Necks

Bob-Dubery

Wizard wrote: Like many others, am pondering a partial guitar build.
Mainly to get the wood-look body I really want.
Making a neck looks w-a-y too complex, so think I'll buy one.

Here's my neck question.
The Fender Strat neck 'feels' different to the Fender Jaguar ... and I prefer the latter.
Am I imagining things? Or is there a difference between these necks?

Jaguar was a shorter scale length for a start. And Fender neck profiles and fingerboard radiuses changed from year to year. There is no such thing as a "standard" Strat neck.

AlanRatcliffe

There's a lot that goes into a neck - and a lot of it is personal preference. You need to figure out why you like the Jaguar neck, but not the Strat. Your best bet is to play a lot of guitars and investigate the necks you like and find out what the commonalities are.

The most important specs for feel are scale length, neck thickness (usually measured at 1st fret and 12th, difference called the taper), profile (shape and symmetry), nut width, fingerboard wood, fingerboard radius and fret size.

My personal neck specs:
* Maple neck, .870" thick at nut, .70 taper, Soft V symmetrical profile
* Pao ferro or maple fingerboard, 9.5" radius, 25.5" scale length
* 22 stainless steel 6105 frets
* 1 11/16" nut width, curved slot

I also go for a slightly different headstock shape that ensures the string path from nut to tuners is straight (it often isn't on the 6th of a Strat).

Explorerlover

This is exactly the fear I have...the body I can deal with to an extent, but the neck.... ?

Wizard

Just saw a useful woodwork trick on TV.
The chap glued the fingerboard onto the neck - then wrapped surgical tubing around the two tightly to act as a clamp.
Gives uniform pressure over the full glueing area, without leaving marks.
(he was making an electric violin at the time)

AlanRatcliffe

Cable ties do a good job too...

Wizard

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Cable ties do a good job too...

Another inspiring insight.
Sounds easier than trying to control the independent will of many metal clamps ... which all seem to want to do their own little thing.
And where the clamped item weighs 4 tons ... and has "arms" that project in all directions

WantzChas

Wizard wrote: Just saw a useful woodwork trick on TV.
The chap glued the fingerboard onto the neck - then wrapped surgical tubing around the two tightly to act as a clamp.
Gives uniform pressure over the full glueing area, without leaving marks.
(he was making an electric violin at the time)

LOL, I saw it this morning. How it's made. I liked the song he played in the end.

Wizard

Still contemplating an electric violin.
Dilemma of life: More toys than resources.
Forces you to use that most horrible of words: p-r-i-o-r-i-t-i-e-s.

your_art_is_life

is there anywhere in cape town that actually has a jaguar?

been dying to try one.

at the moment im thinking alot about the new jazzmaster, found the neck to be perfect for me, if not a little long due to the setup.

id love to get a similar neck and use my squiers as firewood.

atleast that would keep me warm until i can afford one.

Wizard

your_art_is_life wrote: ... is there anywhere in cape town that actually has a jaguar?

Bothners Plumstead has a Jaguar

Wizard

What's the best way to cut the slot into the body to attach the neck?
With a router and some form of jig?
If so, how exactly would the jig work?

WantzChas

Read this : http://www.tundraman.com/Guitars/001/GuitarNeck2ndAttempt.CFM

Gearhead

@WantzChas: Does not apply to Wizard's situation since it deals with a set neck.

@Wizard: as promised before in some other thread, I will post pics of my neck pocket jig shortly. The way it works is not entirely new, but I did make some refinements I haven't found on the net or in books. You basically put two straight parts along the neck and line the neck+jigparts up to the body centreline. You then clamp the jig onto the body and remove the neck. The jig parts now form two sides of a pocket you can rout from with a follower bit. The trick of my jig is in how it deals with the neck round off.

Wizard

sounds terrible sensible.
how thick is the jig?
i.e. how high does it extend above the body?

Gearhead

This is limited by the length of your follower bit and router geometry: the bit should be able to cut into the top deep enough so you can remove the jig and use the cut itself as a guide. Also sensible eh? ?

Wizard

Here are some articles I found:
http://www.mykaguitars.com/tools/neckpocketjig/default.htm
http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/pocket/index.htm