Making A Guitar Neck and Fretboard On A CNC Machine

Watch as I use my CNC machine to carve a blank into a finished guitar neck and fretboard.

[@bucknaked31]

Pro tip from another CNC Luthier here... use the largest ballcutter you can possible use for your shaping operation but keep using a high step over. I noticed you were using a tiny ballcutter for your fretboard radius. Use a 1/2”. The cusps will be shorter and it will leave a much better surface. Same thing on the back of the neck. If you don’t have a radii that are smaller than 1/4”, there’s no advantage to using a tool smaller than 1/2”, as a matter of fact it works against you in terms of machine time and tool deflection. Love your videos, you’ve come so far from when I first started watching you. Even though I build guitars with a CNC, I still learn things from you. I especially love the finishing tips. Thank you so much!

[@rtroiani]

What bit do you use for cutting the fret slots?

[@MrPatzerat]

Thanks for showing this part of your work. Nice choice of music.

[@getenlightened]

Nice change of pace for this one. Well done & thanks.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

Clever trick using a card scraper burnisher to soften the edge of the fretboard! I’ll have to give that a try.

[@scottspadgenske2760]

I love the background music! Nice change.🙂

[@edadpops1709]

ahhh love the way you burnish the fret board edge. gonna have to use that one🤗

[@FrugalFixerSpike]

More inspiration, on exactly my next project. Have a tele length, 4/2 headstock design I'm doing. Have not tried tilt head stock yet!! Thanks Again Chris!!

[@troy1258]

I think this shows how a CNC really does not do all the work for you! And good choice on the sound track. Cheers.

[@HighlineGuitars]

It doesn't, but it sure saves wear and tear on an aging body!

[@shrimptunes3463]

I second those sound track thoughts! It’s a nice juxtaposition of old and new.

[@Mistrals60]

Great video Chris! Nice choice of music too. :-)

[@danielfenmore2712]

Love the Harbor Freight drill. It gives me hope that maybe I can do cool stuff too. Now all I need is talent.

[@GangstaGranksta]

The future of luthiery is here and now.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

Yes, but then look at all the people using a CNC to make Strat copies. I mean what’s the point? lol

[@FrugalFixerSpike]

Just finished, loved it, wish I was that fast, LOL

[@FabioAlves7]

awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[@MikeCindyWhite]

Very cool Chris! I love watching small Endmills circle intrepotale that fast... I can't do that in metal, I'd either get to much deflection and the hole would be small, or my tool would break! Super nice fingerboard to!!

[@HighlineGuitars]

The video was sped up between 400 and 1000%.

[@MikeCindyWhite]

@@HighlineGuitars 😂 I thought to myself, wow he's flying in those holes, Must be 100 ipm!! I'm cutting wood way to slow! Lol. I had no idea it was sped up... Thanks for clarifying that! I was ready to head to the shop on Monday and crank all my feeds and speeds! Talk about tearout!! Lol. Thanks again Chris. I find with wood I have to run my machine's at a steel speeds. I tried running my tools like I was cutting aluminum or brass and all I got was a giant mess of tearout and burn marks! So I slowed down my spindle speed (depending on tool size, the smaller the tool the faster I'll spin it to make up for chip load) and I run my liner G1 cuts to around 20 IPM. Seems to be the sweet spot for my machines. Thanks for all the great content with us Chris! Mike.

[@edadpops1709]

great vid so interesting.

[@wadetomczyk8043]

Impressive

[@callejarvholm]

How does it know where to start when you turn the neck over?

[@rtroiani]

I’ve been wanting to try one on the CNC. I see how you index it so when you flip it you keep center and position correct, but you lost me on the headstock. Did you have a different center point / setup set for the headstock?

[@codykniffen]

What was the total CNC time, and did you sprinkle salt down before gluing on the fingerboard to keep it from sliding around?

[@HighlineGuitars]

For the neck and fretboard, CNC time is about 3.5 hours. Yes, I sprinkle salt to keep the fretboard from sliding.

[@jesusmachado9087]

How do you zero the machine when turning the piece around?

[@freiermann7]

Slam a few Monsters and build a guitar neck. :)

[@paragsabnis3031]

Closed the eyes and listened to the music and I felt I was in front of a Chaplin movie

[@dalgguitars]

Where did you get the glow-in-the-dark plastic rod? Thanks again for the great videos!

[@HighlineGuitars]

Luminlay: luminlay.com/indexen.html

[@jdy5556]

Hi Chris, I use a similar setup for making my necks and bodies. I'm curious how you are indexing the neck blank when flipping from front to back and when transitioning to the headstock area? I find it very difficult to keep everything aligned and matching up for the final product.

[@richardnewell506]

it all looked very casual

[@amitsapir2]

Chris, where do you get your truss rods and why some builders prefer not to rout the truss rod access point but to drill it after gluing the fret board ?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I buy mine in bulk from Bitterroot Guitars. If you're not going to cover the truss rod access, a round hole may be preferred, which has to be drilled.

[@mertakgun8209]

Hi, thanks for sharing all details of your working. I want to buy a cnc router for neck and body. At which rpm do you cut and what is the power of your spindle? I know that it depends on so many things but i want to know the average values.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I use a Dewalt 611 trim router. All cuts are made at 16000rpm which is the lowest setting.

[@edhampton415]

Really Wish I had a CNC machine. What is the sanding tool that you use at the 9:10 - 9:17 mark in the video? Maybe you can do a short video on specialty tools that you use?

[@HighlineGuitars]

It's a scraper burnishing tool. amzn.to/375x4xN

[@FabianRomano1]

Love the glow in the dark dot markers 👍, what is the material called ? Just subscribed btw, thanks for sharing !

[@HighlineGuitars]

Strontium aluminate

[@Malabarii]

I am curious where you zero out your CNc when you shift from the neck carve to the headstock. How do you keep them lined up? Nice work !

[@lowplainstu]

Me too ;)

[@richardnewell506]

me too

[@luislanga]

​@@Chaosweaver-1 if he's doing that his blank has to be pretty darn square

[@treetoneguitars1712]

What's your method for aligning the top, bottom and headstock machining procedures? I see a lot of guys using guide pins for alignment. Wondering how you were able to do this by just using the clamps.

[@HighlineGuitars]

This video explains it best: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5qyhZ6EZcqAldU A pin alignment system is useful only if you're making a lot of bodies or necks consecutively.

[@tomdowler5416]

Can you make a video showing how you precisely position the stock on the CNC table?

[@HighlineGuitars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGTYhmeviN6teq8

[@Darklingza]

Nice neck! I have seen quite a few builders leaving the tape on the truss rod when gluing down the fretboard, but you remove it. Are you doing anything to keep the glue out when clamping, or are you just not too worried about it? On another fretboard-related note, I have seen a few builders rounding and finishing the fret ends before inserting them into the fretboard, either freehand, or with some sort of jig. Do you see any downsides to doing this if you are careful about not shortening the fret too much. I kind of feel like not worrying about the fretboard and having easier access to the various angles on the fret would make the job a lot easier and potentially quicker...

[@HighlineGuitars]

As long as the truss rod is wrapped, fits into the slot tightly and the masking tape is both longer and wider than the slot, there is nothing to worry about. On the side note, the reason some builders round over the fret ends before installing them is that they are worried about marring the fretboard if they do the work after. With the right tools (files with safe edges) and experience, that shouldn't be a problem.

[@bradleywoodward9727]

Hi, thanks for the video. I'm curious as to the brand/model of the CNC machine. Tia

[@dalgguitars]

He made that himself. There are lots of great videos about the build.

[@HighlineGuitars]

From these plans: www.eguitarplans.com/

[@squiresuzuki]

What feeds and speeds do you use for the 0.6mm (?) end mill when cutting fret slots?

[@HighlineGuitars]

20 inches per minute, .01 inch depth of cut.

[@pitaorj]

chris, how do you index the different G Code operations to route the correct places? I mean, how do you index your reference point between the differente cutting operations?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I always start from the same X,Y, Z home position for each operation on a neck, fretboard or body. The home position is assigned in the program (MeshCAM) I use to write the G-Code.

[@geertvanderwoude5161]

greetings from holland, i have build my own cnc and my question is wich software do you use and can i buy de cnc plans from you, iam using vcarve and rhino

[@HighlineGuitars]

I sell plans to build your own CNC. I use Rhino 7 for CAD and MeshCAM for CAM.

[@bjornandersson6713]

Nice😊 What sort of wood was the fretboard? Peace

[@HighlineGuitars]

Bocote.

[@jimgeorge6220]

I do a lot of CNC two sided profile cuts where it is imperative to flip my work piece on a center line. Naturally when watching an operation such as yours I'm looking for part alignment. I didn't see any attention to alignment yet you got very good results. Did you actually have an alignment scheme worked out? or was it hit and miss. I can't imagine it being that random.

[@HighlineGuitars]

This video will give you an idea of how I line up my two sided carving operations: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f6vHkIF8bp2DoNksi=RQsZYAj39PWkDZ87

[@rextyguitars2]

Any suggestions on a budget CNC that is still big enough to make necks?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Inventables X-Carve. Or my own DIY machine if you can assemble one yourself: www.eguitarplans.com/

[@jestonbrummet7026]

What speeds/feeds/depth of cut do you use for the .023" endmill?

[@HighlineGuitars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4azfX-KiaeNhJY

[@MichaelGuy]

What is a good cnc to buy for making my own guitars? And if I have a certain neck I want to make can you consult and make me an stl file? I want to make my own. Thanks for such a fantastic educational video. Keeping the art alive is so important when they are making instruments so cheap. I like old school love and quality.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I started with the Inventables X-Carve which worked fine for me. However, I wanted a more robust machine so I built my own. Plans are available on my eguitarplans.com web site. Inventables has a new Pro machine which is more in line with what guitar builders need, but it is expensive.

[@MichaelGuy]

@@HighlineGuitars Thank you so much for your reply. I was going to spend 5000 on machine but wanted to get one pre made that I could upload STL files to so I do not get stuck in aut0 cad land. Any recommendation I would be grateful.

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@MichaelGuy www.carvewright.com/cx/

[@cpnms5]

Great video! How long does that take on average?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Neck and fretboard take about 3.5 hours.

[@tameromari2102]

How long did it take the machine to finish the neck and also the fretboard? Great video man :)

[@HighlineGuitars]

About 4.5 hours.

[@mattjc]

Is that a burnisher you are using on the fret board edges?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Yes. amzn.to/375x4xN

[@luislanga]

Hey Chris, I've been watching this video for more than a year now and I can't figure out how you tackled aligning the blank for the operation with the face of the headstock down. Did you zero the machine on some reference you made earlier or aligned the blank to some pencil line on the table? I know this is asking a lot, but would you consider doing a breakdown of this setup one day? Thanks!

[@HighlineGuitars]

I lined up the blank's centerline with a centerline that was engraved in the wasteboard. After clamping the blank down, I positioned the spindle directly over the blank's centerline exactly opposite where the front of the headstock's angle begins. That is where I zeroed the machine to start the headstock's carve.

[@luislanga]

@@HighlineGuitars I suppose doing the best you can to square up the blank plays a big role in having success doing this, right? I've seen the way you sand the scarf joint surface flat with that nice little jig you've made, aside from pushing the blank against the wall of the jig with the screws on the other side, do you take any other measures to ensure you're getting a perpendicular headstock angle line in relation to the length of the blank?

[@codyconrad7333]

Would you recommend a pin alignment setup?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Only if you make the exact same thing over and over from blanks that are always the exact same size.

[@slot1997]

Hi!, could you tell me what is the milling cutter sizes that you uses to make the frets slots?

[@HighlineGuitars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6HNh3ydfbOUo7M

[@trance9158]

How deep do you set your side markers...I'm guessing about 3/16" ?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I eyeball it. About 3/32."

[@johnangel1512]

now thats just showing of, good job tho

[@kimblez]

what kind of cnc is that? which brand?

[@HighlineGuitars]

Scroll to the bottom of this page: www.eguitarplans.com/

[@BeauHannamGuitars]

What cnc is this?

[@HighlineGuitars]

www.eguitarplans.com/ scroll to the bottom of the page.

[@thedirtyknobs]

Hello : I'm curious what the depth of cut per pass and speed in when cutting fret slots, what make and model end mill are you using? Thanks 😎

[@HighlineGuitars]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4azfX-KiaeNhJY

[@thedirtyknobs]

@@HighlineGuitars thanks

[@thedirtyknobs]

What brand bit are you using?

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@thedirtyknobs Kyocera Tycom 1600.0240.120B1

[@juanokita4401]

How can have the plans to make that cnc?? 🤓

[@HighlineGuitars]

Scroll to the bottom of this page: www.eguitarplans.com/

[@lowplainstu]

Hello Chris. Can I ask how you kept your zero when rotating from the neck profile to the head profile?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I reset the zero when I flip a blank. It is marked at the exact center of both sides.

[@lowplainstu]

@@HighlineGuitars Thanks. For the X axis I understand about marking the cntre, but what about the Y when you change from neck portion to head portion when you angle it at the 10° or whatever your headstock is at?

[@HighlineGuitars]

I draw a line perpendicular to the blanks center line where the front of the angled headstock meets the neck. Where the two lines intersect is my reference point. From that point, I know exactly where to jog my router to place it in the home position. To rout the other side, I simply transfer my reference point to the other side.

[@Andluth]

How are you registering the neck on the table? It looks like you are just clamping it down without any reference. Thanks for the videos. I am learning F360 to move into the 21st century.

[@HighlineGuitars]

This video explains my process: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGTYhmeviN6teq8

[@keithstanley2007]

What tool did you use to cut the Fret slots, the DOC and the feed speeds, please?

[@HighlineGuitars]

.024" solid carbide 2 flute spiral upcut bit. Feed rate: 20ipm. DOC: .01" RPM: 16400.

[@keithstanley2007]

@@HighlineGuitars Thanks for such a prompt reply!!! Can I also ask where you purchased the tool?

[@HighlineGuitars]

@@keithstanley2007 www.ebay.com/itm/10-73-0240-2-FLUTE-MICRO-CARBIDE-ENDMILLS-LONG-FLUTE/151823964316?hash=item235969d89c:g:bQoAAOxy1VlREYCy

[@kommi1974]

Why are your videos all 720p now? They used to be much higher quality.

[@HighlineGuitars]

I have only done a couple higher than 720p and a lot of people complained.

[@kennethnielsen3864]

11th.

[@williamcastleberry7338]

Could of done without the opera racket

[@HighlineGuitars]

You're in the minority, so I'll add more.