Making Laminated Guitar Necks

T he top of your guitar the soundboard is less than inch thick and it s either a solid piece or a layered laminate top.

Making laminated guitar necks.

Many guitars are laminate wood in their entire body construction. Using solid wood for the top is still preferred by most builders because the top plays a major role in translating the initial energy of vibrating guitar strings into rich acoustic sound. Luthiers mercantile international inc. 7975 cameron drive bldg.

If you are a beginner or you have not done much wood lamination before go for a simple design done well. Laminate back and sides. 1600 windsor california 95492 toll free. A keen eye can spot these tiny layers in the top if you look at the soundhole opening.

The peghead is laminated to the neck using a scarf joint referred to as a spanish luthier s joint. Look for a change in grain direction at the edges of the soundhole. Extend the mark that shows the end of the neck the body join mark or if your neck will have a tenon the end of the tenon around to the underside of the neck. This gives you a little extra room for running the piece through a thickness planer.

The first step in making a laminated guitar neck is making the blank. A good trick for making a laminated guitar neck is to glue up your pieces just a little bit taller than you actually need the final blank to be. This can be very important in wider necks on guitars with seven or more strings and basses with five or more strings. Make another mark approximately 1 2 further from the headstock end than this one and cut the neck off at this mark.

Before you can glue up your neck you re going to need to flatten the large faces on your lamination. The example to the left shows a goncalo avles board with an east indian rosewood center stripe.