MAKING THE NECK:
 The neck is the where the player's hand will interact with the mandolin. It's a critical link in the string path between the tuning peg and bridge. It's angle, stiffness and shape determines the feel and sound of the instrument. Wiens mandolins feature a compression-type truss rod so that the neck can be adjusted to compensate for different string gauges and action heights.
     
     
Cutting the Rough Neck Blank:    
I start the neck building   process by   first planing, then thickness-sanding a piece of 8/4 figured maple to the desired thickness, making sure that it is perfectly smooth & flat. Next, using an aluminum template I trace neck profiles onto the work piece, always trying to get as many necks as possible. Once I have the neck profiles drawn, it's over to the band saw to cut the neck blanks out. The larger scrap bits of maple from this operation will be used later to make the peghead "ears".
     


     
     
Profiling the Neck Blank:
The neck blanks are still only roughly cut. So using my belt sander with a squared fence, I sand the neck blank right to the line that I traced earlier .This establishes the neck blank's final dimension.
     
     
Truss Rod Pocket Holes:   
With the neck blanks all square and true, I can now cut the slot for the Steve Smith Loar-style truss rods. But first, I use a custom drill guide that allows me to accurately drill the two pocket holes for the truss rod's anchor nut in the heel, and adjustment nut in the peghead. I have two special drill bits for this job, both fitted with stop collars to ensure consistent hole depths.
     

 
     
     

Truss Rod Jig:
 With the pocket holes drilled, it's time to cut the actual truss rod slot. To cut the curved-bottom slot, a specialized table saw jig is necessary. As you can see in this photo, the bottom of my slotting jig matches the curvature of the truss rod. A tall, temporary fence and guide are clamped to the table saw for accuracy and safety during this cut.

 
     
     

Cutting the Truss Rod Slot:
 I clamp the neck blank in the jig and pass it over the table saw blade. It takes a few back & forth passes using a rocking motion to get a smooth curved cut on the bottom of the slot that matches the curve of the jig. I then place a specially-sized shim behind that temporary fence and repeat the process to achieve a slot width that precisely matches that of the rod.

     

 

 
     
     

Installing the Truss Rod:
 Now the slot is completed and ready to receive the truss rod. I firmly seat the rod into the slot and then glue a maple filler strip on top of the rod.

 
     

 

     
     

Peghead Ears & Scroll Reinforcement:
 With the glue dry from the truss rod installation, I flush-up the filler strip with the fingerboard surface using the Belt sander. The neck is now ready for the peghead ears. I simply cut two matching pieces from neck blank scraps and hide-glue them on.   I then drill a shallow hole and install a cross-grain maple plug in a strategic location that will help strengthen the delicate scroll, just in case it should take a blow someday.

     

 

 
     
     

Anatomy of a Loar Peghead
Some folks may not be aware that the peghead veneers on the Loar mandolins were not made of ebony like most contemporary mandolins. They were actually a veneer sandwich made of black-dyed Pearwood laminated over a Holly substrate, finished over with some sort of blackened shellac or paint. Here's a close-up comparison of an original 1924 Loar F-5 truss rod pocket (top), and a 2006 Wiens F-5 (bottom).

 
     


 
     
     

Pearwood & Holly Peghead Veneer:
 To re-create the Loar style veneer, I laminate two black-dyed pearwood veneers to a thicker Holly substrate using a slow cure epoxy and then clamp them flat overnight.   

     

 

 
     

 

     
     

Nut Line & Truss Rod Access Hole:
 After drawing a centerline on the veneer and establishing a nut line, I bevel the veneer's nut edge to 13 degrees using a belt sander with tilting fence. This is the same angle as the peghead and ensures that the pegehead veneer will bear squarely against the nut.
     

Next, I use this aluminum template to cut the truss rod access hole, this way the distance from the nut to the access hole is always consistent. To cut the access hole, I use a dremel mounted in a Bishop Cochran router base equipped with a collar. It's great because it will accept standard router guide collars that enable you to do template work.

 
     
     

March '24 Loar Peghead:
 An authentic looking peghead shape is very important to Loar buffs like me. You can stare at dozens of original examples and find that there's no two alike. However when I first laid eyes on Loar #76547, I knew I'd found one as close to my ideal as I'd ever seen. Luckily I was able to have this example in my shop for a couple months to study. Here's a shot of me tracing the binding line directly from this instrument.

     

Here's a shot of me tracing the binding line directly from this instrument.

     
     

Cutting the Peghead Veneer:
 Here's the aluminum template that resulted from that research being used to trace profiles onto one of my pearwood & holly veneers sandwiches.   Next, I go to the bandsaw to cut the profile. The final shape is achieved by using a spindle sander, then finally by hand using a razor knife.

 
     

 

     

 

     
     

Installing the Peghead Veneer:
 Now that I've got my veneer finished, I prepare to glue it to the peghead. I place three little finishing nails into the peghead to act as positioning pins to keep the veneer from sliding about during gluing.   The veneer is then glued and clamped using a Plexiglas caul.   After an hour has passed, I remove the clamps and clean up the hide glue squeeze-out while it's still in its gel state and easy to deal with.   Now I've got a batch of newly veneered necks and I'm ready to start on the binding.

     

 

 
     
     

Applying the Black/White Purfling:
 To achieve the classic triple bound look of the '24 Loars, I apply celluloid binding in two separate steps.   First the black/ivoroid laminate or "purfling" is applied. I use a heat gun to soften and bend the material to shape, and then glue it to the peghead using CA glue. The joints are all mitered by hand using a chisel.

     

 

 
     
     

Cutting the Peghead Profile:
 Next, I prepare to rough-cut the peghead. I trace a line the approximate thickness of the final piece of ivoroid binding. Cutting the peghead out at this point will make it easier for me to seat and tape the final pieces of binding into place during the next step.   To achieve the classic F-5 look, I use a special bandsaw jig to hold the peghead at the proper angle during the cut.

     
     

Gluing the Ivoroid Binding:
 For the second layer of binding, I make special glue made of the binding itself dissolved in acetone. This literally melts the joints together and tends to fill any small gaps, giving a perfect-looking result. It's best applied with a syringe.

 
     

 

 
     
     

Lap Joints :
 The second layer of binding is all lap joints, just like the Loars.

 
     

 

 
     

 

     
     

Peghead Bound:
 The peghead is now fully bound. I make liberal use of masking tape, packing tape, and wedges in the scroll to ensure that there's no gaps in the final result.

 
     
     

Tapering the Peghead:
 Once the glue is dried and the tape comes off, I level the binding and thickness the peghead on a belt sander. The Wiens F-5 peghead has a subtle taper to it, just like the Loars. I now prepare to apply the peghead's back veneer using hide glue. It is dyed black pearwood also.

     

 

 
     

 

 
     
     

Final Shaping of the Peghead:
 The next step is to trim the veneer and sand the edges of the peghead flush with the binding using a spindle sander and, in some places, a 1" vertical belt sander. This is done with the neck mounted in that same bandsaw angle jig you saw earlier.  

 
     
     

Drilling Tuner Holes:
 Tuner holes are drilled from the rear using a special drill guide that precisely matches the spacing of the Waverly tuners I'll be using. The peghead is now complete.

 
     

 

 
     
     
 

Cutting the Dovetail Tenon:
 Before the neck can be attached to the body, a compound dovetail tenon must be cut. The neck is mounted in a special tilting bandsaw jig for this job. It holds the neck at 5 degrees, and tilts the neck side to side at 4 degrees either way, and also locks in the square position. With it, I can cut 95% of the dovetail at the bandsaw. The rest will be done during the actual assembly with a chisel, file and sandpaper.