Neck attached

Once I had some trouble aligning a neck, and in handling that situation I rigged this gizmo up. Haven’t used it loads but as I found it the other day I thought I could give it a go. If nothing else it captures on photo what I usually do by eye and loosely held rulers. 

I put a wee centre finding rule at the end of the body with the zero at the centre line, then I can more easily measure the position and direction of the neck. 

Before this last pic there were a few steps that aren’t possible to show, not because they’re classified but because they require both hands and some jiggling. But it all turned out well. Next up is chopping the excess at the heel off, glueing on the back and get cracking on the fretboard. 

Neck joints

To get the necks in place I go through a number of steps. I’m very pleased since I remembered them all this time, and in order to boot. 

First I planed off the overhang at the neck end of the bodies. With a sharp and well set up block plane it’s easy. 

You know I put some relief into the face of the heel, otherwise this next step is tricky. It would rock and create a convex surface. I check that the centre line is square to the sanding plate, constantly. 



And the other angle, because of the height of the biscuit, saddle and cover plate. And the rigidity of the plywood skeleton, of course. I can set the neck angle on an acoustic by clamping the uke down with a shim under the neck when glueing on the back. Does that seem complicated? I’ll show you when I get there. 



Here you can see the relief, and the hole for the barrel bolt. X marks the spot for the screw. 



And marking out for the corresponding hole in the body. Measuring and drilling by hand is actually safer than using my jig. 



The resos, done. And as you can see on the mahogany neck I glued in the cross grain dowel, as I’m going for The New Argapa Neck Joint. 



Two holes in the body through the neck block, for the two wood screws that’ll hold the neck. 



Glueing in a dowel seems stronger, I add a piece that will hold the screw threads better than the end grain. The barrel bolt connection is strong too but in it I remove material and put some strain on the end grain in the face [of the heel]. Maybe I should start using this method on the resos too. But then again, the back will always cover the heel and the fretboard will secure the neck at the top so probably screws of any kind are overkill. 

New neck joint

Inspired by an exchange of posts at the ukulele underground forum, I decided to try a new neck joint. Hence the title of this post. One colleague described his method of screwing a hanger bolt into the heel and securing it with a nut inside the uke. A hanger bolt is straight and has a machine thread halfway and a wood thread at the other end. Some call it a lag bolt. 

To get the wood screw thread to hold in the end grain of the neck it’s wise to glue a dowel in. I chose an 8 mm beech dowel. Also I hadn’t a hanger bolt so I took two wood screws. 

I made a shallow slot to let excess glue come out, and the dowel went all the way down. 



Most steps were of course the same as always, here’s me relieving the face of the heel. Much easier to get a good match to the body this way even if most of the relief disappears in the next step...



... which is this. Draghing the body and the neck on the sanding plate, constantly checking the angles and the match between the surfaces. 



I fine tune the alignment with a strip of perspex with a scribed line. Aiming at good enough helps me reach perfect. 



I was going to set the uke on the solera to clamp it down but couldn’t be arsed, so I held it in an iron grip and drilled with my Proxxon and its angle attachment. I put one screw in place before drilling the second hole though so wasn’t overly reckless. 



And then it was done. A bit less stressful than drilling for the barrel bolt so I might use this method more in the future. It felt good to try on a uke that won’t leave the house in a while, it’s Li’s as you know. 

Attaching necks

After the joyful experience with the disc sander last weekend (a sentence never before written, I'm sure) I was well prepared for drilling and attaching. 

It might be my experience piling up, but no doubt the clean and exactly made skeletons of this batch help - it was so much easier than it was last time. And since I attach the neck before glueing the back I have relatively easy access to the screw. 

So far four reso necks, and that spare neck did come in handy. One of the necks had a heel that was too delicate and the drill went through when I drilled for the barrel bolt. I smacked on a faceplate and the spare will be good to go. 

And I went ahead with Argapa 100 too, but stopped just when I reached for the glue. Did I say I was gonna put binding on this one? Well now's the time, it's harder if the neck is in place. Avoided future senior moment by storing barrel bolt and screw in the neck. 

Setting a neck

The walnut tenor turned out to be flat and square where it needed to be flat and square, and its alder neck was also dead easy to align. Usually I do quite a lot of sanding on the mating surfaces to get the centerlines perfectly straight and I also shoot for either a slight neck angle or a flush surface from neck to soundboard. 

The final neck angle I set when I glue the back so as long as I don't have a negative neck angle at this stage I'm content. 

And the joint between heel and body doesn't have to be perpendicular to the centerline. It was exactly so on this tenor but a miniscule angle won't matter. (I'm talking about angles that could be measured but hardly seen, and certainly not after the fretboard goes on.)

But this time everything was aligned after a couple of minutes, so onwards with drilling the holes. I use a screw and barrel bolt connection and since I made this drilling jig I get consistent and accurate results every time. I chose to shim it this time because the heel is rather slim, but that only offsets the hole from the face of the heel. (Oh, the anatomical nightmares of luthiery.)

Pointy end at centerline and away we go! The jig fits the Zyliss vise beautifully. 

The neck gets two holes since the barrel bolt is there, 10 mm for the bolt and 6 for the screw. I used to make my own barrel bolts to get down to 8 mm, but that was hard work so now I just buy the standard ones. 

This last pic is from the dry fit. I often make the hole in the neck block 6.5 or 7 mm to get wiggle room but that wasn't necessary today. Now off to the office. 

New jig

Every once in a while I see jigs that I want to build. Then I sort of rush through the next build solving any problems with force. But this weekend I finally got around to making a jig for the screw and barrel bolt holding the neck on all sizes but piccolos (they don't have a separate fretboard to hide the barrel nut).

I took the time to practice my dovetailing skills. 

The same jig is used both on the neck blank and the body, here it is held for drilling the neck. 

The body's not done yet but will be drilled like this. Not the top hole of course. The pointy end aligns with the centerline. 

And it works. There are no margins here, if the holes don't line up the screw won't fit. 

Drilling

Hey, this was an unexpected bonus. I just flipped the whole setup and clamped the perspex strip in my Zyliss vise.

In the pic you can see the angle attachment I have for my Proxxon drill. It's as small and versatile as a Dremel, but far superior in quality. The angle attachment makes a loud noise but is essential when I do this.

The procedure is a bit different from the one I use for the piccolos, you should be able to find that in earlier posts.

Aligning neck

Prior to drilling from the inside of the body, I make sure the neck is straight and that the surfaces are flush. This is a new fangled method, using some perspex. We'll soon see how it works.

The hole for the barrel nut is made already.

Neck joint explained

Well here it is, I hope the scribblings are legible. See other posts labeled "Neck joint".

Neck joint

Neck joint number one of five, number two is also done but not in the picture. I make these by sanding the neck's end and heel area, constantly checking angle and alignment. I put Titebond glue on 90% of the area, and a drop of superglue at the top part near the soundboard.

Then I press them in my hands until the superglue sets, drill a hole from the inside with my angled drill, and screw the joint tight to press the Titebond.

Got it? I should make a post with some relevant picture. I might do that on the next one, tomorrow or tuesday night.

Bolt on neck

Peer pressure has made me try bolting on the necks. I machined the
parts myself from steel and aluminium since the stuff I can buy is too
bulky.

It works great! And there's time to adjust before final mounting. I
also glue the joint, and I put the neck on before the back since I
want the back to cover the heel.

Thursday night

So tonight I glued the neck to the soundboard. In the pic you can see the sides dry-fitted.

Heel slots

Cutting heel slots with a japanese saw. Great tempo so far.

Sides in place

I've glued the sides to the soundboard, and started to shape their profile.