Wasn't to sure whether to put this in the gallery or here but as it isn't 'officially' completed then I'll shove it in here along with some of the build pics.
I don't know if anybody remembers back 12 months ago I posted some pics of a Slingerland "Bandolin" or is that "Manjolin"?
that the customer wanted to see if I could fit a guitar neck to. The original was in pretty bad state and the neck had pulled.
- Mando original.jpg (243.55 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
- Side shot Mando.jpg (232.91 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
After pulling the thing apart I decided it would be a kind of fun project to do up but the customer wasn't in any rush & wanted to hear if the 'experiment' worked before committing the funds to giving it a full spruce up.
Anyway finally I've gotten around to doing the job & it's been one of those jobs that has been a fun fill in type job. I had an old Fender Squier that I'd bought for 50 bucks for spares yonks ago, the neck kindly donated it's services for this project
.
- Donor neck.jpg (246.28 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
I laminated a few bits of scrap Maple I had in my bin onto the donor neck's heel & marked out where the hoop & head had to be notched out.
- New neck against body.jpg (194.92 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
So far piece of cake but once I started roughing out the heel shape I found a slight problem...Where I wanted to notch out there was this piece of metal in the way
.
- Truss rod problem.jpg (105.51 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
I had to hog out most of the notch with a chisel then dig in around the truss rod anchor so I could extract it. I undid the bullet nut at the other end & proceeded to pull the truss rod out from the heel end. (Squier's bullet nut is bigger than the adjusting hole in the headstock so it can't simply be taken out! It's obviously sitting in a bigger pocket that's covered when the fingerboard's put on...grrrr).
- Truss rod out.jpg (111.82 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
Anyway once I'd removed it I cut it shorter at the bullet nut end then put it back into the neck & carried on shaping the notch. I had to drill a hole in the heel end for the original "dowel stick".
- Semi finished neck.jpg (132.25 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
I decided because the neck was longer & may exert more pull on things that I'd cross drill the tenon on the dowel just to be "on the safe side", shaped the heel then glued an Ebony cap on the heel to cover my cross dowel.
- Shaped neck.jpg (146.66 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
I then finished fitting the neck & making sure it's centreline pointed somewhere near the middle of the head.
- Neck Joint.jpg (148.85 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
Anyway it looked the part so I made a wider saddle & a temporary tailpiece for the wider string spacing so he could at least listen to it play & decide if he wants to spend the $ on it. I haven't put finish on the neck yet but I must say it's come out not too bad, definitely sounds "banjoey" but the bass tones are a little thin on the ground! Having the round body & long neck I must say it's hard getting used to holding it but it's actually a hoot to play & of course there's no resting your pinky on the head as it damps it! Of course the first tune from it's strings was duelling banjo's!
- Neck on.jpg (171.14 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
- New Bridge.jpg (122.63 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
The brown marks on the Vellum/head is staining from the old saddle.
- Rear view.jpg (142.76 KiB) Viewed 11073 times
Hopefully the customer goes for a full refurb as the head on this one has a split so I couldn't tension it right up to where I suspect they usually sit.
