A Work in Progress: A Neck-Carving Prototype Jig
By Peter O'Connor
It's easy to find videos online that feature neck carving jigs. But as they say, the devil is in the details, and none of the videos I could find really explained how these jigs are built. And so building such a jig is inevitably a series of trial-and-error steps...
A long time ago, a writer with far more talent than I possess, wrote a work of fiction entitled "A Tale of Two Cities". This article might have been called "A Tale of Two Jigs". And this title itself would have been appropriate for two reasons.
Firstly, because the current jig is actually the second in a series, and is a jig that has benefited from the lessons learned making the first prototype. And secondly, because the current jig is also one of another pair of jigs, the actual jig present with us and existing in the real world, and another jig that is only imagined. And this last idea requires some explanation...
And, in a sense, this article is also really two articles. It's about the jig, a straight-forward here's-the-jig and this-is-how-it's-built article, but it's also about the Guild. Which brings us full circle to the real jig and the imaginary one. The picture above shows, of course, the real jig, and it is so much better than a jig I can imagine. I can imagine a jig that is nowhere near as good as the one I built, and that jig is the one I would have built if I was without suggestions and feedback from other S.O.L.G. members. And isn't that the whole purpose of our Guild?
We all have different areas of expertise, places where our experience is deep, tested and proven, processes and techniques that we are comfortable with, and also those aspects of lutherie where our understanding is relatively light and confidence eludes us. No one luthier knows it all, or can do it all. And when we venture into new areas - such as designing and building this neck carving jig - no single head will produce as good a result as one that benefits from shared ideas, drawing on multiple experiences and a wider range of knowledge. In this article I'll discuss the actual beneficial impact others have had on the design of this jig and consequently why this help is a practical real-life example of the benefits of joining the Guild.
The current jig has highlighted areas that can be improved and so a third will be built. As I am very satisfied with the results and progress so far, and I have a good idea of what needs to be done to address areas that are less than ideal, I fully expect the third jig will be the final version.
Before we go any further, I'll let you know about my plan for this first installment of this article. I'll start off by looking at how these types of jigs are generally designed and how they work. Then I'll let you know about the first jig I built, the results achieved, and the shortcomings that I was unhappy with. Then I'll show how the simple act of talking to another Guild member introduced ideas that improved the design, and this will be followed by an overview of the second version of the jig and how the
This is a two part article, with this introduction appearing in this issue while the work on the jig is in progress. The conclusion will appear in a later issue.
SOLG Newsletter - Issue 1 - June 2020
Page 13