Instructions Neck Angle

8/11/2019 Instructions Neck Angle

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S A F T E Y

1. ALWAYS wear safety glasses or aface shield.

2. DO NOT wear loose clothing, gloves,neckties, or jewelry. Wear protectivecover on hair and prevent contactwith moving tool. These items canget caught in tool during operationand pull operator into moving part.

3. KEEP children away.4. KEEP visitors at a safe distance.5. WEARa dust mask all times.6. ALWAYSturn off motor before

making any adjustments.

7. NEVER leave running tool unat-tended.

8. ALWAYS make sure all screws aretight and any hardware is removedfrom or near tool before starting.

9. SECURE all work pieces beforestarting.

10. ALWAYS keep knife edges sharp.11. ALWAYS keep work area clean.12. DO NOT operate tool if under the

influence of drugs or alcohol.

R E C O M E N D A T I O N

This tool is designed to set up the appropriate neck angle on the jig andthen cut the joint on both the neck and the body of the guitar. Two adjustmentknobs allow precise adjustment for both side to side and neck angle positioning. Allthe joint templates are made in a match set for both the neck and body and indexedto the center of the Jig.

W A R N I NW A R N I NW A R N I NW A R N I N GGGG

NECK ANGLE JIG

We highly recommend to put a few practice necks and bodies together outof scrap wood. This is very beneficial in getting used to the tool. The practicepieces do not have to be the actual body or neck they just need to be a representa-tion.

Body Neck

Truss slot

Saddle line

Slight angle

Top View

Side View

P R E L I M I N A R Y


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R E F E R E N C E P O I N T S

Leveling domeHinge point

Figure 1

There are a few reference points that are important to the jig. The firstpoint is the hinge area this will determine how flat and well the finger board will fit.It is also important to complete all the necessary steps to insure a level area for the

finger board on the body, such as proper bracing and leveling the dome (figure 1).

The nextreference points ormarks are the cen-ter line of the sad-dle and where theneck will be at-tached (figure 3). It

is important toalign the small edgevise and the jig inrespect to the cen-ter line/saddle loca-tion.

The other reference point or surface is where the neck will be attached tothe body (figure 2). This is the area where the small edge vise will be clamped.

Flat surface for neck attachment

Figure 2

Figure 3


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R E F E R E N C E P O I N T S ( C O N T I N U E D )

The last reference is the Truss slot on the neck.

Truss slot

S E T U P

The first step is to assemble the Dial indicator arm. Place the two nylonwashers in the relieved pocket on the adjustment arm, then place the dial indicatorholder over the nylon washers and screw in the wing nut. Once the assembly iscomplete insert the adjustment arm in block on back of Jig.


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S E T U P ( C O N T I N U E D )

The Neck Angle Jig consists of two sine plates, one is for side to side adjust-ment A+, A- (figure 4) and the other for actual neck angle adjustment B+, B-. Thesesurfaces are referenced to the Reference plane which is the same plane the body is

indexed to. Both of these plate will need to be set up so that they are preciselyaligned with the Dial Indicator.

Figure 4

The dial indicator arm is an extension ofthe inner sine plate (the plate that the neck isclamped to). Because the arm can be adjustedfor different saddle heights it is necessary tocalibrate the arm with the dial indicator afterre-positioning.

All the templates are indexed to the cen-ter of the Jig even the edge vise template thisway we can place the body in the Jig for properneck angle setting.

There are four 3/8 mounting holes onthe base to properly attach the Jig to a solidsurface. If you do not want to use bolts twoheavy duty C clamps will do.

Index points


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The Dial Indicatormounted arm is attached to theinner sine plate . This plate also

has the clamps attached to keepthe neck secured during therouting process.

` We have to make surethat this plate is calibrated withthe Dial Indicator so that the ap-propriate neck angle and saddlecenter can be measured. We rec-ommend making a straight edgeboard using good birch 1/2 inchplywood, making sure that it isabsolutely straight.

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This board will need to havea straight pencil line down the mid-

dle of one surface with two holes,the same diameter as the truss slotguide pins. See next page for dimen-sional drawing.

Inner sine plate


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The first step is to makesure that the Small Edge Vise is per-pendicular to the hinge point of thebody. The best way to adjust for

perpendicularity is to have a scrappiece of wood about 4 wide and us-ing a accurate square, draw a pencilline on the wood.

Place the Edge vice on the piece of wood and align the template line withthe pencil line. If not the same loosen the two set screws and with the thumbmove the edge vise so that both lines line up. Make sure to hold the Edge visejaws firmly against the wood.

Thumb screw

Set screw

The alignment templates

are designed for ease in lining upthe Edge vise and Jig with respectto the center of the inner sineplate.

Template alignment line


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Move the template and thetemplate stop so that the horizontalline on the template lines up withedge of the piece of wood.

Re-tighten the button screwand this part of the set up is complete.

Double check to make sure that the

set screws and thumb screw are tight.


Template stop


Loosen the button head screw

on the template stop.

Template stop screw


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Place a blank neck in the Jigand using the thumb screw, align the

template horizontal line with the topsurface of the neck.For Arch tops move the tem-

plate up to allow for the finger boardextension.


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In some cases you may want to leave theneck tenon a bit proud above the body surfaceto sand the last bit of the neck joint by hand,this can be done by adjusting the thumb screwappropriately.

Thumb screw

The last step is to make sure that the

clamping spindles are set up. The

lower clamp has one spindle whereas the top has two. The two top

spindles are to insure that the toppart of the neck is a absolutely tight

against the inner sine plate to pre-

vent any chattering during the rout-

ing process. Be sure to keep the topspindles as far apart as practical.


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Place the straight edgeboard on the inner sine platetruss rod pins of the jig andclamp with two large springclamps.

You can move the height bar up or down to the appropriate saddle location.This location can also be transferred to the straight edge board with a pencil markfor future application.

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O P E R A T I O N

Be careful to pull back the dial

indicator plunger before mount-ing the edge board. At this point

we want to align the Inner sine

plate center line and angle withthe dial indicator.


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At this point the dial indicator is calibrated to the inner sine plate. It may be nec-essary to re-zero the outer ring when you re-position the adjustment bar.

Loosen the wing nut and move the

adjustable arm from side to side so

that the dial indicator plunger centeris precisely centered on the pencil

line of the straight edge board.

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Wing nut

O P E R A T I O N ( C O N T I N U E D )

Small pointer

Then with the outsidering rotate the dial until thelarge pointer is on the zeromark.

Loosen the thumbscrew near the DialIndicator and move

it so that the smallpointer is on or

near a numberedmark, then tightenthe thumb screw.

Thumb screw

Outside ring

The Dial indicator has two pointers. The small pointer will move in 0.100 ofan inch and the larger pointer will move in 0.001 of an inch. The goal is to havelarge pointers point to zero and the small pointer fairly close to a major mark.


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Place the Edge Vise on the guitarbody and align the body pencil mark withthe line on the template and firmly tighten

the Vise. Make sure that the vise is seatedproperly on the body .

Now slide the guitar body and edge vise into the Jig . Mount the body stop(as shown) and move the guitar body forward until it touches the stop. During theneck angle adjustment process keep the body touching the stop at all times.

Body stop


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Loosen the center wing nut andwith the knurled knob on theside of the Jig, adjust so that thetip of the Dial Indicator is pre-cisely over the saddle center pen-cil line. Tighten wing nut.


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Knurled knob for side

to side adjustment

Wing nut

Knurled index knob

Turn the knurled index knob at the front of the Jig so that the 1/4 shaftslides into the slot on the template . These templates are indexed in two places,both in the front and back, center of the Jig.

Side to Side Adjustment


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Loosen the wing nuts on both sides of the Jig andwith the knurled knob adjust the neck angle untilthe small pointer of the dial indicator is close to

the set mark and the large pointer is on zero. Now

you can add saddle height compensation. Thentighten the two wing nuts.

Knurled knobWing nut


Neck Angle Adjustment

At this point the Jig has been set up for the neck angle. All we have to donow is route out the appropriate neck joints. Remove the guitar body from the jigand insert the appropriate template. Make sure to screw in the indexing pin andtighten the thumb screw plate.

Thumb screw plate

Index pin


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CAUTION

It is very important to secure the body properly before routing out theneck tenon, any large vibration can cause the router bit to take out a large chuckof the wood. Always remove the majority of wood before making the final cut, butDO NOTbe in a hurry and remove too much wood at one time. Specially with a1/2 bit it is best to apply a slow feed rate. Practice on a scrap piece of wood tofind the correct cutting speed. Also make sure that the Edge vise is secure to theguitar body.

Before routing the tenon you can check the angle by simply making a skimcut on the top of the neck tenon area. Place the neck on the guitar and using astraight edge to check the neck angle and side to side angle. Slight adjustmentscan be made before the tenon is cut.

Skim cut


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Now that Jig is set up you can set the tenon depth. The drawing belowshows the typical neck joint for the Neck Angle Jig.

The Dove tail and Arch top templates are designed for 1 router bit exten-sion. The router bit can be set to any desired extension for the Mortise/tenontemplates.

Dove tail bit Straight 1/2 bit

Use the top surface ofthe Jig to measure the depthof the neck tenon, this is thesame surface that the routerbase rest on. Keep in mindthat the top Jig surface thick-ness is 3/8. Also keep inmind to account for the cur-

vature of the upper bout sothat the appropriate reliefcan be carved later withoutjeopardizing the tenon depth.


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T E M P L A T E S

There are three types of neck templates available.A. Dove tailB. Mortis/tenon

C. Arch top

The templates are made of 1/4 aluminum, this is to prevent the tong frommoving during the routing process.

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The above drawing shows the dimensions for both the neck and body tem-plates. These templates can be made from either aluminum or acrylic.


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D O V E T A I L

There are two styles ofDove tail templates, one for the 14fret location and the other for the

12 fret location. We have elected tostandardize the depth of the tenonand mortis. 5/8 for ,1/2 for tenonand a bit depth of 1. The purposeof this is to leave the bit depth thesame for both the body and neckwithout having to adjust it.

We recommend using a 7degree dove tail bit 1/2 shank anda 5/8 template guide.

You may prefer to adjust for neck joint fit. This can be done by adding pa-per tape to the template edge that requires adjustment.

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S T R A I G H T M O R T I S a n d T E N O N

There are two styles of Mor-

tis/tenon templates, one for the 14fret location and the other for the12 fret location. The depth of thebit can be adjusted accordingly.

We recommend using a 1/2diameter bit with 1/2 shank and a5/8 template guide.

There are also templatesavailable for the drilling andmounting the inserts.

We recommend to mountthe inserts before routing out thetenon, that way the chances of

splitting the wood will be kept to aminimum.You may want to add some

paper tape to the tenon templateedge to adjust for fit.

There are two types of inserts available one that is for a 3/8 diameter holeand the other for a 5/16 diameter hole. The insert for the 3/8 hole is designedmore for harder woods whereas for the 5/16 hole are more for softer wood.

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S T R A I G H T M O R T I S a n d T E N O N

Two drill stops are also available 3/8 and 5/16. These stops are designedto fit into the neck drill bushing templates. Drawing below shows a typical se-quence for drill and applying the insert. One thing to remember is to turn the in-

sert into the wood slowly and to stop before the insert is completely seated, other-wise it is possible to remove the slot tangs because they are made of brass. Thenturn the inserts in the rest of the way by hand.


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A R C H T O P

The arch top template isbased on the Benendetto joint de-sign, instead of square corners theywill be rounded. The template alsohas a slight taper.

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Instructions Neck Angle

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