Code name Wookiee

Cleaning up the fretboard on the next Headless


Code name Wookiee.
On the CNC

Double maple veneers.

This time it came off the machine pretty clean. Did not take long to clean the sides up. So what did I do different?
4 Flute solid carbide bit and chased it with a vacuum to keep the chips clear. I am building a vacuum boot and blower shortly.


Ran out of time and daylight. Had the shop closed up to keep the heat in and didn't realize how late it was. Anyway grabbed a few shots on the way out.


I plan to put a heavy carve on this one.

Headless madness

Headless work
Back profile finished up on the CNC. This one gets a huge LP style fat neck so I had to leave a lot of meat on the back of this one. Then we flip and do the fret slots.


After the slots we switch bits to a .125 4 flute mill and cut the nut slot and lock bed. Then switch bits to a .25 4 flute mill and cut the outside profile. Cutting top down helps prevent some problems I was having with chipping the fretboard sides on the final passes. I don't really care about anything past about .25 down from the fretboard. So if the bit chatters and gets rough with the bottom that doesn't matter as it is removed in the neck shaping process.


The locking mechanism shelf fits nice. I am not sure I am going to leave the excess wood on the sides. For now it helps with positioning. I hate zero frets so there will be a nut.

Still working on side dots by hand. I really need to make a template for doing this.

Cutting the body out.

And after a little sanding the neck fits tight.





Finally getting the body blank finished up for the wookie 7 string. This thing is like an epoxy sandwich. You can see where the epoxy flowed through the pores of the Mahogany. It is seriously heavy right now. It is still thick at 37mm I will cut it down to 34mm or so once I get it off the CNC.


My vise in a vise holder. I promised to show this a little more in detail. There is nothing to it really just a 2x4 pillar with a 2x4 top. It is held together with left over epoxy from gluing blanks together (better than wasting it).
You can see that it fits in the bench vise through the lead screw and guides. And it has an extra kicker for stability. It still rocks a little even when tight but it is flex in the bench vise and the smaller vise not the contraption.