I sanded to final snug fit in the slot, to the width of the neck and rounded over the top toward the tuners. Using finer paper in steps I finished the exterior surfaces with 320, 400, 600 then 1000 paper to give a semi polished finish.

I then located my string slots, started them with a hobby saw and rough filed them to slightly below the string diameter with small round files. As has been mentioned elsewhere, torch tip cleaners are an inexpensive alternative to dedicated nut files. It works, but its slow going.

Final slot fit and string height will be fitted after the strings are in place.

 

 

Here I have installed the strings for final nut fitting.

You can see in the picture how winding the strings avoided a problem due to the shaft height as well.

 

 

Here I have put a corian block in place as a temporary bridge for the purposes of final fitting of the nut. It also gave me a chance to tune the strings up temporarily and see what I have.

 

 

I tuned up slowly, watching carefully for neck and box top deflection. I went past my intended tuning all the way to a very tight Dad, and there was no noticeable neck flexing. At that point however the lid was noticeably concave. I think it will be fine at the intended tuning.

Sound wise, it seems to have nice ringing tone so far. The action is way too high to judge fretting, but with a slide it sounded pretty good. I didnt plug it in to an amp, it was late.

I backed off the strings for now, and am working on the final nut fitment, then I will fabricate a bridge of some sort (still undecided on final materials, perhaps I should just shape the corian block up for now!)

The final decision will be whether it gets a sound hole.

 

Be back soon!

 

 

I filed the string slots for a snug fit for each string diameter, and set the depth at flush for the thinnest string, slightly above flush for the middle string, and slightly higher yet for the top string.

 

 

Then I carefully trial fitted and removed the nut, and removed a small amount of material at a time from the bottom until the string height was where I wanted it.

 

 

Then I removed the nut one more time, sanded all surfaces with 220, then 320, then 400, 600, 1000..... and finally gave it a light buff to "pretty it up".

 

 

 

Now lets make a bridge.

I changed my plans at the last minute, I was going to do an ebony bridge with a white saddle to complement the colors of the guitar, but then decided to just carve a bridge from a block of corian.

It doesnt show up here, (Most of these pictures are of a different bridge, but similar.) but I started with sawing and installing a fret in the center of what would become the top, then machined the height to just taller than the desired finished height, similar to the nut.

 

 

Then I machined and shaped it into roughly the desired shape.

 

 

 

 

Then smoothed and polished as the nut, it went on for final height fitment.

 

Again, the bridge I ended up with is similar, but has the addition of a fret for a top surface. But how cool is that?

 

Here is "Shorty" Strung up to GDg and set up for some playing to evaluate it. I dont have much slide experience, so for now it is set up more for fretting. A little low for novice slide work anyhow. Sounds good so far.

I will likely make a second nut, higher for slide if and when the time comes.

 

Next up, an amplified test, and still, the decision/comparison- without and with a sound hole. Maybe..........

 

 

 

 

This is a very cool way of documenting your build.
love the neck building process, its lookin good all round.

Thank you!

I share these to hopefully give someone an idea or inspiration.

I havent had a lot of time to play, and to be honest this is my first experience playing a 3 stringer tuned 151, so I am finding it quite odd as compared to the instruments and tunings I am used to. So I will learn and practice a bit more, and of course share along the way. It has a nice mellow tone, and pretty good volume considering the box and everything. I have a couple of minor buzzes to work out too, so I will have to work on the frets a little.

Anyway, thanks again, and welcome to the group if I havent had the chance to send you a message yet!

Have fun!

Mark

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