My First Attempt at Making a Guitar Neck from Scratch

The full build of the guitar this neck goes to: • Custom Guitar Build - ...
A video of my first attempt at making a guitar neck from scratch, and all the complications that happened along the way.
5 piece multi-laminate neck: 3 pieces Maple, 2 pieces Purple Heart
Ebony fretboard
Buckeye Burl headstock plate, trussrod cover, and inlay (all pieces of buckeye burl were flooded with wood hardener to stabilize them).
Nickel-Silver frets
25.5 in scale
24 frets
10" fretboard radius
Buffalo horn nut
Instagram: @orbitalguitars
Email: [e-mail]
Orbital Guitars Discord Server: / discord

[@vizagothx7294]

holy crap that was a lot of free handing... i need to jig the f*ck up big time whenever i want to make things that are straight and symmetrical. im impressed

[@mateuszkocot1029]

Great work man! That looks amazing!!Take care and keep on making that beautiful stuff!

[@Mrshadows_]

Your work is amazing, carry on!

[@evilcowboy]

Masking tape and superglue to hold is a very neat tip, I seen the guy over at crimson guitars do the same thing and when he planed it that was enough to convince me it is probably the best method for holding things while you work on them. Good Job dude.

[@maryl.johnson4401]

I love it. You are better than you think. Love the inlay.

[@RetroPlus]

It's gorgeous, i love the look of it. Very good for a first try, knecks can be fun to build.

[@jeucedahn]

Very nice! Congrats man

[@stalnoj8831]

amazing work

[@74dartman13]

It really turned out nice. I think the inlay and headstock look great, too.👍😎🎸🎶

[@noelpatrick5074]

Superb, detailed info to make a neck,,,,,👍👍👍👍

[@brandonb1681]

The alternating layers of wood on the neck look great.

[@74dartman13]

The original body and headstock shapes are awesome!👍😎🎸🎶

[@ChaosPootato]

Beautiful!

[@awonderingoneil206]

I dig that headstock 🥰 Reminds me of the epiphone tobias base headstock.

[@samhunt2117]

Great job mate. I like the way you use the neck template and bottom bearing cutter on the router to get the neck profile/taper and headstock in one cut 👌. I have found the best way to cut fret slots by hand is to make a perfectly square fretboard blank and use a simple jig to keep you 90° to your center line while you cut your slots . I then remove almost all the waste to the profile of the neck blank ( if the fretboard has no binding ) locate with pins to the centre line on the neck blank and fretboard as you have done and it's spot on 👍making guitars is awesome 😍

[@mannythompson9199]

well done!

[@robertbarker2458]

Good job

[@hrodd2]

nice work. I have yet to tackle a neck. Definitely the toughest part of making any guitar. It is however on my "to do" list

[@OrbitalGuitars]

It's certainly a bit nerve-wracking at times, but not too bad if you go into it with a clear plan in mind and take each step slowly until you get a feel for it.

[@pamcarr4003]

What a great job! You can't tell this is your first neck! And a great job on the inlay! It looks really super good! Love how everything matches, man, thank you for sharing your videos! I look forward to your builds. Thanks, Pam

[@BoneheadGuitars]

I think I have the exact same bandsaw, jointer AND spindle sander. 😆 Nice job.

[@yauhjanir2518]

Muito bom. . Ótimo trabalho. Parabéns

[@Ironsights85]

i actually really like that inlay

[@kewlbns69]

nice work man. my only criticism would be that it looked like some of your nut slots were crooked.that inlay is sick tho!

[@seanachiescourt6659]

Amazing!! This would be my dream job, making guitars but machines you use probably cost a little fortune plus I have no knowledge of making guitars... Yet, I am in a proccess of making my own body but I will have to find out somebody to cut it out xD amazing job!

[@ukebox00oftheworld63]

Nice

[@jameslabs1]

Great job on the neck very inspiring And Next time you mix the voiceover make sure the power tools are lower in volume. They got in the way of a very good voiceover and tutorial. Thanks

[@DroidWorksinc]

Great work 👌 just curious, whats your process of flattening the headstock angle after cutting it on the bandsaw?

[@sasaishotsasishotr4743]

Life is easy when you have the right tools

[@andrewvitale7128]

Great looking head stock and nice first time neck but does the glue gum up your tools?

[@woundedmonk1884]

well what do you know. i did something similar with the circle and split in the headstock of one of my guitars. pretty cool.

[@Adam-rm3fh]

Body looks like a frowning ghost. Nice work man. I'm about to get back into building myself. Just need to finish healing up. Dog fight I found myself between destroyed my hands. Damn dogs. But life goes on. I've got some antique koa I'm going to make my next build from. And there is also this beautiful double neck someone was working on that somehow found its way to my hands. I will probably just keep the necks, electronics and hardware. I'm guessing who ever started on this is was around the 80s glam metal days. Because the dumbass routed this sabertooth cat it the front of the body. Not only was it a bad idea. But they did a horrible job doing it. I'm guessing the builder took one look at it after he was finished and gave it away lol. Very nice work but damn dude.its literally like having you favorite food but it's covered in cat shit.

[@juniorsouza8787]

Perfeito!!!!

[@Swanlord05]

You leave out the fact your are a Pro

[@javanthomas4122]

Looks good to me.

[@DreidMusicalX]

Dude, you need a small winnie roller for the gluing instead of that brush.

[@William92304]

Where do you buy the wood for this type of project?

[@Reaction_pemula]

Keren

[@blackmetal8154]

Круто! Интересно, из какого дерева дека?

[@rockcrusader182]

Can you please send me measurement to make fretboard.

[@jamesprice455]

The body kinda looks scared. But, it'll change once the pickup routs are done.

[@strawman3059]

how do you know how wide the neck needs to be?

[@philliprubalcava]

Awesome Job! Say, how much did you pay for the wood supplies, and other products? What would you say is the overall total?

[@strawman3059]

I got an English ash body,walnut neck blank and flamed maple (pre slotted and radiused) all thickness sanded for £100($120) Twice that on hardware and four times as much on tools lol You can't save money building your own it's just a passion that may turn into a new career!

[@nicholasbatshon8017]

Doesn’t Purpleheart change colour over time?

[@thorstenengel5912]

Everyone who is using a Shinto Saw Rasp has to tell anyone that he is using a Shinto Saw Rasp. I do it every time, I am using my Shinto Saw Rasp ;-)

[@Professor-Scientist]

the body has a sad face !!

[@jamesortega8681]

why did you choose to use a non adjustable truss rod

[@OrbitalGuitars]

It's a double-action truss rod and it adjusts in both directions.

[@jamesortega8681]

@@OrbitalGuitars oh nice didnt know that !

[@killswitch5738]

The body has a sad face.

[@markgordon4368]

Enjoyed that, well done, I am not to stoked about you modelling the body on my ex wifes face, it gave me the shivers 😱😱😱😂😂

[@user-wc2py2js5k]

Охуенный гриф👍👍👍👌🤝🤝🤝

[@stephencastro1437]

Why didn't you use a fretboard miter to cut the fret slots? Would have been more accurate and saved you some time. Other than that, nice!

[@evilcowboy]

Probably because he doesn't want to invest the money for something he may only use 1 time. This is a first attempt so investing in specialty tools is probably not wise when you never know if you gonna use it again, it would be like buying a key cutting machine to cut your own house key.

[@jeffcrist2977]

Never wear gloves around those machines. Ever.

[@unfreundlich7168]

would not be concerned about the inlay ...more that the wood does not line up with the tuner holes.....that really looks ugly

[@OrbitalGuitars]

You must be really popular with people Them: "hey dude, how's my new haircut look?" You: "I wouldn't worry about the haircut when you have a crooked ugly face"