Neck Woes

mineymole

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I have been following an online course to make my first non kit ukulele. The neck has been connected by a Spanish heel. Something has gone wrong (not sure what) and the neck slants away from the body. When I put the fretboard on it, there is a gap where the fretboard meets the top of the body.

First, is there a fix?
Second, how might this have happened so I don't do it again. I'm not so sure I like doing a Spanish heel anyway since in this course it requires the neck to be finished after it has been attached which is a PITA if you ask me.

Thank you all for your time.IMG_3358.jpg
 
I’m sorry that I can’t help you with this problem. However, I would be very interested to learn more about the online course you’re taking.
 
Either the sides where the neck meets the body are not parallel with the top or your neck is not square at the heel (90 degrees). Its easy to fix. (elbow grease). You need to sand the neck heel with the floss method and remove the angle. Look up some tutorials online, I'm sure there's a lot of info online.
 
Either the sides where the neck meets the body are not parallel with the top or your neck is not square at the heel (90 degrees). Its easy to fix. (elbow grease). You need to sand the neck heel with the floss method and remove the angle. Look up some tutorials online, I'm sure there's a lot of info online.

I'm afraid I may be past this as it is all glued up.
 
Yes this happens. The problem is one of three things: either the sides at the connection point to the neck heel are not square 90 degrees plumb to the top or the neck heel is not square 90 degrees to the fretboard bed. Or a combination of both. It is always one or the tother. This is where a luthiers square comes in very, very handy. Most carpenter squares are just too big for measuring on an ukulele. SMD sells them. Git youself one.

StewMac_Luthiers_Square.jpg

Find what is out of square and sand it square. If it is the body, you can make a sanding fixture that is 90 degrees square and sand away. If it is the neck heel you can try the floss method. But you gotta figure out where the problem lies before you attack it.
 
I'm afraid I may be past this as it is all glued up.

Sorry I did not read the whole thread when I posted. I can tell you that that will not work. The angle of the fretboard to the saddle will be all wrong and the action will be too high. You will have to unglue and fix the problem. This will not work.
 
Sorry I did not read the whole thread when I posted. I can tell you that that will not work. The angle of the fretboard to the saddle will be all wrong and the action will be too high. You will have to unglue and fix the problem. This will not work.

I am not sure how to unglue it all. I may use this one as just a place to learn how to do everything and go back to the drawing board.

I did the cuts for the Spanish heel on my table saw and I don't think the two slots for the side were lined up perfectly. I find that keeping things square is indeed the hardest thing for me. Even bending the sides by hand and keeping them square!
 
I am not sure how to unglue it all. I may use this one as just a place to learn how to do everything and go back to the drawing board.

I did the cuts for the Spanish heel on my table saw and I don't think the two slots for the side were lined up perfectly. I find that keeping things square is indeed the hardest thing for me. Even bending the sides by hand and keeping them square!

A simple bolt on neck is the best bet for your first build.
 
A simple bolt on neck is the best bet for your first build.

Totally agree. Why beginning building courses use this Spanish heel method for the first time builder has always puzzled me. Sure it has its advantages, but it is so old school. I think it comes from older guitar building methods that were adapted to building ukuleles. Just bolt the sucker on and go.

As for keeping things square, we all feel your pain. I would recommend taking the thing apart and salvaging what you can. That can be a big learning process in itself. We have all burned a few ukuleles. Ask Ken. It happens. Good luck.
 
Either the sides where the neck meets the body are not parallel with the top or your neck is not square at the heel (90 degrees). Its easy to fix. (elbow grease). You need to sand the neck heel with the floss method and remove the angle. Look up some tutorials online, I'm sure there's a lot of info online.

You can't floss Spanish heel cos the sides fit into slots.
 
If you just want to get this one going and do something different next time you might be able to glue a thin tapered shim to the top of your neck under your fretboard. It will most likely show but will give some experience in the other aspects of completing an instrument. If you do a Spanish heel again, glue on the back last while the ukulele is on a plantilla so the neck stays lined up.
 
Did you build on a solera? My guess is that you didn't as this is what sets the pitch of the neck. The fix will be to remove the back and clamp the neck, soundboard to the solera and then glue the back on again.
 
Something gone wrong with the solera. The big sell of the Spanish joint is that the neck angle is fixed early doors. As others have said, did you glue this up off the solera? You will have to take apart, correct and use shims in the side slots.
 
See the last two posts.

Where you went wrong is that you did not have the neck positioned in the proper place when you glued the back on. The back is what locks the geometry in place. To achieve this, you need the instrument face down on your solera or building board. And you also need the neck held to wherever you have decided you want it (from your fretboard thickness, I'm guessing flat in line with the top). So if you built it on the board, you probably left the neck free to move, and clamping on the back lifted the nut end off the board.

Two possible fixes:

1. Unglue the back down to the waist or a little further, then place the uke face down on the solera, clamp down the lower bout and the neck into their correct positions, and then re-glue the back. Because you've trimmed the back to the sides this will leave a small gap (you might need to add to the linings inside the upper bout for re-glueing). You'll have to bind the back to remove the gap. If you want the back unbound, you'd have to make a new back.

2. You might be able to taper the fretboard so that it is thicker at the nut than at the body join, and then place a tapered fillet under the fretboard extension (offcut of fretboard wood, with luck). To decide if you can do this, place a spacer the depth of your fretboard at the nut, place another spacer the thickness of your bridge plus your intended saddle height at the bridge location, and place a straight edge across them. Measure the gap where the 12th fret would be and subtract your intended action there (say 2.5mm). What's left is how thick your fretboard would need to be at the 12th fret, so you can see whether you'd have any fretboard left at the body join. If that would give you too thin a fretboard, you could consider a thicker bridge (up to a point). This fix might look a bit odd, but could save the uke.
 
Totally agree. Why beginning building courses use this Spanish heel method for the first time builder has always puzzled me. Sure it has its advantages, but it is so old school. I think it comes from older guitar building methods that were adapted to building ukuleles. Just bolt the sucker on and go.

As for keeping things square, we all feel your pain. I would recommend taking the thing apart and salvaging what you can. That can be a big learning process in itself. We have all burned a few ukuleles. Ask Ken. It happens. Good luck.

Thank you. I see now that O’Brien also has Jay Lichty doing a course so maybe I’ll check that out. Do you suggest a bolt on with a mortise?
 
If you just want to get this one going and do something different next time you might be able to glue a thin tapered shim to the top of your neck under your fretboard. It will most likely show but will give some experience in the other aspects of completing an instrument. If you do a Spanish heel again, glue on the back last while the ukulele is on a plantilla so the neck stays lined up.


Thank you for this idea. Yeah I am thinking I will finish this even if unplayable just to learn the rest of the process.
 
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