Official Luthiers Forum!

To kick off the Birkonium sponsorship of the OLF, I'm holding a special sale for OLF members!

I have a stock of standard Martin sized necks that I will offer OLF members at reduced pricing while supplies last. Once they're gone, the sale is over! Please keep in mind that if you build with non-standard neck dimensions, I'm happy to make custom CNC necks for you.

While supplies last, you can get a Birkonium Martin size neck, Fretboard, Martin OEM Trussrod, threaded inserts and heel block for a steal! (price list to follow)

Price list:

Mahogany Neck, Ebony Fretboard, Martin OEM Trussrod and heel block: Normally a $280 value for $225+Shipping

Mahogany Neck, EIR Fretboard, Martin OEM Trussrod and heel block: $215+Shipping

Neck Only: $179+Shipping

No heel block: - $5
No Truss Rod: -$15

All necks are dimensioned as shown in this drawing:

Drawing shows a diamond volute but the non-diamond voluted necks are similarly dimensioned. Please note that the width dimensions are at the nut and the 12th fret and have +.040" added to them for manufacturing tolerances.

All fretboards have locating holes on the back side to align to the neck. In addition to the fretboards shown, I have a stock of nice EIR and Ebony from our friends at RC tonewoods and can make additional fretboards.

To buy a neck, please post to this thread with which neck and/or fretboard you'd like and I'll contact you through PM to get additional information, the transaction will be completed via standard e-mail/PayPal etc.

If you'd like me to drill and install the threaded inserts, just let me know. Heel block comes un-drilled

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Batch 1 - Martin sized necks for Martin Trussrods

Necks 1 ~ 4 Diamond Volute with a smooth transition from barrel to the sides of the headstock
Necks 5&6 - Headstock for binding or traditional transition

Please note that necks 2 and 3 already have the threaded inserts installed

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Batch 2 - Martin Sized necks for Martin Trussrods

7&8 - Deep Smiley volute
9&10 - Plain Transition

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Batch 3 - Martin Sized necks for straight Trussrods. These necks have a straight trussrod slot with a flat bottom, .250" wide and .4" deep. These necks work with LMI and Allied type of rods.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Fretboards!

These Fretboards are Faux-Bound and have either a 16" straight radius or a 12" nut radius/compound radius.

Fret slots are .025" wide and .085" in depth. The bottom of the slot follows the curvature of the fretboard meaning there's more meat under the fret tang in the center of the board than at the edges. These fretboards are noticeably stiffer than standard single depth non faux-bound fretboards.

Please follow this link for more information about the compound radius boards: http://www.birkonium.com/what-the-heck-is-auto-radius/


If these sell out, I'm willing to make more while the necks last.

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Blems - from time to time things go wrong but, one person's blemish is another one's character!

B-15 - knot on back of headstock - this would be a perfect neck for those who laminate a plate on the back of the headstock...it pains me to sell this one at a reduced price! Straight trussrod slot: $150+shipping

B-16 - Very slight check in the tenon. Should be just fine if stabilized with CA glue. Straight trussrod Slot: $125 + Shipping

B-17 - Has a worm hole on the bass side between the 3rd and 4th frets. Martin style trussrod slot $125 + Shipping

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

That's good stuff right there!

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Ken

Andy, I've got one I need to get out quickly so this is a good opportunity to try your product. I like neck 2 and Fretboard 6. Assuming 25.34 scale, 14 fret neck join and "newer style" Martin double-action truss rod then I'm in.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

PM sent!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Looking GREAT Andy! The student has surpassed his teacher...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Just out of curiosity, I don't see any evidence of a scarfed joint at the headstock or stacked heels. Nor do I see evidence of a laminated neck. Are the glue joints that well hidden, or are you cutting these out of huge 30 x 3 x 6 blocks of mahogany?

These necks do not use a scarf joint but that's something I'd like to add in the future. Using a scarf joint is kind of tough in conjunction with a CNC machine - There's a video on how Taylor does it which is pretty cool.

These necks are all made from a standard sized 24x4x3" blank from Hibdon Hardwoods. No need for laminations for these sizes. I have made necks from laminations and have no problem with working with laminated blanks from customers so long as they meet these guidelines: http://www.birkonium.com/customer-supplied-neck-wood/

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Andy, neck and fretboard set arrived. Fast, very well packed and excellent quality. Gonna save me a ton of time. I don't build fast but I expect to come back for more. Thanks

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hey Andy, I already know I really like your necks so I think we'd like necks 1,3,5 & 6 and fretboards 1,2,3 & 5. I won't need the neck blocks but will need the truss rods. I will also need the threaded insets installed if possible. Thanks, Tom Gerner

Message sent!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Wow, that is a ton of wood getting hogged away! The tree-hugger in me weeps a little, but I can see how as a business it makes perfect sense. Just put the blank down on the machine, rout the top with some holes for locating pins, flip it over and... bob's your uncle!

Of course, that is after the 1000's of hours you probably spent putting your machine together, modeling necks in whatever CAD program you use, developing tool paths, figuring out how to index and hold the stock, cutting dozens of practice necks that probably had tear out, or took hours to carve, or had the tool crash into the heel or..., cursing (that is a required part of tooling with CNC!), going back to the drawing board, spending thousands on the machine only to find you need thousands more for upgrades, bleeding money on "test" pieces, etc...

Yep, CNC is EASY

Well, the good news is that I actually get two necks out of each 24x3x4 neck blank. I actually cut away most of the bulk on a band saw to save time and have a ton of parallelogram shaped scraps I which I could get rid of!



You pretty much nailed it!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Hi Andy,

I will take the following:

- B-17
- threaded inserts done
- neck block drilled assuming .110 top (I can fine tune from there)
- truss rod
- ebony fb, 16 radius

I will PM my address etc.

Thanks!!

Glenn

I have used 3 of Andy's necks and they are of the utmost quality! Highly recommended.

Go Andy B!!!

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

We got to see three necks from Andy yesterday and some very cool bridges too and his stuff is super nice in all respects!!!!