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This one piece Ranchero neck starts with a quarter sawn piece of cocobolo
After cutting the fret slots, the basic shape is cut out on the bandsaw. I cleaned up the outline using a router and template and then thinned the headstock. Now its time for the 12" fretboard radius.
Here's the fretboard radius jig in action. A few very shallow passes are all it takes to cut the radius. Cocobolo dust is very nasty, so as with all exotics, I'm wearing my respirator!
Since this is a one piece neck (no separate fretboard) the truss rod slot is cut from the back of the neck. The neck is laying on the truss rod slotting jig which centers the slot, and cuts it to the exact length required.
Next I make up a matching filler strip from the off cuts of the neck blank. I was going to use a different type of wood for the filler strip, but I was able to very closely match the grain so I decided to go with cocobolo. It may not match as well once I start carving the neck and get further down into the grain, but it'll still look nice.
Here's the filler strip glued in. Cocobolo is an oily wood, so you need to wipe it down with something like mineral spirits before you apply the glue.
The colour of cocobolo changes and becomes darker as it's exposed to air. Once I've finished carving and sanding this neck, I'll let it sit for quite a while to let the colour deepen. Here's a shot of the front...
...and the back. I still need to plane the filler strip flush on the heel; the rest will get carved away as the neck profile takes shape.
The headstock looks a little rough now because it needs sanding, but you can see the fantastic grain swirls on the edges. This is one sweet neck!
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