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order of assembly

I'm still too new and excited in this endeavor, so I haven't been able to solidify a "procedure" and standard for myself. This has probably been covered in depth before and if so, please point me in the right direction. I keep getting stuck on what order to build and assemble the parts of the neck. Is it preferable to glue and finish the neck/bridge then cut the fret slots, mount the frets before finishing, etc. I like the idea of doing the frets last, but one bad cut and a lot of work goes down the drain. if I wait to spray the finish last, then I get lacquer over the frets, and I don't like that either. What's the best way?

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Permalink Reply by FatBoy CooKen on December 6, 2012 at 6:56am

Personally, I finish the neck& headstock by taping off the fretboard...I oil my fretboard as a finish after the frets are in...I've also began finishing my bridge before mounting it so as to allow moving it for setting intonation...sure those with more experience will chime in soon.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on December 6, 2012 at 7:29am

I shape the neck, glue the fingerboard on, mark and cut the frets, sand everything smooth, then wipe on the tung oil finish. I just rub the tung oil off the frets with a rag.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on December 6, 2012 at 8:58am

Painter's tape and rags are your friends.

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Permalink Reply by Suspect Device on December 6, 2012 at 10:32am

I guess it's whatever works best for you. I like to like to shape the neck, then layout & cut frets in the fretboard, then inlay the dots and sand the board to 1000g. Next, I use double-stick tape to attach the heel & the fboard to the neck for alignment/sanding. Then I take the thing apart, install the frets on the fboard, level/bevel/crown. Then glue the whole thing up: First the neck to the box, then the fboard (with the top taped off to keep the glue from getting all over it) and finally the heel. Then final clean-up/sanding of the neck to 600 or 1000g,and a wipe down with mineral spirits. To finish, I bag the box, tape-off everything but the neck, and finish with 5-6 coats of Deft gloss spray lacquer. When the neck is dry, I remove all masking, tape off the fboard between the frets and polish each fret with a piece of 1000g sandpaper wrapped around a rubber eraser. To finish the fboard... if it is maple, it gets tung oil, anything else gets lots of olive oil, then buffed with a rag. ...Man, now that I think about it, that sure sounds like a lot of work. I wonder why I even bother. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on December 6, 2012 at 7:16pm

i usually mark up the neck according to the box i'm using, cut the headstock and box cut-down depth, glue the fretboard on in the right position before shaping and finishing the neck the next day.

The slots are then marked out and cut and frets added. Then filed and dressed and ready to glue to the box, it is much easier to work on the neck before it is attached to the box.

I spray lacquer the box first to avoid messing it up during construction, and spray lacquer the neck attached to the box, frets and all, before mounting the neck hardware.

Will be making a "how to make a cigar box guitar" video in the next few weeks! (-: