00 Sitka / Hawaiian Koa falcate steel string.

[John Parchem]

This is going to be a bolt on bolt off neck. Before routing for the neck extension pocket the neck set needs to be perfect, or life gets hard later in the build. So I can not describe the number of times I checked the next angle and the location of the 12 fret to the bridge. With a fret board placed correctly on the neck I also used strings to actually see the string paths to the bridge for the E strings.



This neck joint is from the Gore/Gilet books. The idea is to route a pocket into the neck and a heel block extension in the guitar. The block extension is then glued only to the neck part of the pocket. The first pictures shows the routing jig and a test insert I made out of plywood on my cnc



I double checked all of the setup angles once again and routed the pocket about .6" deep.





Here is why I needed a test plug, I tried to account for the router guide but the plug was a bit big.



I went back to the cad software took a thirty second off the plug and had the CNC route a mahogany plug.











A much better fit, I left the plug a tad proud so I planed it match the neck.



A nice fit!



And for the first time I left off the wings I need on the head stock and kept most of the neck alone. This allowed me to take the neck back to my router table (still setup from earlier) and route the truss rod slot in the neck extension.





Now I can start profiling and carving the neck.

[John Parchem]

Finishing up the neck joint, I added the brass inserts to the neck extension and drilled the bolt holes in the heel block.







Once again checking over all of the setup parameters, and getting ready to glue on the wings where I need a bit more width.



Before gluing on the wings I can still rely on the square section of the neck to cut out the rough heel profile.



While I am at it I trimmed the heel length.