Day 8: Angling the Fingerboard

I wasn't able to make the April 9 deadline, but I did show the project to Reed and he's excited to see it come to completion. I smoked a brisket and made a birthday cake, which helped soften the blow. He was speechless for a bit when he first saw it and said, "I didn't expect that." Frankly, who would? It's not your usual birthday gift, right?

I'm feeling better these days, though I still have some residual pain and the second CTScan is pending. I've been able to jump back out into the shop to work on this and my other little project. My first task was to clean. I had left the shop with a fine layer of sawdust on everything and the assembly table was a jumbled mess. Once I got things cleaned up, I went ahead and started the process of figuring out how to mount the neck to the body at the correct angle.

As I worked on it, I could see where I screwed up. I should have left more wood on both the body and neck to create a good, solid joint between the two. Of course, I can remedy this, but I would have much preferred an alternate path. In this case, I will need to use a single piece of square dowel (for lack of a better term) to hold the neck and keep it from twisting over time. I wish I could have countersunk the neck into the body, but, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. Regardless, I'll ensure the joint is solid and the instrument plays well for years to come.

Until next time...