I glued and screwed this piece of wood to the back of the neck to take the strain where wood had been removed to make room for the mag pickup. One screw hole will be visible and will be filled with a mahogany dot.
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Hi Uncle John. Does how far you go with the heel also depend on how many frets you have in total? The box on this one is small so I have 22 frets. The heel extends as far as the 18th fret. There is a three inch distance from the round end of the heel to the point where the deepest part of the cutout starts (the weakest point) I think it looks less on the photos. The neck is also angled back quite a bit so I hope that if there is only a small amount of flex it won't be disastrous. Fingers crossed.
Hi Wes. You do indeed. Don't keep the rest of us in the dark. Look forward to seeing more of your photos.
John, you are right about going to far up the neck sometimes getting in the way of playing. Lately I have been bracing or heeling up to the 12th fret. That does not get in my way, but it might for some.
Hi Wes. How strange. I was just looking at pics of your work and had just got to the neck with the steel rod in it. Yes. Very useful. Laminated necks are certainly on the menu for the future.
At the moment I have made the cutout deep enough so that the pup can go just below a line level with the top of the frets. I don't know if this will be enough (1st try with a pup) but I didn't want to remove more unless it was absolutely needed. So much to learn.
Oh and if you wanna do some sort of truss rod, try a 1/8"x1/2" steel rod. very strong and you can also do the same on the lower bracing (above). route out a 9/16" channel and glue the rod in.
Next time you do a neck, try a laminated neck (link). Very strong and no truss rod. Good for a 4-5 string (light -med ga strings).
Yep. This is close to what I do. One thing to note, your mag pup might stick up higher than expected, so the grove might be way deep. But that is what you've prolly already determined.
Hi Uncle John. Thanks for the advice. Longer in which direction? I was concerned that if I extended the wood further up the neck it would get in the way when playing. The trouble is that at this stage I don't have enough experience of what works either from a making or playing point of view.
If I find this isn't strong enough my plan B is to cut the lighter wood off and screw 1/2" square section stainless steel tube to it and just cover the bit that shows with a wooden trim.
My next one will be a four string (also with a mag pup, so also with electric strings). I think I will do the steel tube thing from the start on that one just in case. As you say, the stronger the better.
Good. I do not think unsupported '1inch' wood is thick enough for a neck on anything with 3 or more strings. Stronger is better. This is good, but I would go even longer. Pretty wood too.
Comments
Hi Uncle John. Does how far you go with the heel also depend on how many frets you have in total? The box on this one is small so I have 22 frets. The heel extends as far as the 18th fret. There is a three inch distance from the round end of the heel to the point where the deepest part of the cutout starts (the weakest point) I think it looks less on the photos. The neck is also angled back quite a bit so I hope that if there is only a small amount of flex it won't be disastrous. Fingers crossed.
Hi Wes. You do indeed. Don't keep the rest of us in the dark. Look forward to seeing more of your photos.
Man, I need to post more pics. I just realized that I had no good recent pics. Also check out my blog on laminated necks (link).
-WY
Hi Wes. How strange. I was just looking at pics of your work and had just got to the neck with the steel rod in it. Yes. Very useful. Laminated necks are certainly on the menu for the future.
At the moment I have made the cutout deep enough so that the pup can go just below a line level with the top of the frets. I don't know if this will be enough (1st try with a pup) but I didn't want to remove more unless it was absolutely needed. So much to learn.
Thanks for the help.
Oh and if you wanna do some sort of truss rod, try a 1/8"x1/2" steel rod. very strong and you can also do the same on the lower bracing (above). route out a 9/16" channel and glue the rod in.
Next time you do a neck, try a laminated neck (link). Very strong and no truss rod. Good for a 4-5 string (light -med ga strings).
-WY
Yep. This is close to what I do. One thing to note, your mag pup might stick up higher than expected, so the grove might be way deep. But that is what you've prolly already determined.
-WY
Hi Uncle John. Thanks for the advice. Longer in which direction? I was concerned that if I extended the wood further up the neck it would get in the way when playing. The trouble is that at this stage I don't have enough experience of what works either from a making or playing point of view.
If I find this isn't strong enough my plan B is to cut the lighter wood off and screw 1/2" square section stainless steel tube to it and just cover the bit that shows with a wooden trim.
My next one will be a four string (also with a mag pup, so also with electric strings). I think I will do the steel tube thing from the start on that one just in case. As you say, the stronger the better.
Good. I do not think unsupported '1inch' wood is thick enough for a neck on anything with 3 or more strings. Stronger is better. This is good, but I would go even longer. Pretty wood too.
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