Still using the Southbend

Timbuck

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I turned a couple of Tenor neck blanks in the lathe to day ..It's still the method I prefer for this job, all went well as usual so I took a couple of pic's:D....I also tried to bend some ebony bindings in the Fox bender, every one snapped:mad:....Life's like that I suppose.
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first time I've seen someone make a neck on a lathe. I'm surprised you don't have your CNC machine doing this now
 
Very jealous of this set up. Out of curiousity, how thick is the template in the middle of the "sandwich"? Is it an exact match for the eventual neck contour, or is it undersized?
 
first time I've seen someone make a neck on a lathe. I'm surprised you don't have your CNC machine doing this now
My CNC Machine was snaffled by my Son "Mike" for his Productions in the"Electronic drums" market http://kit-toys.tripod.com/id13.html About making necks on a lathe??? I've seen photo's in "Martins" vintage department of uke necks that were obviously made on the lathe....Only they made the two out of a solid lump of mahogany and then removed an 1/2 " slice out of the middle...I've searched U-tube looking for that shot ( but I can't find it)..it's a pic of parts in a glass display cabinet...It looked something like this sawn in two.
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Very jealous of this set up. Out of curiousity, how thick is the template in the middle of the "sandwich"? Is it an exact match for the eventual neck contour, or is it undersized?
the template is undersize by about 2mm the sandwitch (Jig) is 12.5 mm thick (The thickness of the jig denotes the shape of the contour C or D)...The taper attachment on the lathe is what makes it possible...it can be done on a lathe without the taper device...by off setting the centres..or using a template....or on wood lathes by making an extended tool rest, set to the taper angle.....It just takes a bit of thought:)...
Here is a slide show i made a couple of years ago on soprano necks. http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc143/shiregreenbod/?action=view&current=58a9b087.pbw
 
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Many early Martin guitars had a V shape neck profile - I have never encountered one with a semi circle profile. It is also clear that their vintage ukulele necks were clearly hand carved.
 
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