Routing Ramps for slotted headstock

[Quickstep192]

I remember seeing a jig to rout headstock slots; it was angled to rout the ramps at the same time. I've been searching online, but I can't seem to find it. If someone knows where I can find plans or a video for this jig, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Aubade Acoustics]

Might try Luthiertool.com. Looks like a nice set

[Ned Milburn]

How about a chisel and your eye??

[John Arnold]

I make a cut down the center with a dovetail saw, then chisel a vee. A rat tail file and sandpaper wrapped around a dowel finish the job rather handily.

[Trevor Gore]

Maybe this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZvttu4KZ0

... a fairly serious piece of kit in the lutherie world.

[WaddyT]

A little quicker than the gouge/file/sand method!

[Frank Ford]

Originally Posted by Ned Milburn

How about a chisel and your eye??

I agree - hand tools and good technique.

Further, I think that unless you're actually in repetitive production, you should at least learn to do this kind of thing by hand, lest you end up relying on mechanical woodworking to the detriment of flexibility in design and process.

Not to mention the obvious need for touch-up and correction either in building or repair. . .

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Ned Milburn

How about a chisel and your eye??

I would cite lack of talent as my chief reason for not using a chisel and my eye. I may one day develop enough skill to take place of not having talent, but not on this neck. It's a neck someone made for me. It's beautiful, but he left the ramps incomplete. I can't afford to learn on this one.

[redir]

So you just need to cut ramps then if I understand you correctly. You can either have flat ramps or curved ones. Curved is what you tend to see mostly and is easier to do. I use a round rasp followed by a dowel with sand paper. Remove the nut and tape off the area and go to town with the rasp or something like 40 grit paper.

It's really quite simple. Use good lighting so that you can see that both sides are congruent, that they look the same.

[arie]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I would cite lack of talent as my chief reason for not using a chisel and my eye. I may one day develop enough skill to take place of not having talent, but not on this neck. It's a neck someone made for me. It's beautiful, but he left the ramps incomplete. I can't afford to learn on this one.

send it back and get the ramps finished?

[clinchriver]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I make a cut down the center with a dovetail saw, then chisel a vee. A rat tail file and sandpaper wrapped around a dowel finish the job rather handily.

This should be a piece of cake, you can also get some flat scrap cut to size and do a couple of practice runs

[Jim.S]

Originally Posted by Trevor Gore

Maybe this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKZvttu4KZ0

... a fairly serious piece of kit in the lutherie world.

Jesus! how did you fit that in the inclinator Trevor?

[Frank Ford]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

I can't afford to learn on this one.

If you're working on this instrument yourself, you'll be learning, like it or not. Going at this kind of project with the feeling that you can't afford to make a mistake is likely to lead to the kind of paralysis that can keep you from finishing, or otherwise make you so nervous that mistakes are more probable.

I'm a firm believer in the need to make mistakes. That's the way we learn. As much as we'd like to learn from reading or watching, the reality is that we really learn by doing and trying, failing and recovering.

I met a gentleman who had bought a guitar kit and was looking for someone to show him how to put it together. He'd had the kit for almost 30 years and hadn't been able to find the mentor who would be able to help him through the project. He absolutely refused to start it until he could be assured he could finish without mistakes. Obviously, that kit will remain unbuilt. . .

[redir]

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I make a cut down the center with a dovetail saw, then chisel a vee. A rat tail file and sandpaper wrapped around a dowel finish the job rather handily.

That's a great idea to get rid of waste material fast. I think I'll have to incorporate that one in the future.

[WaddyT]

My tool of choice for slot head ramps is one of those Micro-plane round files. It is slightly over-sized, so I tape the end tightly to squeeze it together a little. The tape protects the cheeks of the slot and holds the cutter to a smaller radius.Takes the wood out quite fast. I smooth up with half round metal working files that are good and sharp. Metal working files in woodworking are great for fine edges. They cut quite smoothly. Once I use the fine half round bas-ard(system edits out real word) file, there is no sanding needed. As a matter of fact, it looks as though it is polished to a shine.