Homebuilt neck jig..

[warlok]

Done a bunch of fret work now so I decided I wanted a better way to brace neck than piling paper under the neck.. lol. So not wanting to spend $380+shipping for the Erlewine one, I decided on $35 for my own. A 2x4, small piece of 3/4" plywood, 3/8x16 wood inserts, 5" bolts, wing nuts as jam nuts for the bolts, some self adhesive felt pads for the top of the bolts, and 2 soft utility straps. May get some shorter bolts or cut these down, but pretty simple if you look at the pics so here it is..




Like jewels and plays like butta now. Woohoo!

[leftykingv2]

Pretty cool way to save a few bucks and very inventive!

[Mudlark]

I like the way you think, man. Nice goin'.

[artonsafari]

Cool set up.

[ulijdavid]

Nice Job!!! I don't see how Stewmac sells those for close to $400.00. If you want to, you can get cheap dial indicators from harbor freight.

[warlok]

Thanks fellas. I do have a question though. I don't see the purpose of the dial indicators..?? Supposed to be (as far as I know): Adjust neck to flat (no relief) and tuned to pitch, strap into jig and zero the dials, remove strings, use rods to straighten neck flat (back to zero in indicators), proceed with leveling... Basically, use the jig to simulate it having string tension. Question is why do all that?? If you are looking to have the guitar strapped to the jig with the fret board flat, why not just remove the strings as is (don't adjust truss), strap to jig, adjust rods to flatten the neck, proceed to level? That's what I did and it worked perfect. I may be missing something I guess??

[leftykingv2]

Thanks fellas. I do have a question though. I don't see the purpose of the dial indicators..?? Supposed to be (as far as I know): Adjust neck to flat (no relief) and tuned to pitch, strap into jig and zero the dials, remove strings, use rods to straighten neck flat (back to zero in indicators), proceed with leveling... Basically, use the jig to simulate it having string tension. Question is why do all that?? If you are looking to have the guitar strapped to the jig with the fret board flat, why not just remove the strings as is (don't adjust truss), strap to jig, adjust rods to flatten the neck, proceed to level? That's what I did and it worked perfect. I may be missing something I guess??

That's a bit on the technical side for me bro but if it works I say go with it. It sounds like you've got it down and it's working.

[Radiohead]

I don't have the Stewmac jig but did watch the video. I think the dial is to adjust the rods back to the exact spot to simulate the string tension. When you are adjusting your rod to flatten your neck I would imagine you are using a straight edge with trial and error. The dial would "help" in the process.

Regardless, cool F*ckin Jig. I may built one of my own one day. Love it. BTW - My wife would have my nuts if I did guitar work in the kitchen.

[ulijdavid]

I don't know if it is really necessary t have the dial indicators or not. As stated previously, I believe they are used to ensure you get the neck back to the exact position as it was at playing tension. The only way you can tell wen using the straps the headstock. I guess the theory is, just because you can adjust the neck flat with the truss rod, doesn't mean it will be flat with string tension.

Regardless, the jig looks great and if the results are good everything is good.

[Brandenburg]

pretty kool

[Axewielder]

Yeah I don't get the Erlewine rig. First of all, he's measuring the relief on the back on the neck which isn't accurate. Second, I don't see any reason to use a tensioner to simulate string tension. The Plek operates under normal string tension, but it mills the frets individually so in that context it makes sense. In the context of a manual fret dress by a luthier using files, it doesn't make sense to me. You'd want the fretboard perfectly flat.

[warlok]

Sounds like we're in agreement as far as it works, so go with it.. lol. It did work great. I did straighten by trial and error with a notched straight edge but didn't adjust with the trussrod.. Just used the rods on the jig. Just like strings would do. I may get my first chance at replacing a fret because the 17th fret on the high side is still loose and if I push down on it, it is just too low. Whoever refretted this thing did a bad job.. But outside of that one fret, it plays great!

[Chad]

I've never used a jig but the idea is that one accounts for the possible anomalies that happen with wood under string tension. i.e. a straight neck with string tension is different than a straight neck just sitting there. Because there are different forces at play. Those anomalies may not happen with all necks & specimens of wood, so that might explain why your method worked.