Neck Making Tips?

Hey guys, I've been tinkering with electric guitars for a few years now, so I figured for my first ukulele build I'd keep it simple for me with a solid-body electric soprano. I've got the body done, but I'm seriously having trouble with the neck. All I have are some hand saws, files, an electric sander, and a bunch of wood glue. Has anyone ever made a neck like this using no power tools? Am I insane for trying? If it turns out that I am, could anyone point me in the right direction to get a very inexpensive soprano ukulele neck? I'm on a tight budget. Thanks in advance guys!

Cut out the profile with a coping saw, then shape the heel and neck with a rasp file. As you get closer to the shape you want, use finer files. I made my first four ukes pretty much with hand tools.

LMI has soprano necks for sale, but they AIN'T cheap!

Mainland Ukes sells soprano necks that include a pre-fretted rosewood fretboard.

On my first neck I marked out the side profile..and then made a lot of sawcuts 1/2" apart cut down to the line, then removed most of the material with a mallet and chisel.. then I started the carving with knives chisels rasps etc:..and finally finished it off with a piece of glass used as a scraper.

TicToc said:

Hey guys, I've been tinkering with electric guitars for a few years now, so I figured for my first ukulele build I'd keep it simple for me with a solid-body electric soprano. I've got the body done, but I'm seriously having trouble with the neck. All I have are some hand saws, files, an electric sander, and a bunch of wood glue. Has anyone ever made a neck like this using no power tools? Am I insane for trying? If it turns out that I am, could anyone point me in the right direction to get a very inexpensive soprano ukulele neck? I'm on a tight budget. Thanks in advance guys!

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Are you doing a slab neck into a pocket in the body, like a Fender solid body? or are you doing a heel style neck? Maybe a pic would help others to give you some tips.

olgoat52 said:

Are you doing a slab neck into a pocket in the body, like a Fender solid body? or are you doing a heel style neck? Maybe a pic would help others to give you some tips.

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Well, I messed up on the pocket, so I thickened up the body a bit and am going with a heel style.

Thanks for the help so far guys, I've gotten it pretty well roughed out with just a wood cutting blade on my hack saw and a bunch of files so far. I'm taking a little break, and then I'll go back out to the garage and make it nice and pretty.

Timbuck said:

finished it off with a piece of glass used as a scraper.

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Works great! Smooth as can be.

If you do a peghead with "ears", you can get a lot of the shaping done on a router table with a big round-over bit. Rough machine the neck, stay away from the peghead area, and then add on ears.

I do all this kind of rough carving on an overhead pin router; we'll eventually move it over to our CNC machine. At some point I'll take a series of photos and post them.

Well guys, I finished the neck way early. I'll post a picture once I've got the fretboard on!

I use hand tools only (except drilling the peg holes).

My way of working is to build up the heel stack, splice the peghead angle, and then cut the profile of the back (heel through to peghead) with a coping saw.

Next, taper the neck's sides back to the peghead, cut shape of peghead - panel saw and coping saw.

Now I have a blankwhich looks like a neck from top or bottom, but is still rectangular in section.

To round the neck I mark the centre line on the back and then mark at heel and peghead ends 1/3 of the distance between the centr line and the edge. The same on the side - 1/3 from the (estimated) final top of the fingerboard. Join these lines and cut away. Then, draw a centre line on the facets I've created, and mark half way between centre lines and edges, same from the centre line on the back, same on the sides. Or put simply, I knock off the edges I created in my first step.

This gets you very close to round - continue with files until you're happy. Use a half-round file to create the transition to the peghead.

When done, clamp neck in vice at the heel, fingerboard down, and use a half-sheet of sandpaper as if you were a shoe-shine boy. If you rub pencil over the neck this helps you see if you have any high or low spots left.

I made a jig, or rather a holding thingie. I carve away with really sharp knives and chisels. What I can't do with a sharp blade, most people can't do with power tools... (bragging, but no smiley added)

http://argapa.blogspot.com/2011/03/neck-carving.html?m=0

Here's a link to a thread I did some time back on making Soprano necks
It's the way I do e'm..but it may give you some ideas
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?35976-Making-a-Batch-of-Soprano-necks

Could anyone give me some tips on making the fretboard? It seems pretty straight-forward, but I don't want to go in over confident and screw something up.

TicToc said:

Could anyone give me some tips on making the fretboard? It seems pretty straight-forward, but I don't want to go in over confident and screw something up.

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I cut the slots while it's square, then taper it. If, like me, you're inexperienced, then glue the board to the neck and level it before fretting. If you fret it and then glue it to the neck, any unevennesses in either neck or board will give you a lot of levelling work.

Cut slots while square as Chris said. Lots of ways to taper them. I do mine on my table saw with a little jig, which reminds me that I've got to make some more and should shoot a video of my technique.

I build with a spanish heel design, so when the body is closed up and ready for the fret board, I lay the fret board in position and drill through the 13th fret slot into the neck, and again at the 1st fret. Just a 1mm hole that will accept a brad. Then I fret the board. When it comes time to glue the fret board in place I tap the brads into the neck and nip them off so there's about 1mm protruding. These make fantastic line up pins for the fret board and take out the possibility of the fret board moving around on you while you're applying the clamps.