Carbon neck reinforcement

tparse said:

Sequoia,
What wood do you use for your necks and how thick are they? What length necks do you make?
Tom

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I use Honduran mahogany... Thickness at the nut (thinnest) is 0.05 or 0.7 inches total with fretboard attached and at the 10th fret (just before the volute starts) it is about 0.65 or 0.85 total with fretbaord. Overall length of the neck from body to nut is 9.5 inches with 5.5 inch peghead making a total neck length of 15 inches.

The argument for reinforcement is simple: Why not? It adds very little weight and is relatively simple to do with a modicum of carpentry skills. Why don't I do it? Shrug--- Don't think it is necessary I guess and maybe a little laziness thrown in? No necks have bowed... yet.

With a neck thickness of 0.05 inches you would desperately need reinforcement but wouldn't have anywhere to install it.
Did you mean 0.5 inches?
Miguel

Yes of course Miguel 0.5... I'm not the first to be caught up by those pesky little dots called decimal points.

Sequoia
Back when I used Mahogany I did not use any reinforcement. I switched to Spanish Cedar (30% lighter) as I am always looking for a lighter more responsive instrument. My necks run .50 inch all the way to the volute. I do not think Spanish Cedar is strong enough without a carbon fiber i-beam epoxied into it.. I can actually stand in the middle of my necks without breaking.... I am not a heavy person tho.... 145lbs. That was enough to tell me it was worth the small effort and expense to always do it.
Tom

Still not using reinforcement. I'm using a thinner fingerboard and thinner overall profile, too, and I just don't see any movement. I understand the "insurance" argument, but I doubt at this point that I will ever do it.

I got the 1/8" by 3/8" by 24" rod from LMI and realized that I can do 2 tenor necks with one rod. I found one table saw blade out of six or seven tries that was fairly close. The fit's not sloppy nor is it what I would call tight so I think I can live with that.

My question is about glue. In my practice run I used some J-B weld epoxy and I have to say that that is the messiest stuff in the world. I've not used epoxy enough to know what I'm doing other than you mix it in equal quantities. Is there a good choice out there? Is there a better way to apply that than to slather either the rod or the channel with enough to do a good job and then somehow clean off the excess and sand down the overage later?

Grasshopper to Jedi Masters, thank you for your help!

JB Weld is the wrong stuff, but you already learned that! Google this and pick your preferred source of supply:

Bob Smith Industries Mid-Cure 15 Min Epoxy

It's widely available and is useful for many tasks in ukulele building.

saltytri said:

JB Weld is the wrong stuff, but you already learned that! Google this and pick your preferred source of supply:

Bob Smith Industries Mid-Cure 15 Min Epoxy

It's widely available and is useful for many tasks in ukulele building.

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EXCELLENT!!

Thank you!!