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Drilling the Neck Shaft |
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Aligning the fretboard to the
neckshaft needs to be absolutely reliable and accurate. Here I am
using a shop-made fixture to drill the neck for pins that will later
align the fretboard |
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Yep, I am a Dodgers fan. Apologies
to my friends and clients in NY |
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There are two pins; one fore and
one aft. This same fixture used to be used to drill the
fretboard (from the other side of course). That ensured precision in
the pins' alignment. Now the fretboard is "faced" and drilled on the
CNC. I like that better. It is now even more accurate. |
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Notice the "stop" for the neck
heel to index against. The neckshaft is also held in place by steel
pins that "lock" it in position. At this point, the neckshaft is
still full-width. For me, that is 2.375". Regardless of the final
fretboard taper and nut-width, all the neckshafts are the same
dimension initially. This allows me to use common jigs and fixtures
for many operations. |
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Note the aerospace "stop" on the
drill bit. This ensures uniform depth of drilling. There is a very
small "window" of depth that is correct. Too shallow and the pins
will hold the fretboard away. Too deep and later when I am carving
the neck the bottom of the hole will be revealed. Neither have
happened. Yet. |
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There is a second drill bushing to
the right of the one I am using here. This is the original one.
Years ago, when I was designing the 12-fret Abbey, I discovered that
location would not work. Therefore, many other details had to be
changed so that one common bushing would work for every fretboard
and neckshaft. The ramifications of the simplest little changes can
be staggering when they create a domino effect on operations down
the pike. |
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