Scarf Joints for a Guitar Neck - Not That complicated 

This is the cleverest tutorial about scarf joint as I could find on the whole internet. Bravo bravo!! Thank you!

I always use only method "A". But I make a blank for the neck as wide as at the 22 (24) fret +5mm. Then I glue two pieces of wood from the sides to the head and then one solid overlay on top (2-3 mm thick). It turns out very strong.

A very valuable video. Greetings from Poland

At 3:55 you request analysis on Method A vs. Method B. One factor that must be considered is the tuning machines. The tuning machines I use are exactly ¼” in diameter and a specific ¼” drill bit that I have cuts the hole so that I need to use beeswax to push the tuner string post barrel into the hole then fully set it by tightening it down with a socket wrench. Notice with Method A at 2:08 that the 6th and 1st string tuners go through both pieces of the scarf joint, thus if your tuner string post barrels are as tight as mine in the holes they act like a dowel and since the tension of the strings is somewhat perpendicular, certainly not even approaching parallel, to the direction of the tuner string post barrels, I contend they make the Method A joint stronger than if the tuners were not there.

This was amazingly helpful. You're awesome

This video is so helpful! A very clear description of the whys and wherefores of the scarf joint. Well done, and thank you!

This Sir, is the most useful scalf joint video on YT. Thank you for such a clear and informative video. Liked and subscribed. Cheers

By far the best video I've seen on scarf joints. Thank you! 👍👍

Thx!!! Been struggling flattening boards, will use your router method 14:53

So much wisdom!!! Thanks for sharing!

You are a fantastic teatcher Thanks

One of the best videos on guitar scarf joints !! I'm now a subscriber and look fwd to watching more of your videos.

Wow, great video. I've been struggling how to glue them properly and how to cut when I don't have a band saw, great video, thank you so much.

awesome video, super thorough and helpful

I just made box with right angle, and made the angle with surface planing machine. The box is on the otherside of bade and the wood comes behind Job done in a minute,

Another glue tool from the kitchen supply is the silicone sauce brush, like for BBQ sauce. Even dried glue peels right off.

Lovely method, thanks

Thanks for this video. Very appreciated.

Great video that covers all the bases. I do know of two matters which I believe other commentators haven't mentioned. First with type A, if you remove the headstock material from the REAR of the scarf, the scarf is so far into the head that the first set of machine heads acts as a pair of bolts across the two pieces, for more strength. Second, with a good glue joint, the visibility of the scarf is no worse in type A than type B. In some respects, it is actually better, since the area of wood where the grain changes is thinner than in type B, and so less visible. Obviously this is only the case if you use a backstrap. This and the headstock overlay make a strengthening sandwich that is as good as the effect of the fingerboard in type B, in my opinion. Thanks very much for this.

That is a GREAT video. Lots of very useful informations. Thx !

Thank you!

I had the strangest feeling of deja vu watching this! I knew I had made a comment about scarf joints on one of your videos - I found it on your "Headstock angle" vid. So now that I know I'm not losing my mind, this was a great follow up. Thanks Yoav!

you are fantastic, super helpful and clear. keep at it, subscribed

I only use "B" for my scarf joints. There's more gluing surface and then adding the fingerboard to cover the joint makes it even stronger when talking about leverage from the strings. That joint is glued in 3 places: The head to neck, neck to fingerboard and head to fingerboard. On top of that, if you wants a natural finish on your head, you dont have to hide the joint with a peghead. Either joint is fine when using a peghead, but the peghead isnt necessary with joint "B". "B" for the win.

Really great video. I prefer the type A joint and then I glue up a headplate on the face to reinforce that glue joint. I have used a nice cross cut hand saw to cut the angle and clean the joint up with sand paper attached to a flat surface. I like shallow angles as more wood is being glued. I prefer to place the neck blank on its side and use clamps on the table at the ends to stop the pieces from moving. I once made a neck where the head stock angle was shallow but I made the head in the classical style.

I would very much enjoy a video on building a jig for the table saw. I’ve used the method here on 3 different chop saws and I have always had problems with the material being square. Your videos are very user friendly and I find them to be very helpful quite often.

I’m so sorry this channel has no more subs with all the knowledge it has. I have done my part.

Brilliant video and explanation of the process. Thankyou for taking the time to make and share this. I am trying some different table saw jigs at the moment practising for my first guitar build soon. Your help here is really valuable and I appreciate it. Especially your thoughts on using the mitre saw and seperate cuts for neck and headstock. Thankyou again.

One of the best videos I've seen on this subject. Your visuals are really well done and clear. I personally like cutting the joints on the table saw with a tenoning jig, leaning the blade over to whatever angle is required. Seems to be the safest way of cutting the angle IMHO. I also like leaving the peghead piece thick at 3/4" thick at the joint and tapering it on the back side away from the joint. A little tricky but worth the extra material at the joint, once again IMHO. thank you for the video...

excellent video

Great video,very educational. Subscribed!

In Type B the minimum width of the glue joint is ~43 mm, in Type A it's the width of the headstock.

Great job. Thanks! 😁👏👏👏

Thanks, the thickness was the interesting question for me. I got an answer 👍🏻

Sounds great

Great video, thank you 👍

I appreciated the base for your router as an easy way of thicknessing the headstock. I do think you have a tendency to yell when you talk which made it a bit tough to listen to this for long periods of time.

Thanks

As ever, simple, clear and informative but above all, very much appreciated. I own a few Charvel Surfcasters, they have Type B scarf joints but they start further along at the first fret not the nut. I guess that gives a greater chunk of wood, more fretboard covering the joint and the truss rod. Although aesthetically it raises other questions. Your spatula comments made me laugh. Those simple ‘why didn’t I think of this before’ moments.

So a scarf joint is stronger that carving the headstock out of a multi laminate neck through? Perhaps with a headstock veneer. I prefer the laminated pieces being visible in the headstock.

Great video as always! #TheElectriLuthier Will you ever talk about guitar finishes, and how to pick one? Like dyes, oils, paints, stains, all the others. Really lost on that one😅

Sir: Option B allows you run any carbon fiber reinforcement into the scarf joint, further reinforcing the joint.

The other argument for where to place your scarf joint is cold creep of titebond and titebond like glues. Putting the joint under the fingerboard will lead to a hump in the fingerboard if the joint ever creeps even just a teensy bit.

Whatdegree angle did you cut at

This was a great video. I am getting ready to start my first build and I've been worried about how to do this angled headstock. You made it look easy and your "rebel" attitude matches mine as well. One question - I have 3/4 inch maple blanks. I think they should be thick enough but I was wondering if you think they'll be okay for the neck? I would obviously have to do the angled headstock you described and I would also have to add additional material at the heel but I'm curious what you think?

cool video, could this also be done for a straight neck-headstock design ? In my case I want to redo a angled headstock by cutting if off at an angle at the neck, and add a straight style headstock in its place. Not sure how the grain orientation needs to be in order to do that.

There are a couple of other things to add regarding the simple side profile diagram you show, illustrating the length of gluing surface of "Back-scarfed" and "Front-scarfed" joints (type A and B in your diagram). In front-scarfed headstocks (type B in your diagram), the gluing surface is reduced quite significantly (when comparing it to a side elevation diagram) by the neck profile. As you have to remove material around the glue joint to make the curved surface of the neck joint. In back-scarfed joints (type A in your diagram) the tendency is to cut the width of the neck all the way up to the top of the headstock, so the headstock is effectively too narrow. The next process is then to add straight pieces of wood ("extensions") to either side of the headstock to make it wide enough again. This has the effect of STRENGTHENING the back-scarf joint, by laminating "strengthening bars" either side. Normally you have to put a veneer over the whole face to cover up the joins on the face however. I always make my headstocks this way (back-scarfed). Because A) back-scarfed headstock joints are not reliant on a single glue joint to keep them together. And the strengthening bars (I put on) straddle the scarf joint on both sides, making it practically unbreakable B) there is one single uninterrupted piece of wood going from the top-nut to the end of the neck C) all wood is subject to expansion and contraction across the width of the grain, due to humidity and temperature variations. With a front-scarfed headstock joint, there is (at least in theory) the possibility for the piece of wood that the headstock is made out of to shrink in thickness due to low humidity. This will potentially have the effect of lowering the action as the nut will will be pulled down with the shrinkage of the headstock material. And conversely, in humid conditions (I live in the UK!) the headstock material can expand in thickness and pull the action upwards. Of course the fretboard over the neck blank will minimise this, but the potential problem is real, not just imagined. ALL timber DOES expand and contract. It's a proven fact of physics. For glue spreaders I always use the folded edge of a piece of folded used sandpaper (1-2" square, when folded). It's always straight, it has serrations on it, which form a kind of "comb" effect, and when you've spread what you need to spread, it goes STRAIGHT in the bin! This really IS the perfect glue spreader (without using a roller). AND you always know there is plenty of used sandpaper around to use. I do like your chop-saw jig though. And the extended base router for taking down the thickness. I think I might have to make one of those myself. Thanks!

Great video! I learned so much about guitar necks, which makes me wonder. How strong is the glue that is being used to connect the two prices of wood? With the pressure from the strings pulling the head stock, I’m so amazed how the glue is so strong

B all the way

all you need to use is clamps on your table spaced to hold the neck blank still then glue no need for amateur jerry rigging with screws

Scarf joints give me the creeps, i feel the glue is eventually gonna give up and the tension of the strings is gonna finish breaking it. Single piece necks for me.

3:00 won't agree, the main purpose why scarf joints are used is getting an angled headstock with thinner slabs of wood, so to save money on wood! No guitar requires a super strong headstock, if you drop the guitar and the headstock breaks it its not the headstocks fault. I have yet to see or read about an angled headstock that broke off due to string tension only! It's a gimmick to trick people into thinking that it's something special like so many other things around guitar building! People have found ways to use and sell wood, they would normally have no use for, that's why we see more and more "multilaminated everything" guitars. Hell, they even started making fretboards out of different woods and sell it as something new and cool, which in reality it's "ey i have cleaned up my workshop and found this scrap wood i have no real use for" I mean, econimically it's a GOOD thing but i hate it when people sell those "multi wood piece" guitar at such high price levels. Maybe it's also to push up the value of regular woods up, who knows!

I didn't know that borat was a luthier

LMAO PLEASE DONT USE SCREWS TO MAKE A SCARF JOINT IT IS NOT NESSECARY

Electrical luthier?????? O yes I also have electrical stuffs, like a bandsaw and drilling machines. As allways those americans talk to much. To make a neck is not strange at all. Just a bit of common sense, is all You need. Btw, it would be nice to see what this craptalker here, if he could make a V-joint and is able to. Of course not. Better he scarfing further on. That,s the easiest way.