Martin O sized Koa guitar (last construction step!)

TonyinNYC · Post by **TonyinNYC** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:47 pm

John,

About how long does it take you to shape the neck? I am making my first neck and trying to budget time for it while still getting the other guitars finished. Really nice job on both necks. Superb work and craftsmanship.

Tony

darren · Post by **darren** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:47 pm

John looking good and I feel your pain - had to make two necks for my current project.

Tony I'd say what it took me to do my last two necks but I'm actually embarrassed by it. Plus there was a few firsts - slot head, bound, etc. But i will say the second one went twice as fast!

John Parchem · Post by **John Parchem** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:29 pm

If I start on Friday it takes me a weekend start to finish. Keep in mind my shop has all of the tools out and setup. Also at this point I have spent many hours on templates. My necks are not laminated and cut out of a single block. Also I have the fretboard profiled when I start.

Friday,

Laying out the rough template and bandsawing out the rough blank 10 minutes.
Planing the top surfaces square and level. 35-60 minutes
Setting up the routing table and routing for a truss rod and carbon rods 20 minutes
Epoxy in the carbon fiber rods 20 minutes

Wait for epoxy to cure

Saturday

Layout the neck and route the tenon and the mortise and index the fretboard 4 hours.
none of the steps take that long but I check and double check
center and all of the layout lines. I also cut the angle I want on the bottom
of the heel before I cut the tenon, and check it against the top and make sure
I have the correct height at the bridge location.

Thickness the headstock 30 minutes
cut, thickness and glue up the headstock veneer 2 - 3 hours
profile the headstock with a template including prep and layout 1 hour
Sand the neck on a belt sander to the correct thickness 10 minutes

Sunday

Layout and carve the heel 2 hours
carve the neck 2 hours

At this point the neck is where I have it in the picture. Close, but I will glue on the fretboard
and then finish sand right to the fretboad and clean up the transition to the headstock.

I do not think I am forgetting anything. Now if you need two necks to get it right double the time!

darren · Post by **darren** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:58 pm

looks about right and makes buying a 'mostly shaped' neck look pretty reasonable!

TonyinNYC · Post by **TonyinNYC** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:59 pm

So that should take me a month! Lol

Ken Hundley · Post by **Ken Hundley** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:25 pm

John, when do you install the inserts in the tenon? Or do you? I cracked a coupleof neck tenons doing it last, and finally realized if I installed the threaded inserts before I cut the tenon, the extra "meat" prevented any cracking. I could cut it later without a problem. One of those stupid "ah ha" moments, you know?

John Parchem · Post by **John Parchem** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:53 pm

Ken Hundley wrote:John, when do you install the inserts in the tenon? Or do you? I cracked a coupleof neck tenons doing it last, and finally realized if I installed the threaded inserts before I cut the tenon, the extra "meat" prevented any cracking. I could cut it later without a problem. One of those stupid "ah ha" moments, you know?

Thanks for the tip,

Too late to try it on this one but yup that makes a lot of sense. I will change and start drilling and setting the inserts before I cut the tenon.

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