Heel cutting on a shaper

It's easier to do a few neck blanks at a time while I have the shaper set-up.

Because I have to change shaper blade 3 times, I do the same cuts on all blanks before changing blades.

The heel fit is done just before the staining is done and is individual to each pot and bridge height.

Peghead profile gets cut on bandsaw,

then dressed out on spindle sander

Be sure and back your peghead with wood to minimize tearout,

and drill before dressing peghead to finale thickness.

Pegheads whited with tempera paint preped for inlaying.

Some get a little fancier than others.

I usually glue my fingerboards on after inlayed, fretted and bound.

By now it ought to look something like this.

 

Here is where the real work starts.  If you screw up here, what you have is good kindling.

Microplane followed by rasp then various grits of sandpaper.

I use templates that I have made for frets 1,3,5,7,9,12,15 to get the profile right.

Ready for stain.

Some pictures of my makeshift spray booth.

Notice that I have the fan and lights outside the booth.  The fan pushes air in and I open the window for venting. 

Not a good idea having anythying electrical inside the booth.  The spray fumes can be very cumbustive.

 

No I don't spray the necks with the tuners on.  I just hung a neck for effect.

Might as well show a little resonator work.

Ready for finish.