Brian's Guitar from Conception to Birth or How to Build a Guitar in 62 Easy Steps!
22 Glue the Fretboard onto the Neck
I pondered the order of the next few steps for some time until I decided what would be the best route for our guitar. This order posed a few difficulties for our build, but I weighed them against the other difficulties I’d have doing them in a different order. Any way you decide to go, make sure you’re prepared and you do it carefully since any major mistake will require you to go back to the start. It’s easier to glue and clamp things while they are still flat. So I did this before adding the radius to the fretboard and before carving the back of the neck. The fretboard will be receiving edge banding, so it was necessary to pencil in the edge of the fretboard on the neck so that the glue could be spread only where it was needed. You’ll also want to be prepared and do a dry run of the glue up to make sure you have all the clamps at the ready and clamping blocks cut to size. This dry run is a good idea because once you spread the glue, you only have a given amount of time to perform the assembly. If you wait too long, things won’t stick well or you won’t be able to reposition if necessary.
Do not forget to install the truss rod; you won’t be able to slide it in later. Do not brush glue onto the truss rod and try not to get glue onto the area where the neck banding will go later. Spread a thin layer of wood glue onto the neck with a brush staying about 2mm away from your truss rod and your banding line you drew earlier. Place your nut on the end to act as a spacer, but do not glue it in yet. You can also see in the first photo above that I used side blocks with thin spacers the width of my edge banding to perfectly center the fretboard on the neck. I used a clamping block on top of the fretboard to evenly spread out the pressure. Initially apply slight pressure to all the clamps which will still allow you to reposition if necessary; make sure you’re tight to the nut and centered. Then slowly work your way through all the clamps increasing the pressure in several passes. Since the edge banding area will not be receiving a finish (it will be receiving the banding), wait about fifteen minutes for the glue to get tacky, then clean up the edge banding area; I used a old small screwdriver to get into the corner. This is a critical glue-up, so let this dry overnight. The next day, remove the clamps and clean up any remaining glue ooze with a chisel.