With the corpus finished, we are ready to make and install a neck. We start with the raw material, a neck block and finger board.
![david-neck-block the neck block](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-block.jpg)
We first use a template to trace the shape of the neck on the neck block. We cut out the shape and drill the peg holes.
![david-neck-cut-out cut out the shape](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-cut-out.jpg)
Next we pare away the excess wood around the pegbox cheeks.
![david-neck-cheeks pegbox cheeks](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-cheeks.jpg)
Then we carve the first turn of the scroll.
![david-neck-first-turn first turn](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-first-turn.jpg)
Then we carve the second turn.
![david-neck-second-turn second turn](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-second-turn.jpg)
Now we undercut the scroll, carve the volute and pegbox. Clean everything up and glue on the fingerboard.
![david-neck-fingerboard fingerboard glued](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-fingerboard.jpg)
There is a lot of excess wood that needs to be removed and the neck needs to be shaped. It is now ready to install on the corpus.
![david-neck-ready neck shaped](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-ready.jpg)
A mortice is cut in the corpus for the neck. This is the most exacting task in violin making. All dimensions are very critical to the function of the instrument.
![david-neck-glued neck is glued](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-glued.jpg)
We now do the final shaping of the button, heel and chin.
![david-neck-shaped neck shaped](http://www.gbhembree.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/david-neck-shaped.jpg)
We are now ready to clean everything up and setup the violin for playing!