Ricks Cigar Box Guitars: CBG Scarf Joint

I thought I would blog about each step of a CBG build. I'll try to give plenty of details on each step. I normally start with the neck, and the scarf joint.

I normally use Oak or Poplar for my necks. I found a local source for Maple 1X2s so I'm using maple for this build.

I rough cut the head stock to 4 inches on my builds. This dimension isn't critical, you just need enough room to mount the tuners.

The cut line marked out from the 4 inch mark to the opposite corner. This angle isn't critical, just enough to get the tuners bellow the nut. I used to know how to do the math to figure out that angle but that knowledge is lost to time....

I use a pull saw for most of the cuts on my builds. It works well and I like using hand tools as much as possible for my builds.

My cut wandered off the line. I have built about 6 CBGs using a scarf joint for the head stock and I haven't managed a perfect cut yet. They get better each time though. I'll straighten it up with a plane.

I put a couple witness marks by the cuts so you can see the orientation of the pieces as they will be glued up.

Using some scraps to protect the neck I clamped the two pieces of the joint in my bench vice. The cut side is up on both pieces. I used a scrap of 1/4" fret board to back up the thin end.

This is the plane I use to smooth things out.

A few minutes with the plane and the two halves are trued up. You can see the line is perpendicular where the two halves overlap.

Everything I need for glue up is laid out. A piece of plastic will keep the neck from being glued to the bench. The problem with clamping a scarf joint is the two pieces want to slip when they are clamped together. I have a scrap screwed to my bench that the short piece will butt up against and I will use a C-clamp to clamp the long piece to the bench, this will stop the joint from slipping when I put the clamps on.

Most of the tuners I have used work best in a head stock that is 1/2" to 5/8" thick. When I glue the scarf joint I glue them up so the head stock will be a little over 5/8" thick, this leaves some material for clean up.

I'll let it dry over night before I take the clamps off.

All glued up.... I used the plane again to clean up the sides, I also cut off the excess length. At this point you have a complete head stock. Lately I've been adding shape to my head stocks to do this I add some width to the head.