Continues...
This
meeting was our second "for members only" meeting and was held once
again
at the Erickson Guitars. The meeting started with a
re-acquaintance of Mr.
Router, Mr. Bandsaw, and Mr.
Fordom Flexshaft. We
had more members show up this time. Gary once again demoed the use of
the
routing templates for the truss rod installation and continued with
his lecture on Neck Building 101. Gary also gave a short lecture on
fingerboard dimensions and an explanation of cutting fret slots. We
discussed how
deep the slots should be and why, radiused slots versus flat, and the
cutting of the slots before or after
the fingerboard is radiused.
 The SCALe Mascot, "Rocky" Protector of the Attending Faithful, |
 ...and his mighty side kick "Clifford" the soon to be Big Red Dog |
 Now where does Gary keep his secret stash of the best fingerboards? |
 Hmm... Let's see... It's the correct thickness, approximately 0.25", the correct width, 2.25" and it has a ton of figured "birds eyes". It even has Gary's name penciled on it. Cool! "Hey Gary do you have an eraser?" Maybe I could just sand his name off! |
 Decisions, decisions... Mike shows us the variety of the different shades and grain structures that can be found in these various samples of Maple fingerboards. |
 The ever popular crop circle inlays. Recesses were cut with a laser engraver at Tustin Engraving by Jake Hill. |
 George uses the fret slot cutting jig on the small table saw. It utilizes a .020" thick, hollow ground blade to match the average fret tang width. |
 George plans how the truss rod might fit if he had made the adjuster at the head stock. The template can be used to put the truss rod adjuster in either direction, but the route must end sooner if it is placed at the tail end. This subject is discussed at length in the first issue of our GuitarBuilder magazine. |
 Mike cuts out the neck shape on the old Crapsman Bandsaw. |
 Watch those fingers! |
 Fun and jokes were had by all! |
 Steve gives it a shot and finds that blade drift can be a problem on the long cuts. The blade wants to follow the wood's grain structure. |
Richard brought some cigar boxes to try his hand at making a cigar box Ukulele. He decided on a scale length something close to 13.5". He is going to use a ziracote fingerboard and a simple "X" bracing pattern for the body box. |
|
 Richard's shows us a Uke and the cigar box from which he wants to make the sound box. |
 Richard has clamped and glued the curfing top support for the boxes lid. |
 Sanding the fingerboard to thickness. Tools for this operation: A pressure block, a caliper and a combination disc/belt sander. A complete instrument can be constructed with various hand tools, a router and a band saw and this machine. It is possible to set up a little guitar shop for not much more than 2-3k. That's how Gary says he started. |
 The same fret slot template can be used for different scale lengths. |
 Sound box beginnings... Now for the "X" braces and the neck block. |
 Discussing the scale length possibilities. Trick: If you have a template that already has scaled notches, each notch can become the nut witness point for the scale length. Another words if you want a 13.5" scale and you have a 25.5" template, the 11th fret can be used as the nut slot. cut the fingerboard slots normally but start at the 11th fret. |
Here are the subjects that were covered in the meeting:.
Headstock shapes styles and string post positions
fingerboard scales
Truss Rod routing, fitting, and controlling neck bow
More building techniques...
Sorry you missed the meeting!
The next regular meeting ins on November 9th at 1:30 pm at Mercy Music.
Hope to see you there.