Month: November 2010

To finish the neck, we must prepare and attach the fingerboard and nut. The fingerboard blanks as they come from the supplier are too thick and too long. They must be planed down, cut to size and the scoop on the underside must be enlarged. Once that is done, it is lightly glued to the fingerboard (it will be removed for varnishing) and the nut must be attached as well.

Now we can cut away the excess wood on the neck and begin the shaping process.

At his point the scroll is carefully blended into the shape of the neck at the chin. The heel must wait until we have glued the neck into the body.

The neck is now finished. The next step is to tune the plates.

Before we tune the plates, we will make the neck. The first step is to layout the neck outline on the neck block. We use a template that not only defines the outline but also locates the peg holes and the turns of the scroll.

We now use the bandsaw to cut outline and the drill press to drill the peg holes.

The next step is to clean up the outline, form the neck root and cut down the cheeks of the peg box.

We are now ready to carve the scroll. First we cut away the excess wood of the first turn and the clean up the first turn using chisels.

With the first turn complete, we do the same thing for the second turn.

We now under cut the volute all the way around on both sides of the scroll.

The next step is to hollow out the peg box and provisionally fit the pegs.

Finally we flute the scroll all around.

The scroll is largely complete now. The next step is to prepare and attach the finger board and shape the neck.