Do a little jig...

Nice

would a felt lining to keep the wood safe when clamping down be a good idea or do you think it would mess with your alignments. Or is that something not to worry about when using it at that stage of the build?

Looking good though 

Great questions guys.

The body could be in ruff or nice condition for this step.

This is not my original idea - if it even has an originator so your ideas
are very worthy of consideration while I figure out how I want it to be.
James I have used the wood left from trimming the body shape many times...really
helped when clamping wings to neck-through design....If I'm understanding
your gauge idea correctly.

The part of the design that has caught my attention are the rails.
The inside of them that the router bearing will ride and the possibility
that the weight of the router can flex them.
Both are major concerns naturally because an issue with either can ruin
the pocket.

I'm sure I'll just shim under the rails to stabilize because the bodies could
be different thickness and I have to assure the plane of the rails are parallel to body and also
accurate for and degree of tilt so design focus is on stability- not on preventing the body from moving.

Not much to this and think it will make the "set" neck build a little easier and excellent accuracy.

Super cool!

Great! :)

Appreciate the kudos my friends but please take note lol...I don't know what
I'm doing...just sharing the trip of trying to build a jig that might help me.

Tim from the very start of building a guitar everything...everything works from
"the centerline".

I'll try to explain the function of this jig better.... first know that the jig has a center-line.

The body also has a centerline (all guitar bodies do) and will be placed in the jig in alignment
with the jigs centerline and secured as not to move off of center-line.

The rails will help in aligning the centerline of the neck with that of the body. Once the two are aligned
then the neck can be removed and the rails guide the router. This will establish a neck pocket that will
hold the neck in alignment with the body.

Many that own bolt-on necks know that they may have to loosen the neck bolts and adjust the neck
to correct the alignment...they know it's out because one of the outer strings will slip off the edge of the neck.
I have two deluxe Strats that I've had to straighten...it happens because of the design...there is room for slack.
( something I've never understood while people making claims of the importance of the neck to body fit..and combined
with the tilt adjustment on them...must mean that the fit doesn't matter or it does but at least the sloppy joint can
be adjusted so at least one can still play it.....I don't know, to each his own.)

One can see that with a set neck there will be no loosening anything to align it. There is one shot....the first one and
it should be perfect. I know if I pay for one I don't want the strings to slide off the side of the neck when I play it. lol.

My first set neck build is the one in the other thread. It was perfect to within a thousandth of an inch. ( accuracy that I can't
get with the metric system rulers I have...don't know if they have some with less than mm)
But it wasn't easy because nothing was really connected to anything else...I don't know a better way to explain. That is the purpose
of a jig really...to help hold stuff in place and to help put stuff in place more accurately...well that's what it means to me. :)
I ran out of hands fast and had to rig because I had no jig.

When you look at a guitar with a nice two piece figured wood...where they meet in the middle is the centerline. It runs from
head to tail and everything is located from it. The bookmatched pieces when placed on the body were aligned to centerline.

If one can imagine the exact center of the nut, the end of the neck and the center of the bodies butt-end then one can see
that a "v" could easily be created by the neck and body joining...even a little "v" means that alignment is out. Not a good thing.

If it's still fuzzy...when I get farther along I'll post some pics. Much easier when one can see it rather than listen to my BS.

I have the rails to go that way but didn't.

I just found this great example.
Much better photos and the last one is much like
how I did my first one.

I sure don't understand his example though...not routering away the Maple top...
that neck tenon should be under that Maple I'm thinking...but still, the jig is much
the same as I'm headin'.

I may bend some metal.

timidi


Thanks Spacey.
I'm guessing "straight" is then within an 1/8" from bridge to nut and you're still good to go?
(that's a question)
I mean for in a real world situation.
I'm sure you're going for dead straight though.

I'm having a hard time understanding the "center line" I guess. How do you match up to the center line.
Just eyeballing?? I mean everything is on it's own plane.

Your welcome Tim. I enjoy your questions. Makes me think.
 
It's a great question too. The scale length is measured from the fretboard side of nut
to the saddle for the first string- small E.
Should one not check the saddle adjustment there could be bad results. For instance;
If the small E string saddle was adjusted to it's center of travel then the bridge could be to forward or
to close to fretboard and the low E string may not have enough adjustment room to set far enough away
from fretboard.
I've always left a small amount of adjustment on the small E to move it towards the fretboard which allows
a sufficient amount of adjustment for the low E string.
 
Alignment is on different planes. Of course it's visual but the accuracy in which we measure and see to achieve
accuracy is part of the skill. One may make very thick lines with a marker or a very fine one with a razor- if you get
my meaning.
Finding centers, center-lines, locating and cutting fret slots, drilling holes....IMO every little thing is a challenge to
achieve a high degree of accuracy.
Transferring the center line accurately through the planes is part of it.
It's a challenge too when two pieces of wood such as the neck and fretboard are glued...wood likes to slide on that stuff.
The neck and the fretboard each have a centerline and it's up to the builder to assure they are aligned after that glue
is cured. There are ways that works for one and ways that work for others. One finds what works for them.
I imagine many just get upset and take up golf after a few of those type things. I try to avoid them up front. So far...
lucky me. lol
 
Hope I'm doing Ok Tim.

I'm wondering if you are going to make a hinged tilting platter with threaded riser studs and go to the trouble of calculating the delta or change in angle per turn of the threaded stud.

If you use a metric stud you can get a 1mm per turn thread pitch and make calculations relatively easy.

Then you can have a jig that can do angled neck pockets.



:-)


I enjoy doing wood work vicariously... it distracts me form the fact that I still have wood work to do.

:-)


all the best,
mike