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At JET Guitars they
prefer hard maple for necks because of it's strength, and it gives a
nice bright attack to the sound of a guitar. The maple is seasoned
to 9% moisture content before planing. A standard Earlewood has a
three piece laminated neck with an integral 12 degree tilted
headstock. |
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We like to lay out and cut about 30 laminate
pieces at a time, so that wood from different boards can be mixed
and the grain can be carefully matched for strength in the resulting
batch of 10 necks. These boards have been carefully face planed for
joining quartersawn pieces. |
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After band sawing the pieces, the necks are
assembled and glued. Polyurethane glue, the strongest wood glue
available, is allowed to cure for 24 hours. |
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Stacked neck blanks. A standard Earlewood will
have figuring in the neck; either highly flamed maple in the center
or outer pieces, or gentle figuring throughout. An upgrade option is
high flaming or birdseye in all three pieces. |
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This view shows a typical neck blank with the
quartersawn grain symmetrically aligned for stability and strength.
Notice the different color of the hard maple from different boards. |
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An ingenious time saving jig ready for action:
The JET guitar neck carving setup. The blank is screwed to a set of
precisely made blocks that can rotate the back of the neck over a
dado blade on a table saw. By careful stepwise movement, a round
neck taper can be rough carved in a straight line. |
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The final shape and thickness of the neck is
finished by hand. The eight small screw holes used in the neck
carving jig and in this holding fixture will be routed away by the
truss rod channel. |
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This photo shows various necks, some with truss
rods installed and the maple strip glued in. The top surface will be
trimmed to accept the fingerboards, which are glued on with epoxy
instead of wood glue. That's because of the high oil content of the
ebony. |
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About 120 ebony fingerboard blanks, patiently
waiting their turn to be used in a JET guitar. |
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The lucky fingerboard selected to be next is
first planed to 5/16" thickness, then hand carved to produce the
famous JET compound radius. (The only other ways to produce a
compound radius is with a CNC machine, or a conical sanding jig the
size of a small mortar mixer. I might consider that...!) |
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A compact rotary tool with custom made bases,
along with an assortment of tiny chisels, are the tools used to rout
inlays. Inlays are glued and clamped using tinted epoxy, to match
the final color. This is why the color of a JET guitar is determined
early in the crafting process. |
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Here are some completed necks with the flame
maple binding strips glued in and sanded. They are ready for
fretting and finishing. |
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