The final neck rounding and profiling is done with a wide strap of sandpaper and checked with templates and a straight edge. Fine sanding can wait until the body is ready for final sanding. Ideally the customer can come in and check the neck profile and thickness at this point or I can email tracings of the profile for their approval. Getting the neck this far takes about 15 hours of work depending on the inlays. T he rails are prepared generally using the same wood as the neck laminations or fingerboard for the sake of color coordination.
Dowels hold the rails in precise alignment while they are glued and clamped.
The rails add enough width to the neck blank to hold the pickups and bridge assembly. The cavities for these parts are routed using a vertical milling machine to exact tolerances with a slight added width to account for wood shrinkage in dry winter weather. Channels and tunnels for wiring are milled and drilled along with cavities for batteries and electronic tuner. The dovetailed slot for the battery cover is also cut on the mill. W oods for the body wings are selected according to the figure, color and sonic properties desired by the customer.