The adjustable truss rod is placed in the groove in the neck. This is used to adjust the bow of the neck when the tension from the strings pull it forward.
A piece of sycamore veneer is placed over the truss rod. This will stop the truss rod getting covered in glue when the fingerboard is glued on as that might limit its movement and clog up its moving parts.
This is to be a three part neck. The first part is the cherry wood of the neck. On top of that is an angled piece of maple to give the fingerboard and strings greater clearance of the arched soundboard. The fingerboard will be glued on top of the maple. Pictured above is the maple being glued onto the neck.
Maple glued in place. Later on I’ll put a cover over the end of the truss rod. This will be attached with screws to make it accessible.
Now for the fingerboard itself. This is made from local Sesam wood, which is a type of Rosewood that grows here in Galilee. In this picture I’ve marked out the fret positions using a ruler and am sawing the slots with a Japanese saw.
Here the neck has been cut to the right and is now being planed to the right thickness. This cherry wood is very hard. It’s a lot of work with this little block plane.
Carving the neck profile with a spokeshave. This is the only part of guitar making where I get to sit down.
The final shaping of the neck is done with a cabinet scraper. It makes very fine shavings.
The finished neck.
very nice!
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