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2022-03-07

Making the neck


20210814
Next is to make the neck, however for the head plate I will need to cut out the back to the plantilla outline.
For that, I used my usual coping saw to do the job.
Hard work? well kind of but it certainly works nicely: controlled and quiet.


Cutting the outline

1/2 way there

Outline cut


20210815
Next step is to prepare the headplate.
First I need to shoot the 2 cut-off straight for jointing.
For the jointing I just use 2 clamps to clamp it tight.
Once the jointed headplate is done, I cut to shape and glue to the head of the neck


Shooting the joint edges for the off-cut

Joint the 2 off-cut

Headplate prepared.

Check the fit

Glue the headplate

Headplate glued


20210828
Next I began to work on the head part of the neck, drilling the slots and the tuner holes.
After that I began to shape the head.
At first I was aiming for my new style similar to #11 (haha #11 was build before #10), but the owner prefer something more elaborate.
In the end I settle for a Bouchet style head stock.
It look elegant and have some nice curvess


Using the template as a guide and drill the 2 slot holes.
The template was the same as the #11

The drill bit wasnt long enough so need to remove the template.

Checking squareness

Cutting slots for remove excess materials from the sides

Alignment pins for ensuring the template aligns to the head.
This portion will be removed during the slots cutting part.

Drilling tuner holes.
One of the impt step is to drill the tuner holes before cutting the slot to ensure square alignment of holes.

Making sure the tuner can slot in correctly.
A lot of guitar that I have seen doesnt slot in properly because the hole wasn't drill square to the sides.

Tuner hole done. Can see the head shape drawn on the head.

Head shaped nicely.


20210908
Next part is to shape the slot.
I drilled a series of holes (smaller bit diameter than the slots hole).
Then I connect the holes using a coping saw.
The slot is shaped using chisels and finally files and sanding to make it smooth and straight.


Drilling a series of holes

Holes drilled

Removing the rest of the waste using chisels

Paring the waste away

Using chopping will reduce the blow out behind with a wood backing

Head done. (well almost) the lower curve transition to neck part has yet to be completed.


20211002
The next part is to work on the heel block.
In my build method, the heel block is build separately from main neck shaft.
Only after the assembly and bindings stage, then the neck is glued to the main body.
THis allows for an cleaner and easier binding process.
That said, it will be crucial that the heel block's geometry structure is compatible with the neck shaft.
So in the building of the heel block, aligning pins are used also.

THe heel block has been glue previously so now is the time to cut the sides slot into the heel block.
To ensure the block is square to the sides, the heel block is placed in the solera with the correct angle and then mark with a square.
Next the slots are marked carefully and cut with a magnetic guide block with the correct angle.
Sides does not insert into the heel block perpendicularly but at an angle and hence the guide block.
The slots are cut using a Japanese ryouba saw and with the guide block.
Waste are chisel out then.
The slots are not parallel but form a wedge shape for wedging the sides tight during assembly.


Marking the slot using the solera

Saw guide with magnets

Prepare to saw the slot for sides

Sawing the side slots

Chisel away the waste in between

Waste all chiselled

Side slot done

Heel block in solera


20211108
Still at the heel block part, next to do is to roughly shape the heel portion.
Need to saw away the heel part to make the shape into a triangle.
This will be last part of processing for the neck.
Subsequent part will be done after assembly.


Saw away the heel part waste

The other side

Side view

Done.

Bracing the top


20210403
Next step will be bracing the top.
One of the major consideration when bracing for this top is stiffness.
The top itself will be stiffer than most tops so I will be going lighter on the bracing.
For that reason, I am opting for a 5 fan bracing with cross bracing.



Brace layout


Preparing the braces


20210408
So I began to brace the top using the go-bar.
I started with the cross brace first as this will be below the fan braces (different from my usual bracing).
As the brace is about 3mm high (or lower) it can easily conform to the doming.
Following that the glue down the central brace.
For this bracing scheme I need to notch the bottom of the brace for the cross brace.
After that it is clamped similarly with go-bar



Gluing cross brace


Gluing central brace


20210410
Then I continue with the rest of the fan braces.
I also glued the donut for the soundhole reinforcement


Gluing the fan braces


Gluing the donut


20210411
Next the braces are carved roughly to the approximate height
Once that is done, the closing braces are glued.
Further carving will be done to tune the sound and stiffness


Fan brace carved roughly

Gluing closing brace

Carving braces

Bracing done

Bracing done another view


20210421
Next step is to carve the donut to shape, it will taper from the centre to the outer rim.
The donut is wider than normal to support the wide rosette in the top.
The weight of the donut was reduce from >20g to <10g.
It include a protruded lip for the tornavoz.
I also prepare the side braces and glued them.
The side braces extend into the top to transfer the vibration unto the top part.
This will enhance the trebles especially for notes in the 12th frets vicinity.


Initial wt of the donut

Final wt of the donut

Gluing the donut

Gluing the side braces


20210501
Next the UTB and LTB are prepared, weighed and glued.
As usual, my TB are always opened
This gives a more open sound.


UTB and LTB weighed

Gluing LTB

Gluing UTB

Another view

Bracing done for top