The kids trace the outline of the neck on the wood. Maple is a traditional wood used on this style of guitar. Like the alder we used for the body, maple is a good choice because it's grown domestically and is not endangered.

After rough cutting the neck I reattach the template and flush trim it with the router.

 

 

Next the kids on the Design Team marked the location of the holes for the tuning keys with the template. When I get home I use the drill press and this is the result below.

 

 

 

Again the kids help me mark out the cut for the headstock.

 

 

 And now for some real fun! Most guitars have a piece of steel that runs through most of the neck called a truss rod. This helps keep the neck straight. For this type of neck a slot needs to be routed the back of the neck. This is a jig I made to help make this route.

 

 

 

The jig in action. The rails on the side keep the router straight while making the cut.

 

 

The finished result.

 

 

 

 

Along with the route on the back of the neck, holes need to be drilled into the top and bottom of the neck for the truss rod. For this job I've also made up some other jigs to make sure the holes are in the correct locations and at the proper angles. Here is the jig for drilling the headstock.

 

 

 

The truss rod goes into the neck through this hole and is secured with a metal metal nut. After this we'll glue in a small piece of walnut to fill in the hole. The dark walnut contrasts nicely with the lighter maple making it a nice decorative touch.

 

 

Here is a little side by side before and after shot. The one on the left is another neck I'm working on. The one on the right is our neck for the project after the walnut plug was cut down and the sanded.

 

 

 

Now to drilling the bottom of the neck. This hole allows access to a nut that adjusts the tension of the truss rod.

A nice clean hole exactly where it should be. The jig did it's job.

 



 

 

With the slot cut and the holes drilled, it's time to make the truss rod. Here the kids on the Truss Rod Team mark and cut the steel rod.

 

 

 

 

 We then turn to putting the threading on each side of the truss rod with tap and die tools. (I love this picture).

 

The children did a great job and we now have a perfect truss rod.

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the adjustment nut at the heel (bottom) of the neck after we installed the truss rod.

 

 

 

 

One more truss rod related task left. Filling in the slot on the back of the neck. As with the plug in the headstock, walnut is the traditional wood used for this job. This dark walnut stripe in a maple neck is called a "skunk stripe." Here's a bundle of walnut strips I made some time ago.

 

 

 

 

After picking one out I took it to school for kids to trace the shape with a template and begin the shaping process.

 

 

 

 

After some careful shaping we have a skunk stripe that fits neatly into the neck. Now it's just a matter of gluing it in an clamping it up.

 

 

 

And there's the skunk stripe.

 

 

 

More to come.