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We don't want to interfere with the beautiful grain of the bocote neck by making a scarf joint, so this will be a non-tilt headstock. It would still be possible to make a one piece tilt headstock, but it would require a neck blank 3 times as large which is rare and very expensive! In this picture you can see I've laid out the neck shape and I've got the router set up on a small sled jig.
After a few passes with the router, the headstock is close to its final thickness dictated by the locking tuners that will eventually be installed. The transition area near the nut still needs to be shaped.
The transition area near the nut is shaped on the spindle sander. Bocote is nice to work with, but the dust is toxic! You have to wear a respirator!
Here's the before...
...and after. It will still require a fair bit of hand shaping once the profile is cut. I need to sneak up on the final shape :)
The African blackwood fretboard (second from the left) has was re-sawed from a larger piece of wood. After planing it to the correct thickness, the slots for a 25.5" scale were cut. I mad up a batch of others while I was at it. African blackwood is very nice to work with, unlike ebony which can chip easily. It has a really nice smooth feel and requires no finish. Sweet!
The last step in fretboard preparation is to mill the 12" radius. African blackwood requires almost no sanding. After working it with a blade, it has an almost steel-like smoothness. It's been said that in terms of tone characteristics it's very similar to Brazilian rosewood.
After radiusing the fretboard I cut the taper to match the bocote neck. Next I cut the truss rod slot in the bocote and then set both aside for a few days. After removing material from a piece of wood destined to be a neck its best to let it settle for a while to see if there will be any movement as a result. The bocote has been in my shop for about a year so I believe its quite stable, and African blackwood rarely warps or moves at all. Once I see there's no movement, I glue the fretboard in place.
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