Kevin Chilcott
Luthier
MAKING AN ANGEL
Gluing on the Headstock 'Wings'
PAGE 3
Clamping Together
Clamp the Wings to the Neck, making sure that the 'top face' of the Headstock is as flat an even as possible across all three pieces..... to make sanding them all flat, when dry, as easy as possible. The Wings may be a little 'higher' in level than the Neck , but must not be lower. Wipe off any more glue 'squeeze out' with a damp cloth.
Comparing
what's been done 'roughly' to what the neck will
look like at a later stage..... to the left.
The left hand Neck in the picture has actually been routed for a more
traditional type Truss Rod..... The slot is only 3/16"
wide.
Leave the glue to dry..... Overnight.
The next day the clamps are removed.
Preparing the Headstock for gluing on the Headface
The surface needs to be evenly
leveled in preparation
for the
Headface
to be glued on.
There are two ways
of doing this.....
1 - Disc Sander.....
Sanding using this method has to be
approached very carefully indeed.
(
No
power to the Sander when the picture was taken.)
..... followed by a Sanding Block.
Using a Sanding
Block and 80
grit paper to finish off the Head surface
may take a while,
but it is critical
to get the area flat
and level.
After Sanding,
all the previously marked reference lines must be drawn
in again.....
The Centre-line, the end
of Truss Rod slot and the Headstock
outline from the pattern.
( If the wings stand more 'proud' of the main Neck blank, using a plane to remove the excess wood would be a 2nd Method, followed by using the sanding block.)
As is probably quite noticeable - a slight
alteration to the Headstock outline completely
changes the look of the Headstock. I personally
prefer a narrower tip.
The Next Stage is..... Gluing on the Headface.
Now back to Making an Angel.