Attaching neck, and a mesquite fretboard

I went hunting this weekend and when I got home I wanted to achieve something in the workshop. So I set out to attach the neck on the mahogany reso that is bound for Wales. I started out by scoring lines about 4 mm from the edges of the heel. 

Then I hollowed the heel out just a bit. It’s crucial for the next step that the middle is relieved so the neck doesn’t rock. 



I drag the neck on a sanding board of heavy metal. You can see from the trail of dust that the edges are affected more than the centre. 



And I check for alignment and squareness often. I want the centreline straight to the square, but I also take care to get the neck angle right. That’s not 90 degrees, more like 88.5. 



You may have seen my rather fancy jig for drilling the holes for the barrel nut and screw. Yesterday however I thought sod it and made the holes freehand with a cordless drill. And would you believe it, it was less nerve wracking and gave a better result. After checking the joint and alignment I didn’t have to do any tweaking. So I put some glue on the heel and screwed it on. 



But that’s not all. We are struggling a bit with a jumbled timeline. This mesquite fretboard I made some days ago, for the cavaquinho I cobble together for my mate. 



After pressing in the frets and glueing it on. Again, no adjustments or fret dressing needed. Might I be getting the hang of this..? No, begone foul hubris thought. Last time I thought I had things down it almost crushed me with a backlash from Hell and England.