Saturday 12 October 2013

Another Ukulele Project - Neck Pocket

I continued to sand the body this yesterday getting rid of all the scuffs and knocks ready to prepare the neck pocket.  Normally the a full size Telecaster has a bolt on neck but I plan on glueing in the neck on this project.


I marked out the position of the neck on the body and then used a fine saw to cut the sides of the neck pocket and then gradually chiselled out the channel.  The neck is exactly half the depth of the body so the neck pocket was easy to get level as it is made of 2 laminated sides, I just had to keep chiselling until I came to the join.


The pocket is lovely and snug and unlike a normal Telecaster neck there is support all round the neck.  This should be in for a long time once it's glued in place.


Next on the list is to carve the neck.  It will be easier to do this before it is glued in place.  I use a rasp to rough out the profile at each end of the neck and then a chisel to smooth everything in between.


A little more fine sanding is required but for now the ukulele is is looking great and feels nice as well.


My son loves the natural wood so I think we will be just sanding everything and protecting with a couple of coats of nitrocellulose lacquer.  He also wants this to be an electric ukulele so I need to source some machine heads, a bridge, a pickup, volume and tone controls and a pick guard.


No comments:

Post a Comment