Trussing it up and carving the neck

I had another productive day on Saturday.

First out with the hacksaw to cut a truss rod length.


Then, to make some sparks! I don't have a bench grinder, so all of my grinding will be done with a Dremel tool - or on the ski slopes.
Look at the sparks fly!

After this, I used my 10-32 die to put some threads on both sides of the steel rod.

Here is a view of the T nut attached.


And the whole kit-n-kaboodle.

I just made a truss rod! I still need to purchase some Loctite Red before I put in the truss rod and attach the fret board. So close with the neck!

I also did some carving. I used surforms and rasps to shape the places between the headstock and neck and the neck base and length of the neck. Here is an image showing that. You can kind of see it at the point of the pencil. The auto focus was really getting me there.

After that, I started in with the spoke shave. I didn't realize how cool this tool was! It was practically effortless to use, and once I had the blade depth correctly set, it was super smooth. I tried using a belt sander for about ten seconds. In that time, I had so many unsightly dings and nicks that I ditched it for the hand tools. And that is today's lesson: sometimes power tools aren't the greatest. I have heard of people carving necks with a belt sander, but I need to see it done with my own eyes first before attempting it.

This is the jig that I set up to hold the neck in place. I went through a few iterations of this, and the one the I settled on is not the one pictured.

After all the carving was done, I picked up a rag and rolled it up really tightly, then I wrapped some 60 grit around it and started smoothing everything out. It looks and feels like butter! Baby bottom smooth!

Here is the finished neck product so far. I like it and am quite happy that carving the neck was not as traumatic a process as it could have been! I think I was more scared as I cut the fret board. Incidentally, that may have to be redone. I'm not sure all of my fret cuts were as good as I'd hoped.
Sighting down the back for a feel of the curvature.

And finally, a beautiful picture of the sum total of my woodworking labors.


Coming soon - I need to drill the holes for my tuning machines and start winding my pickups and cutting out the pickup compartments. Also, places for the jack and potentiometers to live. I will soon be installing the threaded inserts for bolting on the neck and possibly "milling" a plate to cover the neck and hold on the bolts. But maybe not.