There are many companies today building guitars, When I decided to devote
the rest of my life to building guitars it was not an easy decision. After all
the competition is brutal, it's an incredibly hard field to break into, I knew
that I was going to have to offer something very special to even get noticed
never mind sell enough so that I could make a respectable living.
In my opinion the most important part of the guitar is the neck. The neck
is the part that translates your ability and soul into the music, sounds and
tones that are pleasing to your ears.
There are many different shapes, sizes, scales, radius's, fret sizes on
today's guitars. As a long time musician and builder here are the ways that I
feel give the best all around sound & playing comfort.
1. I handpick all my neck wood as only a small
builder can. I select only the straightest of grains with the most potential for
remaining straight & stable. Wood is constantly changing due to temperature &
humidity not to mention a constant string pull of almost 160 lbs depending on
string gauge.
2. I also hand pick each and every fingerboard, I
reject 9 out of 10. I pay extra for the privilege of getting the first culling
rights. Because I am building fingerboards from exotic beautiful pieces of very
rare South American woods they are rarely straight grained. This is why it is so
important that my necked is quartersawn and 100% straight.
3. I hand taper, radius, slot, inlay and install each
and every fret totally by hand. After the fretboard has been hand radiused I
carefully cut the fret slots to the correct width & depth to match the fret wire
being used. This is an extremely important step. If you cut the fret slots too
wide the neck will have a rubbery feel. If they are too narrow the fret tang
will create a back bow in the neck. After I slot the fingerboard I slightly
bevel the slots on the surface so that if future removal is necessary it reduces
wood tear out significantly.
4. I then proceed to install the heavy duty 2 way
truss rod in the neck. the truss rod compensates for up bow or back bow. This
also allows you to set the fretboard relief in the 7th
and
9th Fret area.
5. I also install 2 graphite stiffening rods in the
neck to assure even more stability.
(Perhaps the most stabilizing thing about my neck is that I am using the
Deep Set Neck Tenon standard on all my guitars. This costs
considerably more to do this operation.)
6. Next the fingerboard is glued on, it is clamped to
a 1" thick machined aluminum billet to insure total flatness.
7. Twelve to twenty hours later the frets go in. Each
fret is wiped clean with naphtha to eliminate the factory oil coating. If this
simple step is ignored the frets will tend to not remain securely seated. Each
fret is carefully glued & pressed in with a two ton fret press with a special
radius matching caul.
8. On the third and final day of this laborious
process the neck receives it's final hand shaping and the fret ends are trimmed.
Please note I make my neck profiles slightly thicker on the bass side. This
asymmetrical design adds a lot of comfort and fits to the natural ergonomic
shape of the hand.
Many people think that super thin is the best design. The thinner the neck
means less wood which means less rigid and more hand & elbow fatigue. The
closer you grip your fingers together the more stress is produced on your hands,
muscles forearms and elbow tendons. Ok enough Biological input.
9. When the neck is in it's final shape I then
mount it into the neck jig. The neck is securely clamped as if it were set in
the body. The tuners and nut are installed, it is strung up to full playing
tension. The neck is then rotated 80 degrees to simulate the playing position.
while in this position a precision dial indicator is used to adjust the truss
rod until it reads dead zero. Machined steel rods are then raised to meet the
back of the neck at 3" intervals from top to bottom. At this point the neck
cannot be moved. The strings are removed and the neck is re-measured. This is
the only way one can duplicate the posture of the neck with the strings off.
10. Now the the frets are precision ground and
leveled until a precision straight edge is laid perfectly flat over the entire
length of the fingerboard. Very few other luthiers go to these extremes that I
do when I tension level my necks. Perfectionist that I am, I continue to check
for fret flatness. The next step I take is to use another precision ground tool
to check 3 frets at a time. This insures 100% flatness laterally as well as
longitudinally. Once everything is perfect I hand bevel and polish each fret
until it shines like a mirror. The neck is now complete & perfect.
Summation
I approach every aspect of guitar building in this complete & thorough
manner. Guitar building is my life and I will continue to build top quality
instruments until I die.
Rick Gledura
04/20/01
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