Neck Making
The following information is meant to be an aid accompanying the necks materials that I supply in my ukulele kits. The first photo shows the pieces supplied in the kit. From left to right The neck, the heel block, the headstock wings, and the headstock.
A 14 degree angled cut is made at the end of the headstock and the neck parts. Shown is my wooden template that I use to mark out the 14 degree angle.
After the cut has been made either by hand, the way I do it using a bandsaw, or with a tablesaw, I clamp the 2 pieces together in a wood working vise and handplane them smooth. They can be done one at a time, but doing them both together is better. The surfaces to be planed are the ones that will fit together to make the proper angle for the headstock. Try different postions and you will easily find the right ones. The angled cut on the headstock will be glued to the bottom surface of the neck ( the opposite surface from the fretboard.
I then clamp them together. My method is to clamp them on their side. You can keep the joint from sliding by placing a clamp at the front of the headstock. Do some dry runs before you apply glue.
After the first glue has dried, I then clamp the ears on the headstock and also glue on the heelblock at the same time.
When all that has dried, I plane the headstock face smooth and place the decorative faceplate in position. I drill small holes through the faceplate into the mahogany head, outside the head shape pattern. I use small brads to position the faceplate.
I then remove the faceplate and cut off the brads just below the surface height of the plate.
I then apply the glue and use a clear plastic caul to clamp the face plate on.
These last photos show a common method of making a spline joint using a tablesaw. Many, many ukes are built with spline joints to reinforce the neck joint. I do not do this method. I use a traditional dovetail, which is much more difficult to make and probably not even necessary for ukuleles. It comes naturally to me from my years of guitar making, and I enjoying doing this complicated joint.
The spline joint uses a mortise cut into the body, and a mortise cut into the neck. A hardwood spline then is inserted to connect the 2 parts. This is shown in the parts that I supply with my kits.
The mortise can be cut by hand into the body neckblock before the instrument is assembled, or it can be cut on the tablesaw as shown below. The saw blade is run into the body until the blade is about 13mm (1/2") short of the back. A similar mortise is cut into the neck heel. The heel slot can be cut all the way through since a heel cap will hide it.
