Thanks Roman, I've been debating a heat gun for some time, I think you just sold me on the idea. Any other tips are greatly appreciated!
I got started on the neck tonight. I picked out a nice light neck blank, and a brazillian RW fingerboard. The fingerboard is not particularly dark, but dark enough. I have 4 really dark braz board left which I am saving for something special way down the road, otherwise I am going to start using much less expensive, but I think equally good boards.
Next I marked out the neck on the wood (note the well worn LP plans. Even though I've departed from them in many ways, I always come back to them for base measurements):
I get two necks from each blank. This one cut it pretty close, but just enough. Next step is to cut the headstock angle on the mitre saw:
Then over to the bandsaw to cut out the profile of the neck:
Here is the result:
On every guitar up until this point, I have routed a curved truss rod channel using a jig that I made just for this. On a curved channel, the route is deeper in the middle of the neck than on the ends. On 50s LPs including original bursts until 1960, gibson used a straight channel that is 1/2" deep the length of the neck, so I thought I would give this method a try, even though I understand that this will make the truss rod a little less responsive the closer to straight the neck is. I set the blade on the table saw to 1/2" and cut a channel in three passes just slightly wider than 3/16" for the truss rod. It is a nice fit, with just enough room to allow for the truss rod to function, but not be rattling around:
