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The first job is tosquare up the rawbillet. LMI suppliesthem with one 90°jointed edge. Tomtook this mahoganyblock (WNHMH1)and squared it up onhis portable Ryobiplaner, a tool that heheartily recommendsfor the those with

limited shop space and with limited planing requirements.One of his tricks is to spritz a mixture of water and glycerin -about 1/4" oz. glycerin (obtainable at any drug store) to 1quart of water - on a surface which shows potential tearoutproblems, such as figured maple or mahogany. (Note themark left by this concoction on the billet pictured below.)

The next step is totrace the outline of theneck profile, using atemplate, onto the billet.Here Tom will get twonecks, better illustratedin the photo of thejigsaw-like bandsawedproduct, lower right.

Tom’s system is basedupon indexing from acenterline. Here heshows his quick anddirty method for findingthe center point. Nomath involved, onlycaliper adjustment tofiner increments.

Using a square, thecenter point is trans-ferred to a centerlineand marked with heavypencil.

Keeping the centerline indexing system inmind, subtract 0.125" from each side of theline to mark the limits of the 1/4" truss rodslot to be routed into the blank. Tom uses astandard router table setup, but cautions touse a single-flute straight bit, if you areafter a “dead on” 1/4" slot. A double-flutebit leaves a slot .260" wide, which is fine ifepoxying in a graphite rod, but not for asnug fitting truss rod.

1 - Cutting the Rough Neck 2 - Routing theTruss Rod

Shaping the NeckA Visit with Tom Ribbecke

Note: These instructions are adapted from an article by ToddTaggert about his visit to Tom Ribbecke’s shop which originallyappeared in the LMI Handabook.

Below, Tom is cuttingout the two necks.

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Cut the slot in at least two passes, three for maple, or anywood that’s dense, tough, or stringy. In the photo below, Tomuses a left-over template that happens to be 3/8" thick as aspacer for routing two more channels into which graphiterods will be placed. The 3/8" spacer leaves a 1/8" web ofmahogany between the truss rod channel and the graphitechannels illustrated in all following photos.

The next step is to lay outthe taper of the neck. Thetapered and seemingly extra-long acrylic template, shownhere, is cleverly thought outwith two nut positionsmarked on the surface. Onecorresponds to an unboundneck taper. When the othernut position is located bymoving the template towardthe heel, the outline for abound fingerboard-neck isthen traced onto the blank.

The peghead template is placedon the face of the peghead. Wherethe neckshaft meets the pegheadthe curves are traced onto theblank. Now is a good time to addpeghead “ears,” if needed, as inthis example. It’s easier tomaintain symmetry before theblank is tapered.

The blank is supported by a heavy block of wood roughlyequal in height to the heel, and the blank is pushed throughthe bandsaw. This operation is one that deserves closeattention. This is not a typical resaw procedure. (Note Tom’sshort finger.)

Below, same block of wood is used for supporting the blankas the peghead-neckshaft curve is cut (using a smaller blade).

Now the fun begins. A belt sander with a removable cover isrequired. All surfaces of the 6" sander are used. Tom has twovacuums hookedup to his beltsander, so theoperation is not asmessy as onemight think. Afoot-actuated (orknee-actuated inthis case) start-stop button isused to give bettercontrol over thesander. Theresults of certainoperations arebetter if the workis placed on thebelt before itbegins turning.

3 - Tapering the Neck

4 - Shaping theNeck

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For certain steps of theprocess (previous photo) Tomis kneeling on a pad andcontrolling the foot switchwith a knee. He needs toeyeball the plane of thesanding platen and the neck atthe same time. This foot-kneeswitch is about a $20 itemfrom Sears.

Most of the work is accomplished with a 60-grit belt; anycoarser than that and the cuts become a little too aggres-sive.

It’s important to keep the neck moving at all times and tocheck thicknesses frequently with a dial caliper.

Think of shapingthe neck like youwould when carvingit. Go for primaryfacets, secondaryfacets, etc.

This method ofneck shaping isquick, but there are afew precautions:don’t work tooclosely to the band-sawed line. Use a fileat that point. Beaware of the peghead.Avoid rounding an earor corner. Go slowon the first fewnecks.

This process lendsitself to relativelylarge scale manufac-ture. Jean Larivée, ofLarivée Guitars, hasmade thousands ofnecks this way andcan produce a neckin minutes.

Tom gave a demon-stration in our shopone weekend, entitled“The Five-MinuteNeck.” He amazedthe crowd when hecame up with a neckready for final sand-ing within five min-utes (not including

bandsawing the profile).Note in this photo how the un-

supported part of the belt isused. Use this area of thesander when most of the facetshave been cut and you are be-ginning the final smoothingoperation. The cuts here areless vigorous, and this flexiblearea is good for rounding.

One side of the heelhas been shaped onthe belt sander.

Next photo: this isabout as far as Tomgoes on the beltsander. Very smallridges, not visible inthe photo, are left.These are knocked offwith a sandpaper-faced 4" X 4" piece ofjig-ply.

A tool that is usefulbut not necessary tothe operation is theArco flexible shaft,best used with a drillpress for speed con-trol and unlimitedtorque. Tom suggestsa minimum of a 3'shaft. This is about a$50 item.

Here, his vacuum istrained on the offend-ing dust particles. Foraround $150, the oscil-lating spindle sander isa great tool, but a drillpress can accomplishthe same task. Two ofthe neck-shaping opera-tions are shown here.

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At right is acloseup showinginserts placed alongcenterline and pinwith 1/4" head,which slips into theinsert and the neck.Better illustrated withnext photo.

Here, pin is seenwith the head fittingsnuglyinto the 1/4" trussrod slot.

Two views of the necklocked into positionready for the dovetail bitto do its work.

Dovetail bit in place.

Rubber-faced spiral camfor adjusting the guitarbox depth (anotheroperation).

This windowed boardserves as a stiffener.

The tenon has been routed.

Neck awaits finalpreparation.

5 - Creating the Mortis and Tenon

Here, we illustrate Tom’scool fixture for holding boththe neck and the body for

cutting a dovetail or a tenon and corresponding slots. Theneck fixture is in place in this photo. The L-shaped piece,highlighted, one of two, is for holding the body. Mountedon an in-out adjustment slide, the spiral, rubber-faced cam(“nautilus nut”), of-fers a range ofadjustment of about3/4"—up and downpositioning is asimple task. You canalso see that anyneck angle and cut-ting depth can beprecisely set.

Tom recommends using a 14° dovetail bit, Eagle Americapart number 134-1205 - www.eagle-merica.com/html/cata-log/productGroup.asp?id=87715 . He prefers the 7° bit forMahogany; part number 134-1215 along with the ¾” o.d.,½” i.d. bearing; part number196-1210. He suggests yousuper glue or epoxy the bear-ing to the shaft so it ridesagainst the template guide.

This photo is Tom’s combi-nation dovetail, tenon temp-late. The tenon template lieson top of the fixture with thedovetail template installed.Both are adjustable for depth(that is, for a body depth of3" – 5"+).

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Another shot of theneck. The middle channelis for our unwrappedtruss rod (TRST), andthe channels on eitherside are for graphite rods(GRO).

Below, the fixture isset up to hold thesoundbox when cuttingthe mortise. The photoimmediately belowshows the jig with thearm that holds the bodyunattached. The photobelow right shows thearm in place.

Closeup of the bottomdevice, which is adjustablein two axis. The pin screwsinto the endpin hole. Thefixture holds the body veryrigidly and securely, andmakes simple work of thedovetailing operation. Rightbottom photo: the templatein place for mortise. Thereis another view of thistemplate at the end of thearticle. Note that thistemplate is Tom’s workingprototype, and wouldnormally be of one piece.

Now we prepare for themortise. Here Tom marks thecenterline from the top,making sure that it’s squarewith the sides.

Below is another view of the fixture. Note that the endpinhole is sized and threaded to mate with the pin in the bottomdevice. Two other shots with different angled views followbelow. The guitar Tom is working on here is now in theChinery Blue Guitar Collection. Of quilted maple, Sitkaspruce, and koa binding, the instrument features a portholein the upper treble-side bout for sound monitoring—anotherRibbecke exclusive.

Three views of the bottomholding device. The retainingslides are of leftover phe-nolic, or in some cases,acrylic scrap. The variousknobs are available at yourlocal “Bob’s House ofKnobs.”

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We have drawn up some simple plans for his nifty fixture.Those of you who may have been shy about neck joints, fearno more, the Ribbecke dovetail fixture solves any problems ofthe apprehensive.

The guitar body ischucked up and is eagerlyawaiting either a straight ordovetail mortise.

Tom locates the mortiseedge. A 3/4" cutter diameterpaired with a 3/4" bearingallow easy alignment.

Accurately check for depthof cut, for both body andneck, and record them forfuture use.

Tom has previ-ously marked adepth level on theedge of his fixture,a quick and easymeans for doublechecking beforebeginning therouting process.

The routing begins.

Dovetail mortise completed.

Right, theroughed-outneck withdovetail tenonrests on theguitar body,ready to be fitted.(Note the “sound-port” lined withan ebony ring.)

The below photos show the nicely fitted dovetail, but thework lies ahead. One has to anticipate how the fingerboardextension will lie in order to get a proper dovetail fit—whichis finally a result of experience and luck!