There is probably a better way to do this.
I think the real solution is to not use maple for necks. I can tough it out for one custom neck, I guess.
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Inefficient?
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Some small progress
A tiny tiny amount of work on the bass neck. Maple is a lot harder to carve than mahogany. And of course, the real job has forced a temporary relocation of the entire workforce (well, at least all that can be trusted with sharp tools.) So nothing is likely to happen for a while yet.
Harvey don’t uke
That’ll buff right out.
Stuff to Make Stuff
Stuff that gets used to make other stuff is some of the best stuff to make.
If anyone is paying attention, you’ll notice that this is a different location than the previous photos. That’s because we moved the entire Slumco operation to a new facility.
As a result, we haven’t done anything productive at all. Other than this bench, of course. Nothing fancy – pine two-by-fours, a sheet of MDF, some oak for trim. Held together with pocket screws. A couple of coats of clear polyurethane on the top.
There will be a cabinet unit underneath with drawers, but this is enough to work with for now.
Geometry FTW
I was concerned about blowing out the front of the body while drilling the hole from the control cavity to the neck pickup cavity. Needn’t have worried, because Pythagoras. Below is the destination end.
Pretty much what I was going for
Just because you can. . .
Sure, it’s possible to cut out your body shape with a handheld jigsaw.
But it might not look too great.
Or be quite square. Jigsaw blades aren’t that rigid, especially when you try to make them turn.
Router and template will be used to fix all that. Here’s the neck with position markers (MOP dots) inlaid.
(I later realized that I’d purchased larger 1/4″ dots especially for this neck, but I’d forgotten about them until I’d already inlaid all these 5mm dots. Oh well.)
Mostly done neck
Not contoured, but the outline is done. The blue tape is where there was some tearout; it’s to hold the patch in place until I glue it.
The brown tape is just a place to write notes. Just out of frame is my 4th version of the headstock template, which is what I ended up using.
Neck and Routing Template for Bass
In case you needed more confirmation, the masking tape trick really works. I used it to shape the outline of the neck.
Apply tape to both pieces and then superglue them together
Rout, using a template (flush-cutting) bit. Not aligned like it’s shown here; this is after the routing was done.
Peel it apart and remove the tape.
Not using masking tape, I also cut a template for the neck pocket and pickup routing on the body. Material is 1/2″ MDF.
Here’s another shot of the neck.
This is what a Saf-T-Planer leaves on the back of the headstock when you thin it. Not bad. No blood.
Ears!
Cut the end off, split the cutoff bit, square it up with a block plane, glue, and clamp.
It sounds so easy when you see it written down like that.
