Great work as always, Chris! Looking forward to the next video...

I think CNC is awesome but I find the process of shaping a neck by hand so incredibly satisfying that I don't think I'd give that job to the CNC. I actually like the variability that is introduced in doing this step by hand.

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

I felt the same way until about my 300th neck.

@zbqb84a

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Ha ha, yeah, that's not gonna be an issue for me. Love your vids.

thanks

Being a CNC programmer, I saw several ways you could expidite the entire process. Using your .250 bit, cut 4 holes in your block at the four corners. Its critical that they go all the way thru. Now you can make a jig. Make a flat jig that has dowel pins at the four corners to match your thru holes. When you generate your gcode, make your work offset centered on on of the dowel pins. Correctly done, you should only need to flip the part, re-clamp and run your second side, being sure to locate your work offset at the same pin center. As long as your jig is indicated square to the machine axis, and your through holes are correctly positioned equidistant from part center, you never have to guess if its goint to be right. Also if you will touch your tools off of the jig face your "Z" location will exactly match your print.

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

I still have to line up the blank with the machine's X and Y axis and locate home BEFORE I can drill the holes. I have used pins in the past as you describe and I stopped because it wasn't saving any time.

@johnogden1020

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars not to argue, but you only need close alignment for the blank. As long as all 4 holes are in it, its good. Its the fixture that will require alignment. A dial indicator run across the face of the pins will suffice. You need only have a magnetic indicator stand stuck to the side of your spindle. If you want to avoid that, generate a program for the pins, and roughly align your fixture plate. You can then drill your pin holes and they will be perfectly in line with "Y and X". From there its a walk in the park.

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

@@johnogden1020 And that's how I would do it if I was mass-producing the same things over and over, which I am not.

@johnogden1020

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Lol, I'm so good at CNC that I would have a fixture for bodies, necks or whatever. You could grid out your table and use a reference location for each fixture. But you're right, I am a different kind of CNC machinist and you are not into mass production. Lol, if that ever changes, you know where the find me.

Nicely done, I bet your machine doesn't miss steps often with those huge stepper motors.

Do you make all of your angled headstocks this way now? Do you use a scarf joint? If you do a scarf joint how do you handle the fixturing in the cnc? Love your videos! Thanks for all of the insight!

Love the new open! Twelve seconds and down to business. Good music on this one too.

Hi Chris - another great video. I've seen your scarf videos. Is this approach out of date, or are you saying that if the neck blank is laminated, you don't need a scarf? The short grain is still present in the lamination - so does the lamination compensate for the weakness?

You are absolutely right about grain orientation. But that begs the question, how has Fender gotten away with no consideration to grain at all. They use all manner of grain from flat to rift and maybe by accident sometimes even quarter sawn. Maybe that’s why Leo designed his guitar with replaceable parts.

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

In truth, with Maple like Fender uses, you can use any grain orientation. It's that strong. With Mahogany, you really need quartersawn boards.

You have a new subscriber, I'm getting ready to build my first guitar and need all the help I can get. PS I'm building a telecaster. Where do you recommend sourcing wood from,

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

I only buy my wood locally. I have to see the boards before I will buy. I've been burned too many times buying online.

So no scarf joint this time.. Very open minded. I like that

Great video. thank you. question for you..before machining the bottom, when you cut away the excess wood along the neck shaft using a bandsaw, how are you able to save time doing this? assuming you're using a roughing operation (before a finishing operation) to hog out the wood along the shaft, if your home is still at the z height of the thickest part of the board at the headstock it will machine a lot of air and not save time. If you lower the z home then i would think that would think that would cause problems for roughing the back of the headstock and and also cause problem when roughing the shaft of the neck. thank you

@HighlineGuitars

2 жыл бұрын

I use a different z height home position after removing the excess wood.

@paulsusi6929

2 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Thank you...i was thinking that would be the only way possible. I'm assuming though for your headstock vs shaft machining operations you need to set a different stock height in the software, and then home Z to the top of the material each time?

@HighlineGuitars

2 жыл бұрын

@@paulsusi6929 That's what I did when I made necks with my old CNC machine. These days, I use a much more powerful CNC machine which allows me to cut the neck shaft and headstock very quickly in one operation. That operation combines the roughing and finishing paths, which use the same home position.

Hi Chris, thanks for the video. Do you think that multilaminated neck makes scarf join unnecessary?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

As long as you can source boards wide enough to accommodate an angled headstock in a laminated arrangement, you don't need to make a scarf joint.

What is the model/manufacturer of your CNC?

Hey Chris, you have a great little setup for making guitar necks but it strikes me you could make the process so much better. Why dont you use your CNC to bore some datum points in the bed to take dowels so that you can position your neck blanks accurately every time without all the measuring and clamping. You could also produce a drilling jig on the CNC which you could use to drill the same dowel holes in the neck blank which would ensure that it fits on the bed perfectly every time. Another thing that I do worry about with most CNC users is that they tend to use such oversized blanks and therefore produce an incredible amount of waste. I know you have a huge supply of wood in the US but the fact is we should be trying to minimise waste in everything we do and some of the woods ( figured and birdseye maple ) are going to run out if the guitar industry doesn't start waking up. They will end up on the endangered list before too long unless we wise up. Wht did you use the birdseye on the outer laminates which became complete waste?????? I make one piece necks in the fender format because they are less wasteful and my laminated necks are made using 3/4" thick laminates with head stock additions and there is hardly any waste at all. I do not use CNC because I studied various forms and decided I could make a neck by hand just as quickly and as my customers are all different so are the neck profiles. I do enjoy your videos but we must start looking after this valuable resource.

@HighlineGuitars

3 жыл бұрын

The method you describe is exactly what I did when I started using CNC. However, every blank I use and every neck I make is different. I made necks by hand for 15 years before I switched to CNC. I’ll quit before I ever consider going back. My neck, back, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers won’t let me.

@davidjennings9253

3 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars I do understand what you mean, I'm 71 yrs old now and my hands do suffer especially in cold weather, but I find shaping necks gives me a good upper body workout.The other thing is that I would get two necks out of one of your blanks so it does make a lot of sense. The really good wood is not so easy to get in England so I have to pick some up when I visit my son in the US but Covid has prevented that this year. Keep up the hreat work and keep safe. - regards Dave.

@HighlineGuitars

3 жыл бұрын

@@davidjennings9253 You will not get two of my neck designs out of one of my blanks. Trust me, I have done the calculations. Also, you need to understand that my blanks start out as a 10-foot long blank which yields six necks. Shaping necks by hand is an okay "workout" if you only make the occasional neck. But if you're shaping necks every day, all day long you will suffer repetitive stress injuries. When I get to your age, I still want to be able to fly fish. Thank God for CNC!!

Thanks Chris! after gluing the neck with yellow glue arent you introducing more humidity to the wood and the wood should be dried agin to 10 precent of humidity?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

Yes and where I live it takes about 12 hours or overnight.

@ccchicken8889

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Do you find any difference between Titebond 1 and 2?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

@@ccchicken8889 It's more expensive. That's the only difference I noticed.

@timhenry8078

Жыл бұрын

@@ccchicken8889 titebond 2 is stronger and water resistant. 3 is even stronger and "waterproof" 3 has longer open time than 2 as well. Their website has the stats

Unusual question: what does this CNC machine weigh? Limited space and may have to have it on hinges to flip vertical to store or lift it up to ceiling...

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

I would guess between 200 and 300lbs.

@trinacria1956

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Thank you , you are very patient and helpful. Will just have to ask wife park her car in street.. and she will ask me to sleep in garage!Ha ha!

Have you considered using a 4 axis cnc?

@HighlineGuitars

3 жыл бұрын

I would have to replace my Arduino Uno/grbl controller with a different solution that supports a 4th axis. That is possible, but I don't feel the effort would be worth the outcome.

can you make a video on 3d modeling please?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

Sorry, but no. I need to focus on what I do. I make guitars, not software tutorials.

How much time does it take to build the neck?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

3-4 hours from a blank to finish.

@thefatcat1895

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars thanks for the reply 👍👍👍

Have you ever done/considered making set-neck guitars via CNC? Aside from the initial (one time) investment of the coding, would not CNC make it much easier to create set neck joints? Personally, I find the set necks of archtops, acoustics, even LP’s much more aesthetically appealing than the fender inspired bolt on neck. The bolt on neck clearly works. But wasn’t the original reason for the bolt on neck that it was an easy way to mass produce inexpensive guitars quickly? Cheers and keep the videos coming.

@ccchicken8889

4 жыл бұрын

And with the right set-neck design, better upper fret access could be attained, right?

@dr.crypto6891

4 жыл бұрын

@@ccchicken8889 Yup, that too!

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

I make both bolt-in and set-in necks. Mostly set-in as they are easier to make and install.

@dr.crypto6891

4 жыл бұрын

@@HighlineGuitars Any videos of you making set neck guitars, CNC or otherwise?

@HighlineGuitars

4 жыл бұрын

@@dr.crypto6891 This playlist shows an entire set-neck build, specifically #10: kzread.info/head/PL7TLAFxVOtrUZo_fUsAd4bw1eqWhKqMk-

The CNC machine is awesome but I'd never be able to wrap my head around learning to operate it.

@bucknaked31

4 жыл бұрын

pedraw Honestly, your CAM software does all the heavy lifting. Operating the CNC is easier than the design work. The hardest thing is figuring out how to hold the part down and flip it over accurately.