Burley 335: Setting the Neck

With 7 coats of Tru-Oil on the front of the Burled 335, and the decision finally made to finish the guitar in an all-natural colour, I decided to get the neck on and glued as soon as possible. With 3 coats already on the back and sides, I could see how this guitar was going to look and I'm really digging it. With a natural Tru-Oil finish also planned for the neck, there was no reason to delay setting the neck. In fact, it seemed a better choice than waiting given that it will allow me to get a more even finish around the neck joint.

And so, without further ado, out came the clamp and the Titebond. The neck fit was still super-tight, but with a little coaxing (and clamping) the bugger was finally seated in the pocket and glued down tight.

A little cleanup with a wet-rag around the joint (I always use way too much Titebond) and everything was good to go. The great thing about set-neck kits that don't have the bridge pre-positioned is that you have the flexibility to get the neck glued without having to worry about whether it's centred with respect to the bridge or whether the strings are traveling nicely down it. That can all be fine-tuned when we drill the bridge posts.

Now all that is left for me to do is to  wait 24-48 hours for the joint to fully dry. After that it is back to the Tru-Oil!

Scratch Pine Body: Making a Cheap Blank

With a few kits under my belt, I am really feeling the call of the scratch build. While making my own neck still seems like a very tall ask, shaping and routing a body from scratch isn't beyond the borders of possibility. How hard could it be? Well, I aim to find out!

Now tone wood is generally expensive, and a pre-made body bank can set you back anywhere from $100 and up. Even the local lumber yard wants nearly $100 for the timber required to create a really nice 3-piece blank in mahogany, ash or Tasmanian blackwood. While Maple was the cheapest I was quoted, coming in at around $60 for the equivalent of a body blank, thats still a lot of money to go throwing away on a failed attempt.

And so, enter the pine body - a cheap way to earn my luthier chops without breaking the bank. Bunnings stock a 1.2m length of finished pine 45mm x 90mm that's just perfect for making 4-piece 45mm deep bodies. Just two of these 1.2m lengths, at $9 a pop, is all you need for a standard body blank - that less than $20 people! Much more within my comfort zone for learning this black art.

And so off to Bunnings I tromped and got me some pine - enough for two bodies. In no time each piece was halved into 600mm lengths and ready to be glued together with Titebond - the king of wood glues.

I slathered each side of each piece with Titebond - enough to drown a rather large horse - and then got the pieces all clamped together with 46mm clamps.

After I was engulfed (yet not consumed!) by the ensuing wave of escaping Titebond, I did a little cleanup and now must wait a couple of days for the glue to dry. Unfortunately I only have 4 clamps, so the second body will have to wait.

Once the glue dries, the next step will be squaring off the ends with my new (el-cheapo) bandsaw, and flattening off the top and bottom with 40 then 80 grit sandpaper. I'm really excited to see how this turns out, although I'm well aware that this is the *easy* part of the process. after this I'm going to have to think seriously about where this thing is headed!

A big thanks to Warren Gaull from 4D Guitars for suggesting the pine scratchy to me. You've stared me on the long road to luthier awesomeness Wokka!

Les Paul Florentine: She's Got Neck

So, who says that I can't glue a set-neck? Not me. Well, not anymore at least. Today, after 2 days of waiting, I released the clamps holding the neck joint on the Florentine. The Titebond glue seems to have produced a very strong join, although to be honest I haven't driven my car over it.

One thing that did worry me is that upon inspection the angle of the neck seemed quite shallow compared to my Epiphone Les Paul. Worried that I might end up with action out the wazoo, I immediately fitted the trapeze tailpiece and the E strings to check the string height. Thankfully, using the bridge but without the bridge posts fitted, the E strings are just touching the neck at the highest fret. I'm hoping that once the bridge posts are in, this will leave just enough wiggle room to allow a nice action to be achieved. That's the big trouble with these set-neck builds - once it's in, it's in! Not being able to shim the neck to fix the action brings me out in a cold sweat..

Anyway, apart from the neck angle (which is, well, fine actually) everything else looks good. With correct bridge post placement, the two E strings can be aligned so that they sit over the outermost pickup poles and travel nicely up the neck to the nut. Yippee!! The next job is to drill the bridge post holes (carefully, carefully!!) and then finalise the finish so that the wiring can begin. She's slowly nearing completion, although her wiring promises to be a real pain in the grunions. Fun times ahead - stay tuned for that one!

Les Paul Florentine: Gluing the Neck

Today marked another first for me. I finally glued the neck onto my Les Paul Florentine - the first set-neck that I have built. I was a bit worried about it, having never glued in a neck before, but the neck fit was reasonably tight on the kit and I didnt really expect problems. I used a liberal amount of Titebond glue on all surfaces (the cavity and the neck) and then held the neck in place with two clamps.

Titebond is reportedly much stronger than PVC for neck setting, and is still water based. I was able to wipe off excess glue with a damp rag. The nice thing about this particular set neck project is that the bridge posts havent been drilled yet. What that means for me is that I could just glue the neck into place without having to worry too much about string alignment from the bridge, over the pickups and down the neck. In a couple of days I'll remove the clamps and see how well I've done.

Once the neck is dry I can position the bridge, taking the string alignment and pickups into account, and then drill the post holes when everything is lined up nicely. That will be the next step for this bad boy!