How to Cut the Neck Head Joint on a Guitar
If you want to build a guitar neck similar to one that you would find on an acoustic guitar or a Gibson electric guitar, you need to angle the headstock, also called the neck head to 15 degrees. You can use a very thick piece of wood and carve the angle into the headstock or you can conserve on lumber and scarf cut the plank you plan to use for the neck and then use the two pieces to create the neck head joint.
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Instructions
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Place the template that you will use to cut the profile for the guitar neck onto a hardwood plank that measures at least 13/16-inch thick by 4 inches wide by at least 27 inches long. If you plan on crafting an extra long headstock or you plan to use an extra long scale, you may need to select a longer piece of wood.
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Draw a line across the surface of the wood plank where the fretboard will meet the headstock.
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Place the plank on the base of the miter saw so the headstock end of the plank rests on the right side of the blade. Center the line you drew onto the plank directly under the blade.
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Rotate the blade to 75-degrees so the bottom of the blade aims toward the headstock end of the plank.
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Cut through the plank with the miter saw.
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Flip the headstock end of the board over and then glue the flat side of the board to the angled cut left on the other end of the plank. This will create a 15-degree angle between the fretboard and the headstock.
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Tips & Warnings
You can adjust the angle of the headstock by adjusting the angle of the miter saw. The more you increase the headstock angle, the more tension you create as the strings pass over the guitar's nut.
Use wood glue to glue the two pieces of the neck together. Wood glue creates a very tight bond and actually holds just as well as carving a neck out of a solid plank of wood.
References
Resources
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