Making a Spanish style neck

I build in the Spanish style, a custom i've inherited from my background as a classical guitar maker. In the Spanish style, a guitar or ukulele is built around the neck. Most ukulele builders don't follow the Spanish style of building. Instead, they build the neck separate from the body and join the two using bolts, a special mortice or dovetail joint or some other method.

I started a few necks this morning and took some photos to illustrate the process. I got distracted this afternoon by some other things so i'll follow up in a day or two showing you the rest of the steps.


Here you can see two neck blanks, dimensioned appropriately for a 14 fret long scale tenor ukulele and a 14 fret long scale concert ukulele. They are quarter sawn Honduras mahogany. The neck profile is laid out in pencil and the customer name and customer requested nut width is written on the neck blank. I have a master drawing of all the different necks i build with, and use it as a reference when laying out the blanks.

When i purchase planks of Honduras mahogany or Spanish cedar for neck blanks, I generally cut up half of it right away into an assortment of sizes, anticipating future needs. The rest of it goes into storage for unexpected needs or becomes, for a time, the top of a work bench. As a result, most of the neck blanks i use have been sitting around the shop for a while and have had ample opportunity to come to terms with their fate !



If you use carbon fiber or another form of neck reinforcement, now is the time to dado slots for the insert, glue it and resurface the fingerboard surface. These two necks are reinforced with a rectangular 1/8" x 3/8" epoxy/carbon fiber composite beam at customer request. I occassionally use this type of reinforcement on my 14 fret long scale necks, mostly when requested. I generally don't use it on my 12 fret standard scale necks.

Does it make a difference to the sound of the instrument ? I think i can hear a difference. The CF reinforcement makes the neck stiffer and the sound less nuanced but more focused. But it is a subtle difference and an untrained ear could easily miss it. These neck blanks have been dadoed on the table saw, and the slots filled with Honduras mahogany strips either end of the carbon fiber beam.




The neck blank is now clamped to an angled reference surface on a sliding jig and the head is cut on the bandsaw.



The rest of the neck is freehand profiled on the bandsaw. The cutoff is saved and resawn into tailblocks, back braces, and 2mm veneer.




The edges of the neck are marked out in pencil and the neck is cut to approximate width using a sliding jig and the bandsaw. The slope of the jig ensures that the foot of the neck is tapered.



Here the bandsaw blade is being withdrawn from the completed cut. The fence is now moved to the other side of the blade and the neck blank repositioned on the jig to cut the other side.



Here you can see the taper of the Spanish foot.



A registration pin is inserted in a well known location to facilitate the next operation.



In the Spanish method, the foot of the neck is slotted to receive the sides. Here you can see a simple sliding jig used to slot the foot, using a tablesaw. The registration pin keys in the slots in the jig, ensuring that the slots in the foot are correctly positioned and the correct width ( ~2mm ).



The slots are cut at approximately 2.5 degrees.



After smoothing the face of the headstock, the faceplate is glued. I resaw my ebony faceplates from fingerboard blanks. My koa faceplates are bookmatched from leftover portions of koa top and back plates. If the headstock requires an inlay, it is easiest to do it before glueing it to the faceplate.



Here are some bookmatched koa faceplates drying. They will be dimensioned to about 60mm x 135mm x 2mm and glued to the headstock of their respective necks. I try, whenever possible, to use wood leftover from the top or back plates for the headstock to ensure a harmonious match with the instrument.



The ebony faceplate is now dry. Next the neck will receive its backplate, a 1mm thick veneer of Honduras mahogany glued to the back of the headstock. When this is dry, the headstock will be shaped.

In a following note, we'll shape the headstock, relieve the top of the foot for the soundboard and carve the heel. More later ...