Official Luthiers Forum!

We install the head plate on the still squared blank after milling the fretboard surface, the truss rod slot, the intersecting peg head surface, the tenon or tail, and taper (if any) of the heel.

Because the edges of the neck and peg head are still parallel and square once past the heel area, it's easy to square and locate the head plate with it's 14 degree beveled edge against a dummy nut (with angled base and desired thickness) which is in turn referenced against a dummy fretboard template or the board itself.

1/16" alignment holes for the head plate alignment pins are drilled either in the tuner slot area for slotted head stocks or outside the peg head outline for plain head stocks similar to Dr. Kennedy's approach.

We use 3/32" square x 1" mahogany strips tacked to the neck with medium CA at the second fret area and on the underside of the fretboard on either side of the tenon - these allow the fretboard to be re-registered on the neck once the peg head plate is glued in (with a dummy nut to minimize glue clean-up), head stock routing template installed, peg head shaped, and tuner holes milled.

I'll run through the photo archives and see what we have for the details.

For fretboard glue-up, the ends, sides, and top are protected with a carefully applied single layer of tape, then clamped against a shaped caul on a 4" deep I-beam type strong-back. Both the material outside the peg head template and the excess neck material outside the fretboard is removed with a top and bottom bearing double compression router bit, leaving just the peg head final thicknessing and neck shaping to complete.

After finishing, we use either the standard Stewart MacDonald 1/8" or 3/16" nut seating files to remove any errant finish, or the now out-of-production angled bottom seating file formerly sold by StewMac.

The locator pins on the peg head, the precisely sized dummy nut, and the fretboard registration strips ensure everything goes in square and any glue squeeze-out is handled once the head plate or fretboard are under clamping pressure and stable.

_________________
A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

Sometimes tools get in the way, as does over-thinking. Mr. Orr offers simple advice for what I THINK is a simple problem. Being careful and neat works wonders. I did as Orr suggests when I installed my first nut all by myself and it turned out nice. StewMac sells tools for every situation, not necessarily every need.

_________________
Peter Havriluk