Well due to the wet weather and darkness, I haven’t done any work on the guitar for ~4months. Last weekend I cleared out the garage and got it ready. It’s still wet this weekend but almost light and warm enough to do some small bits out there.
Today I drilled the neck bolt holes. Luckily I spotted as the second drill hole started that, due to the hardness of maple, the 4mm drill bit wandered a long way. I stopped this hole and changed plan. If in the future I get a workspace which doesn’t suffer from excessive damp, then I’ll invest in a nicer drill press. For now I needed another way.
First I drilled a 2mm hole, then a 3.2mm (I’ve broken my 3mm drill bit) before finishing with the 4mm drill. I then fitted the neck with three bolts and used the body as the drill template for the miss drilled hole. Worked well (the first hole has also deflected, but not by enough to be a problem). The neck joint is far beyond the quality of the first one I did, there is a small gap at the end, however over all I’m happy with it.
Next step is to use a spare M6-locking tuner (which bolt in and not push in), to make sure the neck angle is ok for the bridge.