Saguaro Custom Guitars

Tombstone SN004 Neck
The neck for Tombstone SN004 is maple with a birdseye maple fretboard. To produce a more stable neck, I recommended a laminate neck, but the customer did not want a contrasting wood for the cap, so this will be a laminate neck with a hidden cap as shown in the image below.

Below is the maple cap glued to the birdseye maple fretboard.

The cap is surfaced to 0.375" thick and routed to 1.25" wide by 18" long.

The trussrod anchor hole is then routed.

The cap is built in steps. Here is the CAD image of the fine route.

Here is the cap after the fine route.

The trussrod is then routed with a 0.125 ball mill so the route will have no air gaps like a flat bottomed trussrod route would have.

The the small route for the trussrod bullet is done with a 0.125 ball mill.

The neck base is mounted on the CNC.

The area for the neck cap and the trussrod anchor hole are then routed with a 0.250 end mill.

The trussrod route is then done with a 0.125" ball mill.

And the trussrod bullet hole.

Here is the neck base and cap/fretboard with the trussrod, trussrod anchor and bullet before it is glued together.

Here is the neck headstock area on the CNC after the fretboard/cap have been glued.

The trussrod bullet hole that was routed on the CNC would not have smooth edges routing the way it was routed so the end of the hole is drilled with a jig. The jig was designed to mount on a 0.680" thick headstock. The headstock area is routed down to this thickness with a 0.500" end mill.

The jig uses three of the tuner holes for mounting.

Here is the trussrod bullet hole jig.

Here's the bullet hole after drilling.

The neck is now mounted upside down on the CNC and the pilot holes for the tuner mounting screws are then drilled with a 0.093" end mill.

Then the holes for the holes for the neck mounting threaded inserts.

Here is the CAD image for the back neck contour. The neck is going to be a C shaped, 0.890" thick at the 1st fret and 1.00" at the 12th fret.

The back contour is done in two steps. First, the area is roughed with a 0.500" end mill.

Then fine cut with a 0.500" ball mill.

The neck is now mounted right side up on the CNC.

The headstock area is now milled to the final thickness with a 0.500" end mill and the transition is routed with a 0.500" ball mill.

The tuner holes are then routed.

The outline cuts are done in two sections. The main area is routed with a 0.500" end mill.

And then the headstock is routed with a 0.250" end mill.

The tabs holding the neck to the neck blank are cut and the neck has sat for several days to let the wood stress relieve before cutting the fretboard. The neck is mounted on the CNC.

This neck is going to have a 9.5" radius. Here is a CAD image of the fretboard radius.

The fretboard radius is cut with a 0.500" ball mill. I set up a tiny 0.015" step over to reduce the mount of tool marks left on the fretboard which reduces the amount of hand sanding. Here it is after the fretboard radius is cut.

The above photo also has the nut slot cut since I forgot to take a photo before it was cut. It was done with a 0.093" end mill. The bottom of the nut slot matches the fretboard radius.
The fret slots are cut with a tiny 0.023" end mill. TO keep from breaking the end mills, the fret slots are cut in shallow passes. The image below shows the path the CNC travels while cutting the fret slots.

Here it is cutting the fret slots.

The position markers are then cut with a 0.125" end mill. Here is the neck after the fret slots and position marker holes have been cut.

The abalone dots are then glued in place and then sanded flush.

The neck is then mounted sideways in a jig to drill the side position markers.

The side position markers are drilled with a 0.093" end mill.

Then the side markers are sanded flush.

Now the neck is ready for fretting. The frets are 0.095" x 0.055" stainless steel and have been cut to the proper lengths. I slide the frets in from the side rather then hammering or pressing them in from the top. I like the idea that the fret barbs cut their own channel in the fret slot. Below is the fretboard taped up so it doesn't get scratched, the frets, and the fret installed I made from aluminum and Delrin.

Here's the underside of the tool with a fret in place. The front end of the fret is filed into a little "ski tip" so it doesn't dig into the fretboard as I slide it across.

Here I'm sliding a fret in. Actually it takes both hands and a lot of force, but I only have two hands to take a photo.

Here's the fret installed.

And after all the frets are installed.

The fret ends are then cut off with a Dremel wheel. Stainless frets are pretty hard to use nippers on the fret ends and I find that often the force required to cut the frets will pull the fret ends up out of the fretboard. Here is the neck after the fret ends have been Dremeled off.