Swisher Guitars

Swisher Guitars Luthier Michael Swisher
Handcrafted quality instruments
San Tan Valley, AZ USA
(2)

09/03/2026

Neck Layout and Cutting on the Band Saw

With the truss rod slot cut, I can finally start roughing out the neck.

I start by laying out the neck and headstock. I put the fretboard back in place, making sure the little positioning pins are seated in their holes, and use it to lay out the sides of the neck.

Next, I position my headstock template and trace the shape. I’ll also mark the tuner holes and the hole I’ll drill for that really tight curve at the top of the headstock.

You might notice the headstock looks a little different from the last time I showed this build. The headstock was about 1/16" wider than the neck blank in this area, so I added a small wing to give me enough material to get the curves just right.

I had also mentioned that I was going to add a veneer to the top and bottom of the headstock. You can see that I’ve added the top veneer now. Besides looking nice, it hides the seam from the scarf joint and gives the headstock a nice, clean appearance.

Next, I move over to the drill press and drill a 1/4" hole where that tight curve begins at the top of the headstock. Having that hole already there makes shaping that curve much easier and gives me a clean starting point.

Finally, it’s over to the band saw where I rough cut the neck and headstock to the layout lines.

There’s still plenty of shaping to do, but the basic neck shape is starting to emerge.

Next up, I’ll true up the sides of the neck and sand the headstock to its final shape.

09/02/2026

Cutting a Truss Rod Slot

Before I cut the truss rod slot, I need to establish the fretboard’s final position on the neck so I can make sure everything lines up perfectly when it’s time to glue it on.

So, I position the fretboard on the neck and drill six small holes through some of the fret slots. I then add little dowels made from toothpicks that will act as alignment pins.

I do this now because once I cut the truss rod slot, I’ll lose the centerline on the neck. Trying to center the fretboard after that would basically be a guessing game. This way, when it’s time for glue, I can just drop the fretboard onto the pins and know it’s going to end up exactly where it belongs.

With that done, I remove the fretboard and move over to the router table. I start with a V-shaped bit and line up the fence so the center of the bit matches the centerline of the neck. If it looks a little off in the video, that’s just the camera angle. It actually came out perfectly centered.

Once I’m happy with the alignment, I swap the V-bit for a 1/4" spiral bit, which matches the width of my truss rod. I make several passes, raising the bit a little at a time until I get the main part of the slot to the depth I need.

I check the depth by laying a straight edge across the neck and making sure the truss rod sits below the surface and doesn’t move around.

The end of the truss rod is a little wider than the rest, so I need to open up a short section of the slot to 3/8". I set up a stop on the router table fence so I can control exactly where that wider section starts and stops, then make a few passes to get the depth right.

Once again, I check everything with a straight edge to make sure the rod is sitting where it should.

When I eventually install the truss rod, I’ll add a small bead of silicone in the slot. That keeps the rod from rattling around inside the neck.

And with that, the truss rod slot is done and I’m ready for the next step.

08/31/2026

Scarf Joint Glue Up

Today I’m cutting and gluing up a scarf joint on a maple neck blank.

I start by laying out roughly where I want the cut, then attach the neck blank to a jig I made specifically for cutting the 12-degree angle. The jig holds the blank at the correct angle, and then I head over to the band saw to make the cut.

Once the cut is made, I need to get those two angled surfaces nice and flat. I stack the smaller piece, which will become the headstock, on top of the longer neck piece and use a hand plane to remove the saw marks. I follow that up with 80-grit sandpaper on a sanding block and check everything with a straight edge to make sure the surfaces are flat.

Before gluing the joint together, I like to thin the headstock down to about 9/16". I do this on my drum sander. Both sides of the headstock will eventually get a veneer cap, and I’ve found that this thickness works well with the tuners I use.

For the glue-up, I use another jig I made to keep everything lined up and prevent the two pieces from moving. It has a clamping fence that holds the neck in place and a backstop that keeps the headstock from sliding when everything is clamped together.

I cover the bottom of the jig with wax paper to catch any glue squeeze-out. I clamp the neck against the fence with two clamps, apply glue to both surfaces, and then position the headstock piece. I use flat cauls covered in wax paper on each side of the joint, then four clamps to pull everything together. The backstop keeps the headstock from moving while the glue sets.

Once everything is dry, I remove the neck from the jig and clean up the surfaces with some sandpaper.

I’ve never actually checked the angle on one of these after gluing it up, so this time I decided to see how close I came to the 12 degrees I was shooting for. I expected it to be close, but not necessarily dead on.

And as it turns out, it really doesn’t need to be. The exact angle isn’t all that important as long as there’s enough of a break angle behind the nut to keep the strings seated properly in the nut slots.

08/22/2026

Adding Some Zest to the Fretboard

I like adding these subtle angles to the end of the fretboard. It’s a small detail, but I think it gives the guitar a little extra character.

This is all done by hand on my disk sander. I draw the angles out, then carefully sand right up to the lines. The trick to avoiding burn marks is to take it slow and keep the piece moving. Let the sander do the work and don’t stay in one spot too long.

08/20/2026

Truing the Sides of the Fretboard

With the truss rod access window complete, I can now cut the fretboard to size. I start by drawing the neck outline onto the fretboard, then head over to the band saw to remove most of the excess material.

Next, I attach the fretboard to my template using the masking tape and CA glue method I’ve mentioned before. Once everything is lined up and secure, I use the template to true up the sides of the fretboard and get them nice and clean.

The router bit I’m using in this video is the Mega Flush Trim Bit from Infinity Tools. It makes quick work of getting the fretboard sides straight and accurately following the template.

08/19/2026

Adding the Truss Rod Window

Because I exclusively use spoke wheel truss rods that adjust from the heel of the neck, I need to add this little window at the end of the fretboard to give access to the adjustment.

I have a small template that attaches to the fretboard, and I use my router table to cut the window. For attaching the template, I use the masking tape and CA glue method I’ve mentioned before. I really like this method because it gives you about 5 to 7 seconds to move the template around and get it lined up exactly where you want it. I do use double-sided tape for some things, but for this application, I prefer the masking tape and CA glue.

I use two different router bits for this job. I start with a 1/2" bit to remove most of the material, then switch to a 1/4" bit to clean things up and create the tighter corners.

It’s a small detail, but getting this window clean and accurately positioned makes a big difference in the finished fretboard.

08/17/2026

Adding Slot Position Markers

There are probably a lot of ways to do this, but here’s how I do it.

At this stage, the fretboard is still square and hasn’t been cut to the shape of the neck yet. That allows me to make these cuts at a true 90° using my table saw and crosscut sled.

I’ve already marked the neck and laid out my stop lines on the top of the fretboard. The markers are positioned 7/16” from the edge of the neck, with the 12th and 24th fret markers at 13/16”. When making the cuts, I just eyeball the blade to the approximate center of each fret.

And for anyone wondering, “Why is the blade set so high?” there’s a reason. I want the back end of each cut to be as flat as possible. If I lower the blade, it creates large, unnecessary gouges across the bottom of the fretboard. Besides removing material I don’t need to remove, that could potentially weaken or destabilize the board.

For the markers, I’m using wenge strips that I precut and sanded to fit the slots. I ran them through the drum sander until I had a nice, tight fit, then cut them to length.

I add a little Titebond to each strip and press them into the slots, sometimes giving them a gentle tap to make sure they’re fully seated. It’s important that they go all the way in, otherwise you can end up with gaps when the fretboard is eventually attached to the neck. I clean up the squeeze-out with a little water and a paper towel.

Once the glue has dried, the wenge is still sitting slightly proud of the fretboard, so I use a chisel to knock it down before sanding everything flush with my radius block.

Next up, I’ll add the truss rod window at the end of the fretboard and then cut the fretboard to its final shape.

08/15/2026

Cutting Fret Slots

After I radius the fretboard, it’s time to cut the fret slots. For me, this is a two-step process. First, I use my homemade miter box to accurately mark the location of each fret, then I go back over them a second time to cut each slot to the proper depth.

The miter box works with a pre-cut guide that I make for each scale length. For this build, I’m using my 25.5" guide. I have guides for a number of common scale lengths, but since I make them myself, I can make one for pretty much any scale length I need.

The fretboard attaches to the opposite side of the guide, and the slotted side is indexed through the miter box using a razor blade mounted to the bottom of the box. The blade sits directly under the cutting slot and gives me a positive reference for positioning each fret.

You might notice a little peek hole on the side of the box. It lets me see that the guide is actually seating against the razor blade for each cut. You can also feel the guide drop into the blade as you move from slot to slot. The peek hole is just an extra bit of confirmation.

Once all the fret locations are marked, I add the depth guide to my StewMac Japanese Fret Saw and set it for the proper depth. I measure that depth based on the fret wire I’ll be using, then make a few passes through each slot to bring them all to the correct depth.

Finally, I check every slot with a depth gauge.

And you don't need to buy a fancy fret slot depth gauge to do this. I make my own from a short piece of the actual fret wire I’m going to use. I cut a small notch in the tang about 1/4" from the end, then file the barbs off the smaller section. That gives me a simple, accurate depth gauge made specifically for that fret wire.

A little homemade tooling can go a long way in the guitar shop!

08/13/2026

Adding a Radius to a Fretboard

Time to start something new! One of the very first things I do on any guitar is put the radius on the fretboard, so I’m starting with this nice piece of maple.

There are quite a few ways to do this, and I’ve tried several over the years. These days, I’m using this radiused router bit from SJE Tools in Australia.

It works best on a router table with a fence. The bit originally came with a bearing on top, but I removed it and use the fence to control the cutting depth instead. I set the fence even with the very top of the bit using a 6" rule to make sure everything is aligned.

The process takes two cuts, one from each side of the fretboard. I attach the fretboard to a piece of 2" aluminum angle, which keeps it at 90 degrees while it rides along the fence.

The first cut is pretty straightforward. For the second cut, though, I have to extend the fence about two-thirds of the way across the fretboard. This allows the flat end of the fretboard to continue riding against the fence. Without doing this, the newly cut radius would start following the fence and could dig a gouge into the fretboard.

Once the radius is cut, I remove the fretboard from the aluminum angle, cut the very ends off on the table saw, and clean everything up with a sanding block.

And that’s the first step in turning this piece of maple into a fretboard!

08/12/2026

Making a Nut

For this guitar I’m making the nut from bone, and there’s quite a bit of work that goes into getting a nut shaped, slotted, and adjusted properly.

I’m using StewMac tools for most of the process, including their nut slotting files and an older version of their Nut Slotting Gauge to help set the slot depths. I do some of the initial shaping on my disk sander, using the StewMac nut vise to hold the blank securely.

Once the shaping and slotting are finished, I give it a final polish on the buffing wheel.

The nut plays an important role in how the guitar feels and plays, so getting it right is definitely worth taking the time.

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