The first items we see here are the raw necks. The Resaw area, cuts the basic shape of the neck. From there, the neck gets some basic shaping and is bored out to fit the truss rod. Also, the "ears" for the peghead are glued on. If a neck is a "three-piece laminated," it is laminated in the Resaw area. The major portion of the neck is done as seen here on the FADAL.

The FADAL, being computer controlled, consistently produces the same shape every time, leaving little margin for human error. The FADAL does the main shaping of the necks, cuts the slots in the fingerboards for the frets, does the intricate carving for the fingerboard inlays and as also seen here, carves the bridges for the new Custom Line.

The fingerboards

Here we see the area of the neck-line that works on the fingerboards. In my personal opinion, the fingerboard department is probably the most difficult area to work in. A lot of work goes into making a fingerboard. From gluing in the inlay, putting on the binding, installing the frets and the one thing I would not want to do, drill and glue in the side marker dots. The marker dots are relatively small, having big hands, I don't do too well with small items. I have enough problems installing the 1/4 inch dots in some the the bridges that I put on. These guys and gals should be commended for their intricate work.

Prior to gluing in the inlay on the finger-boards, the finger-board is inspected and any burrs or imperfections removed. The bottom of where the inlay goes must be flat, otherwise the inlay will not go in correctly, or may crack.

Here we see a few fingerboards after the inlays have been glued in. From here, the fingerboards are cleaned up from the excess glue and radius sanded to shape. They then go back to the FADAL to have the slots cut for the frets.

Here we see the press for installing the frets. Notice to the left rear of the press, a large pile of fretwire. After the frets are installed, they are cut to the end of the fingerboard and then sanded smooth. On models using what is called "fret-over-binding," the frets are installed after the binding is glued on and cut to height. On the models that are bound, but with the fret ends covered by the binding, the binding is glued on after the frets are installed.