how do youput a truss rod into a one piece neck?
- Thread starter AkeJIa
- Start date
jak3af3r
Jake
Well... Gotta start somewhere.
The first necks I made were one-piece Tele necks.
Because this meant I had to put the skunk stripe in, I cut the necks and then marked the centerline.
There are a couple of ways to cut the channel which is dependent on the rod you're using.
I used a double-action rod which isn't perfectly round and the adjustment end is slightly larger than the rest of the rod.
In this case, I put the adjustment end at the heel and marked where the other end of the rod was on the neck. This was the end of the channel at the headstock. The heel I just picked a spot that would end in the neck pocket should any disaster occur it would be hidden but didn't go all the way to the end.
The depth was set a little closer to the front to give the stripe extra material since both ends of the rod wouldn't be enclosed by the neck material, just the adjustment end.
Since this was already cut, the edges aren't square. So I used different lengths of cutoff material as shims on a table saw fence which was also the straight edge for the router. Once that was straight, I used longer cutoffs on the opposite side to keep the neck from moving away from the fence. Then after confirming the path of the router bit was correct, the neck was clamped and bit path checked again.
Once that was done I take drill large enough to accommodate the adjustment end and drill through the heel towards the headstock. The rod goes in this way too.
After the rod is in and everything looks good, I made the skunk stripe and glued it in and let it sit for a day or two all clamped.
Then cut the excess of the stripe off and get to shaping.
I have since made a standalone jig that is the width of the router base that the neck blank sits in and is held in place by 8 rather large screws that allow fine adjustment to get centered and will work with pre-cut or rectangular neck blanks.
The first necks I made were one-piece Tele necks.
Because this meant I had to put the skunk stripe in, I cut the necks and then marked the centerline.
There are a couple of ways to cut the channel which is dependent on the rod you're using.
I used a double-action rod which isn't perfectly round and the adjustment end is slightly larger than the rest of the rod.
In this case, I put the adjustment end at the heel and marked where the other end of the rod was on the neck. This was the end of the channel at the headstock. The heel I just picked a spot that would end in the neck pocket should any disaster occur it would be hidden but didn't go all the way to the end.
The depth was set a little closer to the front to give the stripe extra material since both ends of the rod wouldn't be enclosed by the neck material, just the adjustment end.
Since this was already cut, the edges aren't square. So I used different lengths of cutoff material as shims on a table saw fence which was also the straight edge for the router. Once that was straight, I used longer cutoffs on the opposite side to keep the neck from moving away from the fence. Then after confirming the path of the router bit was correct, the neck was clamped and bit path checked again.
Once that was done I take drill large enough to accommodate the adjustment end and drill through the heel towards the headstock. The rod goes in this way too.
After the rod is in and everything looks good, I made the skunk stripe and glued it in and let it sit for a day or two all clamped.
Then cut the excess of the stripe off and get to shaping.
I have since made a standalone jig that is the width of the router base that the neck blank sits in and is held in place by 8 rather large screws that allow fine adjustment to get centered and will work with pre-cut or rectangular neck blanks.
