Wow! Things were humming this meeting.
Rain caused us to move indoors this time, so it was a little
crowded. We got around the problem by setting up only the
machines
that we needed and concentrating on neck construction only. This worked
well as everyone was able to get a good amount of progress
accomplished. We glued up two necks shaped 2 necks, radiuses 2
fingerboards. rough cut 3 necks to shape and cut the fret slots in
Tom's Baritone fingerboard. The
camaraderie is great... everybody helps each other.
Since each project has several people discussing the how and why of
each step in the process, Gary gets a lot of questions and we get a lot
of answers. The members are now building 3 electric
guitars, 2 arch top hollow body electrics( one is an 8 string), 1 cigar
box ukulele, 1 mandolin, 2 acoustic guitars, 2 electric basses. We did
not have a lecture this week, but the whole day seemed to be filled
with information. Excellent progress and fun was had by all.
Subjects covered in this meeting were:
Truss rod construction
Neck joints
Fingerboard to neck base gluing techniques
Changing scale lengths
Shaping the neck back and fingerboard radius
More building techniques...
Sorry if you were one of those who missed the meeting!
The next regular meeting is on December 14th at 1:30 pm at Mercy Music.
Hope to see you there.
1. This weeks "SCALe Enthusiasm Award", goes to Paul, for his mind griping ability to inspire all who come near him to... run away quick! Paul is working on an Erickson Bass made of vermilion rose wood, maple, and zebrawood for the body. The neck is maple with ziracote fingerboard. It has a concurvature body back and the body shape is a Precision/Jazz combination. |
 2. Paul's enthusiasm is only matched by his intensity for the perfect bass. |
 3. Paul takes a lunch break from harassing Gary. It's a dirty job but Paul will gladly volunteer. |
 4. Here are the rough cut 8 string and 6 string necks. The wood is Tiger maple. |
 5. These necks are ready for the final fingerboard radius sanding as soon as the truss rod adjuster slots have been cleaned up to allow good access for the adjustment wrench. |
 6. These necks have close approximate thickness and a rough radius has been applied. Final radius will be sanded into the fingerboard with attention to the neck bow and truss rod adjustment tightened to within required parameters. The adjuster must have enough tension on the truss rod when the fingerboard is straight, to allow for adjustment in both forward and backward directions. Final shaping and finnish sanding can now be applied. |
 7. Steve checks the radius blocks for final fingerboard surface sanding. |
 8. Doug and Tom discuss the fine points of ?... while Steve continues his fingerboard surface sanding. |
The
Long Scale Mandolin Project 9. Our father and son project is a long scale Mandolin. Chuck and his son, Shawn, are trying to calculate how much lumber is needed for the neck. The plans they have call for a 13.5" scale, but in the interest of pushing the envelope of creativity, they have decided to make a 16.256" scale mandolin. |
 10. Chuck sizes the lumber edges for accurate layout measuring and for accurate milling. |
 11. Setting up the bandsaw. |
 12. Here, Chuck is trying to resaw the mandolin lumber to be used for the bookmatched top. This is an awful lot of lumber for the Crapsman. Gary can't wait for the new bandsaw to arrive. Neither can we! |
 13. |
 14. The Mandolin neck base is now ready to route for the truss rod. A custom rod must be constructed for the longer scale neck. |
 15. |
16. Since the mandolin
project has been enhanced to a longer scale design, several other
changes have to be made. The neck's headstock rake has been decreased
to approximately 12.37 degrees, using a 2" thick by 7.0" long
headstock. With the additions of a nut, thicker fingerboard, and short
post machine heads, the string angle will be increased to 13 degrees at
the smallest string break angle. Tests have shown the minimum optimal
string break angle to provide vibrational dynamic force transference is
12.73 degrees. The maximum break angle before
string deformation starts to cause vibratory energy loss is 14.47
degrees. |
 17. Richard's Ukulele neck has been glued using an angled joint called a "Luthiers Joint" The neck base was cut at a 14 degree angle and then a closely matched piece of wood was glued onto the angled surface. Next, the neck's fingerboard surface is sanded flat. The gluing surface added by the angled headstock piece will provide approximately 4 " to the neck base, which is necessary for the correct length of fingerboard gluing surface. It should also provide a small additional ledge for a nut gluing surface. Finally, the fingerboard will be glued to the neck back, finishing the 3 piece joint. |
 18. Here richard is gluing the fingerboard using a polyurethane glue such as the "Gorilla Glue" brand. Once again the following observations are offered about urethane adhesives. * Fairly new wood glue, basically low expanding urethane foam * Excellent gap filling abilities (up to 3/8"), extremely strong when set * Moisture causes it to set, actually absorbing water from air or wood itself. * Drying time varies with humidity and porosity of materials bonded. Setting time can actually be reduced by dampening pieces before gluing. * Very strong joint with slight ability to flex under pressure, so joint gives rather than cracking under stress. * Glue does expand slightly as it sets, so clamp firmly until set so glue doesn't push joints apart. |
 19. Two small brads have been drilled for and inserted into the fingerboard, inside the fret slots and toward the center of the fingerboard. These holes will provide positioning for the fingerboard when the glue causes slippage between the 2 pieces while clamping. |
 20. I guess you could say Richard has more than enough headstock material to do the job. |
 21. Roughing out the Uke neck |
 22. These small glue spots, left from the positioning brads, will sand off easily. |
 23. Now, it is time to true up the neck edges and radius the back of the neck and fingerboard face. |
 24. This weeks "Attending Faithful" minus 3 who had to leave early. Oh no! Paul's Day dreaming again. Click here to enter Paul's day dream world. |
Subjects covered in this meeting were:
Truss rod construction
Neck joints
Fingerboard to neck base gluing techniques
Changing scale lengths
Shaping the neck back and fingerboard radius
More building techniques...
Sorry if you were one of those who missed the meeting!
The next regular meeting is on December 14th at 1:30 pm at Mercy Music.
Hope to see you there.