Fender neck on a Gibson set neck body

[fender3x]

I made some progress today. I used a router "box" template that I made from some 1/4" plywood and some scraps of 1/2" or 5/8" wood. First I made an inch thick block that was about 6" long and almost as wide as the neck pocket. I screwed it to the block that I laminated into the neck pocket.

The block created a relatively stable 6"x2" platform that I could clamp the box template to. (A box template like this works best with a router that has a circular bass. The outside edges of the box serve as the guide for the router. I have found these work well if what you need is a rectangular shape).

I did a little testing and was surprised how stable this was with just a couple of clamps to hold it into place. My router is pretty heavy and with 2HP has a ton of torque. The template was actually quite rigid however, and held nicely. Since the template was secured to a block which was screwed to the floor of the neck pocket the rout replicated the slope of the neck pocket exactly.

Some version of a this kind of box template may be very useful to others who need to cut a neck pocket or pickup cavity on a curved surface like an ES or LP top.





I put in one of the pickup rings to see how everything would line up... Starting to take shape ;-)

[fender3x]

I took a pick of the F/G hybrid next to my completed ESB-4 for comparison...



I lose about one fret access at the high end compared to the ESB-4. But the bridge (really mid) pickup lines up pretty much exactly with where a p-bass pickup would be. I'll need to fill the bridge holes and move the bridge back about 3/4". Got a bit more work to do on the neck pocket before that. Will need to add some laminate to the sides of the neck pocket. The neck fits tighly near the pickup, but is slightly tapered, so not quite as tightly at the heel. And will need to do something about how ugly the heel has become.



I have an idea using some binding... but open to suggestions...

[vh2580]

This is looking fantastic.
You could make a feature behind the neck on the block a piece of nice veneer or some shell particularly if you increase the depth of the block a touch to get an insert flush with the cavity edge.
Have covered some router marks I couldn't get rid of by covering with some Pau.

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...?t=4637&page=2

[fender3x]

Oh man, that is a beautiful LP. Hadn't considered shell... I could do a lot worse than to follow your example!

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[fender3x]

Little more progress today...and a question...

I drilled the holes for the screws and ferrules to mount the neck.



The screws that came with the ferrules look about the right length at the neck side, but seem pretty sort at the bridge side. How deep into the neck should mounting screws go to be solid?

Since I had the my little drill press out, I also experimented with mounting the bridge, and string-through ferrules.



This was quick and dirty...maybe too much so since I clearly got the ferrules out of alignment. Still the concept seems sound. I used the giant 1" long ferrules on the bottom. On the top I took Simon's suggestion and drilled out some guitar ferrules. I looked at a number of other options, including using guitar tuning peg ferrules. I think Gibson may have used these, but they were either really big or really fragile looking. I saw some broken ones in pics of Gibsons, and that ended debate for me.

I think this should work. I was not careful enough to get it lined up horizontally, but it is perfectly aligned vertically. It seems solid and everything mounts fine with my SAE drill bits. I did have to order a 14mm bit for the neck ferrules, but so far that's the only metric bit I've needed.

I got some tear-out on the pine that I used for my tests, which is very soft and tears much more easily than the guitar's veneer. Not ideal for tests, but I have tons of it due to kids in Tae Kwon Do. Every time they do a board breaking I end up with more scrap... Wonder if there's a way to make a guitar out of all these broken boards...Hmm....

[fender3x]

On a side note, I got this odd tool a couple of years ago...



It seemed like such a good idea... You squeeze it, and it works like a wrench. Sort of a wrench that works like pliers. The only problem with it is that the head is so large and and awkward that it never seems to fit into the space where I am working. Nevertheless, after several years, I have finally found a use for it:



It turns out to be perfect for holding a string ferrule solidly so that I could drill it out.

[wazkelly]

For the tear outs on the back maybe a smaller diameter pilot hole all the way through to begin with so that you can see where string core will end up. Draw a straight line and then run your drill in reverse to do the countersinking. After that you could drill down from above at the correct diameter and if at 90 degrees it should all line up.

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[fender3x]

Thanks, Was. I did that but I think the bit was too large (3/16th") will try with something smaller.

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[wazkelly]

Running drill in reverse when enlarging should avoid tear outs.

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[fender3x]

That I did not do... I can definitely do that when I do the enlarging. On the pine I drilled through with a 3/16th bit and the tear-out happened with that rather than with the enlargement. I used 3/16th because that is the size of the string hole in both top and bottom ferrules. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

I have thought about drilling from bottom to top on the bass. Harder to line everything up, but easier to control tear-out on the bottom. I plan to finish the back natural and do a solid color on the top, so if there is a little flaw in the top I can repair it. That said lining everything up between bridge and top and bottom ferrules may really tax what little capacity I have for precision...

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