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. 

Carving the neck for Dafydd’s reso

Hi all. I’m behind in blogging at the moment. I’ve made progress on a few ukes but to keep it organized I’ll just show one tonight. The mahogany reso will have a mahogany neck. I needed a peghead overlay o the same wood as in the body, but want to be very economic with it. So I looked at the circular piece I got from the sound well. Problem was it had a hole in the centre. I cut it diagonally to get the hole out, and glued the halves back together with a stylish strip of alternating wood veneers, maple and mahogany. 

It turned out really nice I think. 



Then onwards to my favourite part, the carving. I marked out the angles and widths and made starting cuts with a chisel. 



Then I ripped it close to the lines with my Pax rip saw. I gave the teeth on the rip saw a little extra set and it went much straighter. Should’ve done that a couple of years ago. 



And here’s a new knife. I saw someone on youtube carving with a knife with an extremely long handle. And I had a spare blade so I made one like it. Jury’s still out but it cuts well enough after a session on the water stones. 

I made the entry and exit points at the heel and headstock ends. 

And then I took the small wooden spokeshave that serves me so faithfully. With the initial carves made this last step takes me five minutes at most. I wish it took longer because it is immensly satisfying. 

Bending sides of mystery wood

The soprano I build for my daughter Li will have a top of the century old reclaimed wood from a boat. A boat that her grandfather swapped a 1950’s Zündapp motorbike for - I think I told you a couple of years ago and I’m certain you remember. 

The back and sides will be from this dark wood, of a species I shall not guess. Maybe Micke will email me if he sees this, he set me straight on that last reso in april. 

Anyway the wood is heavy, hard and felt a bit brittle. Not unlike plate glass. So I hesitated bending it directly on the form with the blanket, opting instead to bend it on the pipe and then setting the shape on the form. So I bent the sides close to shape and wrapped the first one in paper. It was some packaging paper I had around, but I think a heavier craft paper had been better. 

Then it went onto the form. I started with the waist as usual, clamping it down tight. Then I took the bouts one at a time, and it wasn’t scary or difficult as they were almost in shape already. 



And after drying out and cooling off it looked line this. A lot of resin had come out of the wood and soaked into the paper. I’m glad I chose paper instead of aluminium foil, not that I’m sure there would have een any sort of reaction. 

And here they are. The lower part with the more flatsawn pattern will be cut off and then the bookmatch is surprisingly good. And it’s got two eyes, staring evilly. Is that a word, evilly? Should be.