Australian Wood Review – September 2019

56 Australian Wood Review

PROJECT

the tailstock and glue the rivets into

the anchor hole with some medium

thickness cyanoacrylate glue making

sure not to plug the holes with the

glue (photo 17). Finally, install the

tuning machines according to the

instructions that came with them. Be

mindful that the screws used for this

hardware are typically tiny, so don’t

lose them (photo 18)!

Last steps

The only things left to do are the

assembly and stringing. Place the neck

into the cigar box, close the lid and

screw the lid shut (photo 19). Lay a

ruler down on the centre of the nut at

the 24-1/2" (622.3mm) mark (photo

20 ), then place a light pencil mark

on the box at the end of the ruler.

Now locate the three holes in the

tailstock for the string anchors and

bore the holes with a 5mm bit. Finish

off by tracing a pleasing arc on the end

then cut and shape the curve. As you

can see, any curve will do here, as long

as you are happy with it (photo 13).

Soften the neck

The back of the neck should be

rounded over to be easy on the hand

while playing. Place a piece of blue tape

12mm down from the nut location and

12mm up from the point where the

neck enters the box. Install a 3/8" radius

round-over router bit into a router table

and rout the round-over on the back

side of the neck (photo 14).

Use the blue tape as a gauge for where

to start and stop the cuts visually.

If it’s important for you to be more

accurate than this, feel welcome to

set up a fence and stops on the router

table. Remove any sharp corners on

the neck then do any final sanding and

apply finish (photo 15). I typically

only use a coat of wax on the neck,

but any finish will do including adding

colour in the form of stain or paint.

Install the hardware

With all the woodworking done,

it’s time to install the metal bits.

Start by gluing the bridge (a 5/16"

threaded bolt in this case) against

the shoulder you created on the

headstock (photo 16). Some five

minute epoxy or strong hot-melt glue

will be perfect for this. Now move to

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