Marking the top of the neck blank

While marking the top of the neck block, refer to Fig. 1.

1. Using a marking gauge make a centerline "a" on all four sides of the neck blank.
   
2. On the top side, at the distance "x" of 136 mm from the heel, mark the line "b" which will determine the end of the fingerboard.
   
3. Continuing from the previous line, mark another line "c", 6 mm forward in the direction of the volute. This line determines the end of the nut and the beginning of the slopping wall in the pegbox.
   
4. Set your compass to 12 mm and on each side, from the centerline on lines "b, c" make a mark which will denote the width of both the fingerboard end and the nut, in total 24 mm.
   
5. Use the same method, setting your compass to 10 mm, to mark the width of the begbox at it lowermost side, line "d", under the projected volute.
   
   

The scroll and pegbox template

Now it's time to create the scroll and pegbox templates. Note that these templates are rather generic, not modelled after Messiah. You can decide not to do the cardboard templates which are good for reuse and instead go for the paper thin ones just to quickly transfer the outlines. In that case, just print out the outlines in Fig. 2, cut them out using scissors and skip the following paragraph.

1. Prepare two pieces of cca 1 mm thick cardboard, one 220 x 40 mm for the "A" scroll template and the other 100 x 40 mm for the "B" pegbox template.
   
2. Print out the outlines in Fig. 2 and glue them onto the respective cardboard pieces. "A" is 205 mm, "B" is 85 mm long.
   
3. Cut out the outlines as precisely as possible.
   
4. Wet the paper and impregnate it with thin hide glue. Remove the excess of hide glue. Let set for and hour.
   
5. Put the templates in their correct positions, shape them around on the neck blank and clamp lightly in position so that they don't get stuck to the wood.
   
6. Let dry.
   
   

Marking the outlines

1. Correctly align the paper templates. See Fig. 3 where the starting point for both templates is at the heel and fingerboard end {red dashed line}.
   
2. Using a pencil, mark the outlines of both the pegbox and the volute on the neck blank.