#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Raising part of a neck for fretboard?

As part of this ongoing problematic build, I've attached my headstock to the neck via a scarf joint, with the headstock face creating part of the flat surface of the neck where the fretboard will be attached.

However, in the course of trying to flatten the faces that were glued together, I have gotten the angles slightly out of sync; as a result, there's a slight "valley" in the top third of the neck now.

Normally I'd just sand down the whole thing to an even flatness, but I need to keep the correct height that I currently have. Is there any way to "patch" the dip?

I've attached a very crude diagram of what I mean (thanks to the original poster who created the diagram I modified).

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerry Jordan on June 17, 2019 at 9:18am

Add a flat shim of wood into the glue joint, you can correct the angle by changing the shape of the shim... This fix works, but it's up to you whether you shim or start from scratch.,., I clean the snow off my windshield with a failed neck blank in winter.,.,might make decent kindling too.,., a little shimming, sliding, clamping, and sanding should take care of it.,.,

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on June 17, 2019 at 9:33am

Hi Sean, ooops! I would suggest glueing a piece of timber to the angled part of the neck, reshape it so that it is now square with enough length for the fresh angle to be cut. Then lay the peghead piece on top of your new timber, line it up so you can draw a line, cut the piece you just added at the correct angle. You could leave room on the side of the cut to level the face of the peghead after if you wanted.

Then glue the peg head on as you would normally do. Cover this with a veneer on the face if you want to cover the joint.

Hope you can follow this, can't do fancy drawings on here.

Good luck Taff

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by François on June 17, 2019 at 9:35am

I would just add a shim and sand that flat.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on June 17, 2019 at 5:05pm

Hi again Sean, I have a bit more time so I did a drawing of what I meant earlier.

The way I suggested would give you a shim, as others have said, but will give one with the corrected angle, which is what I thought you wanted to do. Just adding a shim I think will just give the same angle only further back. My suggestion was to replace some wood and recut the angle.

i have also shown the steps I use when cutting a spliced peghead. After the front is sanded flat I then thin the back to get the thickness that suits the tuners.