Building a neck, no power tools.

[Connor]

Hey guys, I've got a thread over here: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...customizations/177758-new-6-string-build.html
and I was just wondering how long it'd usually take you to build a neck. I'm not using power tools or anything so the truss rod cavity and all that jazz has to be done with a chisel.
I have 9 days, 3 of which I am working and unable to do anything on the project to completely finish it.
This means: carving the neck, sanding the neck, fretting, levelling, filing a nut, installing the pickups and electronics, finishing the electronics cavity and back-plate, setting up, oiling, sanding, oiling, sanding, oiling, oiling and have it in a case ready to be critiqued.
My last neck which is now broken, was constructed over around 2 weeks of constant work.
This time, I'm hoping to get it done within a 7-8 hour day. Am I crazy?

Any shortcuts or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Berserker]

Any shortcuts or advice would be much appreciated.

Buy power tools.

 

[jarnozz]

get a rasp, and a shitload of sandpaper.

 

[Connor]

I do have power-tools but the point of the build was to not use anything powered besides a soldering iron.
To use power tools now will ultimately have wasted about 80 hours of my time of I could have used them from the start.

 

[sk3ks1s]

Is the neck still in pieces?
Are you gluing laminates together? Do you have to make a fingerboard and glue it on? What stage is the neck in at this point? Are you doing a scarf joint?
If you have to glue anything, you should be waiting at least a couple of days before working on it with any tools. So that, in my opinion would determine whether or not your expectations are realistic.

 

[Connor]

1 piece maple neck, no scarf joint, rosewood fingerboard.
Theyre not glued together yet nor is the truss rod cavity routed. It's going to be incredibly tight for time, maximum curing time for the gluing will have to be 36 hours or so. I've slotted the fingerboard.
This doesn't have to be the "final" neck, it just has to be playable by next Thursday for a university assessment.

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

Buy power tools.

this or have a shitty neck

 

[sk3ks1s]

The be quite honest, the neck is the one part of the guitar that requires very little or no power tools in my opinion. Of course, power tools would make things move smoother. But they are not necessary if you can properly use a hand plane.
If you can plane all surfaces, you should be golden. The truss rod cavity is just that, a cavity. It's covered by the fret board anyways. As long as your truss rod fits in snugly, it doesn't have to be pretty. Cutting, tapering the neck, and shaping the headstock can all be done with a little extra effort with various saws. Would a jigsaw/tablesaw be better? Of course. But you can get the exact same results will very little extra effort. In regards to shaping, that's mostly done with planes, rasps, and sand paper.
I agree that if you had a router and some templates you could do a bulk of the work in little time without breaking a sweat. But when it's all said and done, you do most of the neck work with manual tools.

 

[idunno]

I saw your thread. Take a jap sawand cut as close to the line as possible same on the FB. glue them together. take the sharpest plane you have and run it down the sides to square it up nice. then, SPOKESHAVE, its fast as hell if you keep it sharp and will hog off most of your meat. then just rasp like crazy. I carved a neck once with nothing but a rasp and it only took a few hours tops. Sandpaper, lots of it on a HARD block, Boom you got it!

FOr the truss route. draw your lines with a straight edge. score the lines with a razorblade nice and deep. then chisel down all the way around. After that hammer the chisel at an angle into the wood an pop out chunks. then use the chisel like a scraper, at 90 degrees to the channel and drag hard on it to finish depth. try and make it tight, dont want rattle! you can do it dude!

 

[joshnes]

Until recently I actually have never tried to build a neck without using any kind of power tool. Mine broke a couple of days and I am in use of power rental right now but I was about to try out building a neck without using a tool - I am just not quite sure if it will occupy me at least twice the time it would when using a power tool.

But with idunno's tips I might get along quite well. I'll definitely try it out your way and come back with feedback.

 

[JaeSwift]

If you live in a place where you have electricity, you really have no excuse to not use power tools IMO When I started out building I only had a drill, I just borrowed stuff from people in my surroundings.

 

[SPLANCHN0PHILE]

Be amish

 

[Necromagnon]

What do you guys have with power tools?
There's tons of example around the web that shows people building guitars (of any kind) without using any power tools, and making a work 10 times greater than a lot of luthier.

And I agree with some earilier post: neck is THE part you can easily build without any power tools. For my part, I use exclusively, for the neck:
- hand picked rasps
- spokeshave
- sand paper (of great quility)
- fine files to finish properly neck profile before sanding

It goes... I think... 2/3 times faster than with any power tools. And in case of little mistake, with hand tools, it's easy to repair. With power tools...

 

[Danukenator]

What do you guys have with power tools?
There's tons of example around the web that shows people building guitars (of any kind) without using any power tools, and making a work 10 times greater than a lot of luthier.

I think it basically comes down to this, a router, in the hands of a skilled craftsman will create a smoother truss-rod route than any skilled craftsman armed only with a chisel. I'm sure you can create an amazing route with just hand tools, but I doubt it could truly be better than a well jigged router with a sharp bit. Power tools were created to make tedious hand work more accurate and more rapid/

I don't quite understand why someone would want to use only hand tools. To prove it could be done or for the bragging rights seem like the only logical reasons.

To the OP, look into a pawn shop or craigslist, both are usually ripe with power tools that are cheap. And if you are steadfast that you are going to only use hand tools, at least have the major parts joined on a joiner, unless you are amazing with a hand-plane, you will not get the accuracy required to have a good sounding guitar.

 

[Necromagnon]

More than good sounding: a neck that will hold himself.

I'm not so agree with you. You're right, but digging a truss rod channel with a router is not so easy as your cutting around the whole diameter of the bit. This will make the router to turn around, and it's very very easy to shit up a neck while making the truss rod channel.
And another point is, if your router is not correct, it can be very dangerous for the wood and even more for yourself.

For this route, a friend build a plane that used a chisel insteand of classic blade to make it. It works amazingly.

And working with handtools is for challenge, mainly. But in terms of pricing, it can be understand as well. A plane as several usage, the same for chisels, rasps, and other thing. Router, you have to buy all the bot with ball end, chamfer, round edge, etc. It's exensive because correct bit are expensive, etc. It makes a lot of noise, of dust...

Of course I use router, very often. But it was to say that you can do the same or even better work with only tools. No need to buy power tools just for that.

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

It'll be interesting, if anything.