New build from a New Member

[orkboy59]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on here and I figured I would share a project I am working on about two years ago. It started life when I took a drawing of a Toranodo to have printed. When I got the print back it was the wrong scale. So I started to redraw it by hand and when I got to the back end of the guitar I decided to off set it a little bit. With that, this was born.

I had cut the body out of Sapele when I first got started on this project. Well, we moved back to the States from the UK and it sat in a container out in the garage. I found it about a week ago and decided to started working on it again. Today pulled the router out and zipped a 1/4" radius on the back and got started on the belly cut using a flap wheel a grinder and cleaned it up with a rasp and file.


The neck is going to be a multi part neck out of cherry and maple. I used to have access to a jointer and planer, but after I moved I no longer have that. So in order to get the neck blank flat I built a router sled to help out with that.


The plan is to finish it seafoam green with black hardware and black binding. I'm pretty sure I am going to have questions along the way so I apologize now for bugging the crap out of you all.

Cheers,
Conan

[Shadoweclipse13]

Cool project! Love what you're thinking for the neck!!

[gishuk]

Builds looking great and I dig the shape, but bare feet in a workshop is giving me anxiety

[orkboy59]

Cool project! Love what you're thinking for the neck!!

Thanks!I originally started with just maple but every time I ran it through the planer it would warp. So i decided to laminate it with the cherry with the grain more quarter sawn. Its way more stable now.

[orkboy59]

Builds looking great and I dig the shape, but bare feet in a workshop is giving me anxiety

I was done working when i took the pictures. That's not standard when I'm out there working.

[orkboy59]

So I got back at it again today. I plan was to get the fret board glued on before it go too hot out here in the Nevada desert. Im not quite sure thats going to happen today or not, but any progress is good progress.

I started by getting the fret board side of the neck blank flat. I started off by using the masking tape and superglue trick to put some 120 grit sandpaper down on my table saw top and started sanding it. This worked well, but there were too many irregularities in the wood from me trying to plane it down with a hand plane.



So i decided to get out the flattening jig I made and use a router to get the surface flat. It worked like a charm. To hold it down I used some hot glue at each end by putting a little bead of glue where the edge of the board meets the sled. Sorry no pics of this, but it held it in place while I ran the router along the board using shallow passes.



Then I flipped it over and ran it through again until I got down to about 3/4".



Then I established the center line of the neck blank by measuring the center piece of maple and marking that out.



Then I marked the position of where the nut is going to be then started laying out for the truss rod.




Conan

[orkboy59]

Soooooo, I routed the truss rod channel and routed the access hole for the adjustment screw.



It was bout this time when I realized I may have messed up a little.





I think I am going to be plugging some of that in the morning and moving the truss rod further down the neck about a quarter of an inch.

Well, this is my first neck build, I should have taken a little more time in laying out the truss rod cavity.

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Conan

[alkalineHemlock]

This doesn't look too bad. Kind of how I'd imagine headstock-adjusting Fender necks would be. Is there a functional issue with the truss rod sticking out this far?

[orkboy59]

This doesn't look too bad. Kind of how I'd imagine headstock-adjusting Fender necks would be. Is there a functional issue with the truss rod sticking out this far?

I really don't think so. At least what I have been told. I posted these pic on a Luthier group on FB and they said it would be fine.

[alkalineHemlock]

This doesn't look too bad. Kind of how I'd imagine headstock-adjusting Fender necks would be. Is there a functional issue with the truss rod sticking out this far?

I really don't think so. At least what I have been told. I posted these pic on a Luthier group on FB and they said it would be fine.

It's reminiscent of the bullet truss rod look that Fender had going. Whether you plug or leave it, I think you'll end up with a very pretty neck!

[orkboy59]

Got the neck rough cut and routed to size with the template.


And routed the control cavity on the body while I was at it.


I also grabbed a couple of shots of the neck in its rough position on the body with and without the fret board laid on top.




All and all I'm digging the way it looks.

[Amon 7.L]

Cool design and very nice choice of woods, Conan!
Is it me or the body looks like a Toronado with a Jazzmaster-ish top horn with the lower bout/lower horn of a Starcaster? You've gotten a really nice mesh up

I have one consideration regarding the truss rod.. (I'm a rookie at building necks so take this as hobbyist point of view), I don't know if you can remove the adjustment nut from the truss-rod but, if not, once you've glued the fretboard on top of the neck blank with said truss-rod embedded, wouldn't be a problem to make the headstock curved transition with the nut sticking out? I mean.. it's going to be a real PITA to rasp an even geometry with such a protruding obstacle in the middle of the working area..
Or ... -me going science-fiction mode- are you planning to glue the fretboard, make the headstock transition and THEN slide the truss rod inside the channel?
Disregard my argument if it's totally silly.
Nonetheless, keep us update..!

[orkboy59]

Cool design and very nice choice of woods, Conan!
Is it me or the body looks like a Toronado with a Jazzmaster-ish top horn with the lower bout/lower horn of a Starcaster? You've gotten a really nice mesh up

I have one consideration regarding the truss rod.. (I'm a rookie at building necks so take this as hobbyist point of view), I don't know if you can remove the adjustment nut from the truss-rod but, if not, once you've glued the fretboard on top of the neck blank with said truss-rod embedded, wouldn't be a problem to make the headstock curved transition with the nut sticking out? I mean.. it's going to be a real PITA to rasp an even geometry with such a protruding obstacle in the middle of the working area..
Or ... -me going science-fiction mode- are you planning to glue the fretboard, make the headstock transition and THEN slide the truss rod inside the channel?
Disregard my argument if it's totally silly.
Nonetheless, keep us update..!

Yeah, its a Toronado front end with a custom drawn back end.

This is my first neck build, sooo yeah. So this may end up being a tutorial on how not to build a neck. No doubt its going to be a pain in the rear end but I think I have a plan for that, well at least most of it. The part right under the bolt will be an issue if I glue the fret board on first. I'm still thinking through it though. I'll probably just end up clamping it back down and extend the truss rod cavity back a little bit.