suggested improvements were incorporated, along with some design changes and ideas of my own. And to wrap up this installment, I'll show how discussing the jig with other Guild members (at the Guild's first outdoor event, you should have been there) produced a wonderful idea that would never have occurred to me, an idea that I expect to incorporate in the third - and hopefully, last - version of the jig.  The second and last installment of this article will appear in a later issue of the newsletter, and will cover the final jig version.

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Neck Carving Jigs

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There are many ways to carve a guitar neck if you decide you would rather not do it the traditional way, by hand.  A neck carving jig of this type is only one common alternative.  Here's how this kind of jig generally works: the neck to be carved is secured to a platform that rotates (think of a BBQ rotisserie) and a router is suspended above the neck.  The platform is pulled upward towards the router (and so the spinning router bit) usually by some arrangement incorporating springs.  At each end of the platform there is a cam, and these serve to both retard the upward movement into the bit and also to define the shape and size of the neck at two arbitrary points (often the first and tenth fret positions), which consequently determines the shape at all other points along the length of the neck. 

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If you're unsure how this actually works, take a look at the picture on the preceding page.  In this photo you can see the long platform to which the neck is attached and, at one end, the springs that pull the platform up towards the router.  You can see the router secured to a sled that travels up and down the length of the neck.  And you can see the cam that is at the far end of the platform, and this cam is prevented from moving further upward by a bearing that is housed in a hardwood bar, which you can also see.  The cams at each end of the platform are actually pulled up into the bearings, and the exact nature of the rotation of the platform is determined by the unique profile of each cam.  Imagine the neck on the rotating platform, as the router travels from one end of the neck to the other.  There!  You have a carved neck!

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The First Jig

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When I started to seriously plan to make a neck carving jig I had to make some assumptions and, frankly, some educated guesses.  I didn't expect to get everything right my first time, and my expectations were realized.  While it's drop-off-a-log easy to find videos online that feature neck carving jigs, none of those that I could find gave the details needed to actually build a jig.  And so after viewing all the videos I could find, I was still left with quite a number of questions...

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What kind of axle should I use, a solid or threaded rod?  Should I use a single axle that runs the complete platform length or are there two, one at each end of the platform?  How is the axle or axles secured, but still able to move up and down?  Since the cams are located some distance from the arbitrary points they will define, clearly they are not the actual size of the desired cross-section of the neck at the given point, but what, exactly is the factor to use?  Since it is obviously critical, how do you achieve the precise cam shape that will faithfully reproduce the desired neck profile?  What material would be best for the cams?  And although some of the videos clearly showed the basic design and material of the component that retarded the cams upward movement, which design and material are actually the best? These are only a few of the questions to be answered before you start to build!

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Expecting this first jig to be a trial run, I decided to go with a two axle design, and used threaded rods.  The fact the rods were threaded meant I could use nylon locking nuts to secure the rods in vertical slots at either end of the box without being so tight that the axles would be prevented from moving up and down.  I assumed this would not be the ideal solution, but would allow me to get up and running relatively quickly so that I could test out other ideas.

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Another design feature was the component that the cams would run on, the piece that would also prevent the upward movement of a cam.  I decided to use a block of wood that would have two bolts that would travel up and down in vertical slots in the end plates of the box.  Since I was unsure of the best place to limit upward travel of each cam relative to the