Ramonas Build Update # 2

Hey everyone!

Time for another update to the guitars we're building for The Ramonas! Again, if you're not aware of who these girls are or why we're doing this then have a check back to the original post HERE and part 1 of the build progress can be found HERE.

So when we last left you we had both bodies cut out and shaped, construction wise, the only things left to do are drill all the various bridge mounting holes and bridge earth wire channels. We won't be doing that this update though, this one is all about necks!

Both necks are going to be made from 3 pieces of Maple. Here's how they look before start their life as a guitar neck.

Once the 3 pieces have been glued together they need to be sanded flat to ensure we have a flat and even surface to rout the truss rod channel on.

We draw onto the face of the wood with pencil then start sanding. Once all the pencil marks have disappeared we check it again with a straight edge.

Once we've made sure the surfaces are flat it's time to find our centre line, mark where the truss rod is going to lie and start routing the channel.

This is the channel for Victoria's Fender® P-Bass replica....

....And the one for Zoë's Mosrite® replica

After the channels are routed we do a test to see if everything fits together nicely. It's important the truss rod sit in snugly but not so tight that it can't move when adjusted.

Once we're happy with the truss rod channels we can cut out the shape of the neck and headstock angle on the bandsaw.

Usually we'd do a straight 13° angle however the Fender® and Mosrite® have flat sloped headstocks so it was interesting to do something new for us!

This type of headstock angle also calls for a different type of truss rod access channel.









When we're happy with the shape of both headstocks it's time to drill out the holes for the machineheads!

As you can tell we decided not to try and replicate a Mosrite® headstock but go with something very loosely based around it. 

So that pretty much covers it for the necks now. Obviously they both need profiling and a lot of finishing before they are done but that all comes after the construction of the fretboards in the next update so keep your eyes peeled for that soon!

Hope you enjoyed seeing these guitars slowly take shape and if you've any questions or comments please feel free to email us or leave them here!

Be sure to also check us out on Facebook for all the latest news!

Ta'ra for now!

Best regards,

Mike & Martin

swguitars@hotmail.co.uk