Building the Neck with the use of CNC

With the woods picked out Jay moves on to the neck. We do most of the heavy lifting on the CNC. We get the shape of the neck close to where we want and then go in with the orbital sander to finish up. The artistic goal with these necks is to use lots of binding on the fretboard and headstock with inlay. There is a lot of detail and attention paid to the setup of the CNC to ensure that the right channels and shapes are routed.

To make the top level the board is placed in a clamp and two machining plates with magnets underneath are used to make sure it is level. Then a planning bit goes over it to make it absolute level.

Here is the neck after the CNC has routed out the top. We need to leave a tab between the main piece and the edge so the clamp can keep everything down without the center flying out.

Here is the back of the neck after the CNC. we are use double stick tape to hold the top to a spoil board.

The CNC also does the sides of the heel block.

Special channels are routed for the neck hardware. We use a bolt on neck which allows for the use of the easy adjustable cantilever neck. A bolt is fixed to a barrel bolt in the center channel to allow for a tight joint.

A plate is but on the top which adds some extra support for the fretboard.

The fretboard is epoxied on and there is inevitable squeeze out.

Amboyna  burl is used for the headstock. It is place in a vice with the top piece strategically placed above the clamp.

pockets for the inlay are routed and then a medallion is placed inside after binding is added. This is a closeup of the 1/2inch router bit carving the pocket.

Completion of the fretboard. We can get the radius and slots done in this step. This creates an exact and even radius that we can easily change for one job to the next.

Jay getting his sand on.

The fretboard in the process of being fretted.

The finished headstock

the finished necks