Many of today's luthiers and guitar manufacturers actually build composite necks by cutting the neck completely straight, then going back to cut the head at a specific angle to re-glue it upside down to make the proper attitude. It's called a reverse headstock (you can see a good explanation at http://www.seagullguitars.com/seagullstory.htm). This method has been proven to increase neck strength with minimal appearance drawbacks. I personally, though, didn't like the idea of introducing any more room for errors or weak points than necessary. Besides, I bought a nice truss rod from LMII and used the best grade mahogany I could get my hands - so the benefit is a wash and I get to keep an unmarred monolithic neck.
I began by tracing the rough outline of two necks on the large block. After cutting both outlines out with a band saw (thanks for the next five Christmas presents dear! I'm currently on buying restriction till I die...). Next I drew the many views (top, side, heel, etc.) from the plan on tracing paper. I then cut the views out with a razor blade and retraced them on the rough mahogany block. Once I had the neck drawn I proceeded to tackle the most difficult and important part - the heel.
The heel is one of a few critical structural parts of an acoustic guitar. It is how the neck attaches to the body and there are many methods to choose from, ie. mortise and tenon, bolt-on, dovetail, etc. I won't go into them, but suffice it to say I went with the plan instructions given to me - the routed dovetail. I was not about to go changing the professional designs for my first ever guitar just willy nilly. I also figured it would be a good excuse to go buy some more man toys (thanks again, dear, for the next ten year's worth of birthday presents!). So long story short, I bought a Porter Cable router and other needed accessories, built a router table into my table saw wing, and then began to experiment. I'm usually very impatient, but so far I've been successful at cooling my jets and working slowly and deliberately. With as much hard work as making a guitar is, I did not want to inadvertently have to start from the beginning again because of a rushed blunder.
I finally figured out the best way to rout the dove tail and went for it. It turned out perfectly until I got sloppy finishing up. The dove tail was done, but then I noticed a final bit of material that needed to be cut off, so I ran past the router one more time. I should have been paying attention because as I was intent on getting that last little nobbin, I inadvertently shaved a corner of the dovetail. To this day I don't know if that will ruin the entire connection and whether I will have to start all over again or not. So far I'm not worried, I think it will be just fine.
Once the heel was done, I cut the taper in the neck to match the future fret board on the band saw. This I couldn't manage also without making another minor mistake - I got a little too fresh with the band saw and it bit back by cutting into the neck close to the headstock. It's pretty small though, I think I can fix it with sawdust mixed with epoxy. I doubt it will be completely unnoticeable, but it's maker's marks just like that which give our creations character! After carving the neck down some with the foredom tool and sanding it a bit, I decided I had had it up to the chin in dealing with necks and put it down until it was time to attach it to the body.
So ends this first chapter in creating the guitar neck.
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