A few blogs ago I showed you the nice piece of tiger-striped Big Leaf Maple that I had carved into a Baritone neck. I began to worry about maple's lack of stability to humidity changes and decided to install a carbon fiber neck stiffener. But how, since the neck was already carved. Here was my solution.
I figured if I could attach a guide down the center of the neck I could use the router insert to control the groove I needed to cut.
I tacked two strips of scrap ebony to the neck making a guide path just a hair wider than the router insert protrusion. nailed them down with small brads. Then set the router bit to make the first shallow cut.
Worked like a charm. Three passes, each time lowering the bitt a little, and here is the Carbon-fiber bar ready to install in the cut slot.
 First I tried to use this epoxy that I had had for a couple of years, but found it too congealed to run out of the container. I guess epoxy has a shelf life, into the garbage it went. |  Here is the old reliable 5 minute epoxy that I normally use. Mixed up a big batch of it and juiced up the slot. then I inserted the rod and put a coat of epoxy over the top. |
In just a few minutes the epoxy hardened up, and this is now one STIFF NECK.
