DLP Mandolin - 12 - Attaching the Neck

With the holes for the machine heads drilled and access to the truss rod adjustment nut created it was time to glue the neck to the body.  Now the joint is not one that can be taken apart at a later date, the top will be glued over the the joint so essentially the neck becomes one with the body.

After 24 hours I removed the clamps and the neck is set solid into the body.  I spent some time then cutting out the slot for the neck in the top and refining the fit.  It's almost time to glue the top to the body but first I drilled two holes for the volume and tone pots.  I spent a lot of time changing the position of the two controls but settled with them parallel to the centre line.  There is not going to be much space so I couldn't be too choosy.

I have the pickup I intend to use.  It is a humbucker hotrail pickup.  There is an option to coil tap the pick up but I wont use that, just to keep things simple with a single volume and tone control.  Hopefully there will be enough room to get my fingers inside to connect all the electronics once I have glued the top to the body and finished the instrument.

Finally last night I made a template ready to route the pickup cavity.  I am waiting for a pickup surround to arrive so I cant cut the cavity quite yet until I know the size of the surround.  I can then lay out for the pickup cavity and cut the slot.