Drilling The Headstock

This article will discuss drilling the holes for the tuners using a jigging system which can be adapted for multiple uses. Its' primary benefit is drilling (or routing with a pin router) wood that follows a pattern rather than having to measure and mark each hole or cut. After reading this article I urge you to adapt this jigging method to other applications.

This particular jig makes drilling the holes for the tuners a no-brainer operation. There is no measuring and literally no way to screw it up! Firstly, you must make a template of your headstock shape. It must be accurate. Trace the shape on a piece of 1/2" plywood. Precisely layout your tuner holes. Using a 1/4" bit accurately drill out where the tuner holes will be. These 1/4" holes become the center point of the tuner holes you will drill later!

Carefully cut and fit pieces of 1/2" plywood around the template drawing. When done your template should fit like it was cut out of a thicker piece of wood and look something like the photos below. Attach a toggle clamp to hold the real neck in place. You may have to raise the end where the toggle clamp is attached in order to get good clamping action.

 

Study the photos. This is what your template should look like substituting your headstock shape for this one.

Now let's use it! You should already have used your template of the heastock shape to rout your headstock on to your neck blank. Take your rough neck with the headstock shape and, using masking tape, tape over where the holes will be drilled so there will be little or no blowout around the drilled holes.

Place the neck's headstock in the jig with the tape side down. Clamp it in place with the toggle clamp. Get a 3/4" piece of plywood and clamp it to your drill press table so it will not move around. Insert a 1/4" drill bit in your drill press and drill a shallow hole (1/2") in the clamped plywood. Insert a 1/4" dowel in the hole you just drilled leaving about 3/8" of the dowel exposed above the plywood as in the photo. What you have created is a positioning system in which any size drill bit inserted in the drill press will be exactly centered on the 1/4" dowel.

Remove the 1/4" bit and insert a bit of the proper size to drill your tuner holes (usually 3/8" or 11/32"). Bring your neck which is in the jig to the drill press. Place the headstock under the drill in the drill press and let the 1/4" dowel insert itself into the 1/4" holes you made in the base. Drill the tuner hole. Repeat for all six holes. They will be exactly lined up as you drew them!

 

Your finished product should look like the photo below. No measuring. Just perfect drilling!