MAKING THE ASL STYLE NECK BLOCK

a small shop semi-production method

Here’s how I fashion the ASL C-shape neck blocks.  We make lots of these neck blocks, enough of them to justify creating the simple tooling you’ll see here.  But none of this dedicated tooling is required for making an occasional single or group of neck blocks.  For years, I made these and other neck blocks one at a time with no special tooling, and you can too.

To make a C-shaped neck block right now with whatever tools are at hand, simply square a block, slot it, lay out and drill the holes, contour its rear gluing surface, profile it, taper it, then trim its shelf and foot to desired length.  Use whatever tools you have; hand saws, rasp, knife and chisel, sanding block, etc.  Counter-bore the bolt holes with either a ¾” Forstner style or brad point drill bit.  If you don’t have solid 3”+ material on hand, create it by gluing up two or three smaller pieces.  To create a profile pattern, first draw your guitar body in full scale, side view along its center line, then either trace the neck block profile or cut it right out of the plan.  The block’s specific dimensions, angles and hole locations are whatever suit your requirements.  You can do it.

With that understood, here’s how I create the ASL C-shape neck blocks.

Making the Neck Block The neck block pictured here has two counter-bored holes for bolting the neck to the body.  The same style neck block can be modified to suit any other neck-to-body joining method.
Begin with a 3”+ wide X 4.5”+ high mahogany billet. 4.5" is tall enough for most any neck block height/body depth. Square up two adjacent faces, using a jointer.
Rough cut the billet’s 3” X 4.5” width and height, using a band saw. Skip this step for one or both of these measurements that is already very close to its final dimension.
Mill the billet to its final width and height, using a planer, thickness sander, or Safe-T-Planer in a drill press to true the rough sawn faces.
Rip a ¼” wide X ½” deep truss rod nut slot, centered on the billet’s 3” wide face, using a table saw or a table mounted router.
The completed billet with the truss rod nut slot.
Square each end of the billet, using a belt or disc sander.
Chop individual blocks off the billet’s ends, using a band saw.  Re-square the billet’s ends, cut off two more blocks and repeat.
Square off the block’s rough sawn face, using a belt or disc sander.
Completed blocks, first stage.
Jig for locating and drilling 5/16” neck bolt holes, using a drill press.
1/4” guide pin mounted in drill press table & matching guide slot in base of drill jig.
The drill jig in place on the drill press table.
The block’s 1/4” truss rod nut slot locks onto the 1/4” registration tongue, centering the bolt holes in line with the truss rod slot.
5/16” bolt holes are drilled from the rear face clear through the block.
The 5/16” bolt holes are counter-bored from the block’s front face to within 5/8” of its rear face, using a 3/4” dia. counter-bore with a 5/16” dia. pilot guide attached.
The completed bolt holes, drilled and counter-bored.
This jig is for shaping the block’s contoured rear gluing surface, employing a bumper table on the vertical belt sander.
A block is secured in the jig, ready for its rear face to be shaped parallel to the jig's contoured base. 20" radius is our default neck block gluing surface contour.
The block’s truss rod slot registers to the ¼” aluminum tongue, locating the block’s center line normal to the rear contour’s radius arc.
The finished rear face/gluing surface, contoured across its width.
Neck block profile patterns.
Trace the profile pattern onto the side of the block.  Align the pattern, regardless of its depth, with the top of the block.
Rough cut the block’s profile, cutting just outside the traced pattern with the band saw.
Clean up the block’s inside contour with a sanding drum or belt.
Clean up the block’s angled top and underside, using a vertical belt or disc sander.
Cleaned up blocks ready to be tapered.
This taper template centers on the block’s truss rod nut slot.
Trace the taper onto the block’s rear face.
Rough cut the tapered sides, using the band saw.
The rough sawn blocks ready to be finished.
Grind the tapered sides to their finished dimensions, using the vertical belt or disc sander.
Almost completed neck block ready for its foot and shelf to be cut to finished length.
Foot and shelf trimming sled with ¼” tongue to orient the block’s center line square to the saw’s cut line.
Trim the shelf to final length, then turn the block over, lay the foot next to the tongue and do the same, using the table saw.
The finished neck blocks.