The neck is made from a strong light timber like Spanish Cedar, Australian Red Cedar or Mahogany.
I prefer the Cedars, finding Mahogany too heavy for classical or flamenco guitars. The neck
is made from a single piece of timber cut into many pieces and rejoined. Firstly a splice
joint for the headstock and then the heel is built up of as many pieces as required to make
the heel as deep as the body. I then cut the outline of the heel where it is attached to
the body, and the slot in the centre to take the loose tenon.
Then I fit the neck to the body to get the correct angle. Once this is done the headstock
is shaped. The fingerboard is then prepared by straightening and thicknessing and the slots
are cut for the frets. The fingerboard is then cut to its finished shape. The fingerboard
is tapered underneath from the 12th fret to the 19th to match the neck to body angle and
it is then glued to the neck blank. The neck and heel are then shaped and sanded smooth.
This assembly is finally glued to the body with the loose tenon. The next step is to shape
the face of the fingerboard with the proper contours. It is flat across the width and basically
concave along most of its length to accommodate the amplitude of the strings when plucked,
especially on the bass side.
The final step before fretting is to add a heel cap. Here I have added an Ebony cap for contrast.
At this stage the fret board is given its final shaping to ensure the correct relief and
action and the fret slots are prepared for installing the frets. These are pressed into the
slots and then checked for correct height and have the ends shaped and then polished to a
high sheen to facilitate playing. The body is given its final sanding and is ready for polishing.
At this point I will mix up a new batch of french polish so it is fresh and ready for use.
The body is given a final sanding and the next step is to add the bridge and finally polish
the instrument. I used to polish the guitar before adding the bridge, but I now find it better
from an acoustic point of view to add the bridge first, then try out the guitar and make
any final adjustments prior to polishing.
«The Bridge»
