Carving A Neck Profile .... ..... .... F A S T

[guitar2005]

I'm looking at ways to improve my productivity. I have 5 necks on the go and I'm sure that I could improve on my techniques to get these things done faster.

What I do now is this:

1) Mark the neck thickness @ the 1st and 12th fret and draw a line between the two points, spanning the entire length on the neck

2) Mark the neck heel and the profile that will remain flat around it.

3) With the Ridgid Oscillating belt sander, sand down the neck thickness @ 80grit, to just above the final thickness line.

4) With a rough wood rasp, start chewing away at the wood until I have what resembles a neck profile.

5) Switch over to a round wood rasp and continue shaping the profile. Get as close as possible to the fretboard without actually taking too much off of it.

6) Work on the heel & headstock transitions, making sure that they are nice and smooth.

7) See if the neck feels nice in your hands & make sure that he profile has no dips or bumps on it.

8) Sand down to 100 grit.

9) Make small adjustments is needed

10) Sand down to 180, 220, 330, 400 grit.

If I'm doing ebony board with a maple neck, I tape over the ebony when sanding the maple so that the fine ebony dust doesn't get into the maple's pores.

What do you think?

I think that maybe 3) could be done on the bandsaw.

[Juntunen Guitars]

I'm looking at ways to improve my productivity. I have 5 necks on the go and I'm sure that I could improve on my techniques to get these things done faster.

What I do now is this:

1) Mark the neck thickness @ the 1st and 12th fret and draw a line between the two points, spanning the entire length on the neck

2) Mark the neck heel and the profile that will remain flat around it.

3) With the Ridgid Oscillating belt sander, sand down the neck thickness @ 80grit, to just above the final thickness line.

4) With a rough wood rasp, start chewing away at the wood until I have what resembles a neck profile.

5) Switch over to a round wood rasp and continue shaping the profile. Get as close as possible to the fretboard without actually taking too much off of it.

6) Work on the heel & headstock transitions, making sure that they are nice and smooth.

7) See if the neck feels nice in your hands & make sure that he profile has no dips or bumps on it.

8) Sand down to 100 grit.

9) Make small adjustments is needed

10) Sand down to 180, 220, 330, 400 grit.

If I'm doing ebony board with a maple neck, I tape over the ebony when sanding the maple so that the fine ebony dust doesn't get into the maple's pores.

What do you think?

I think that maybe 3) could be done on the bandsaw.

I think using the band saw would take longer. My proccess is,

1: Mark at nut and heel where the truss rod starts

2: Draw a line slightly under the marks across the side of th blank (with enough space so the rod doesn't break the back of the neck, I make dual action rods so that's a possibility)

3: Use the disk sander (I have used the Rigid sander you mentioned as well) and start on the sides first to round them in) grinders work good too.

4: Mark the contures at the heel and nut and rough them with an oscilating sander then finalize with a rasp

5: Sand with 120 grit, buff with 220 then I use 0000 steel wool to get a smooth feel to it, that way even if it looks rough it feels smooth, I have had many people compliment on how smooth and fast they play for not being sanded to finer grits.

I don't even buff the finish on the neck, I just spray lacquer on then (cabot aerosol cans) then rub between coats with the steel wool.

[Juntunen Guitars]

I'm looking at ways to improve my productivity. I have 5 necks on the go and I'm sure that I could improve on my techniques to get these things done faster.

What I do now is this:

1) Mark the neck thickness @ the 1st and 12th fret and draw a line between the two points, spanning the entire length on the neck

2) Mark the neck heel and the profile that will remain flat around it.

3) With the Ridgid Oscillating belt sander, sand down the neck thickness @ 80grit, to just above the final thickness line.

4) With a rough wood rasp, start chewing away at the wood until I have what resembles a neck profile.

5) Switch over to a round wood rasp and continue shaping the profile. Get as close as possible to the fretboard without actually taking too much off of it.

6) Work on the heel & headstock transitions, making sure that they are nice and smooth.

7) See if the neck feels nice in your hands & make sure that he profile has no dips or bumps on it.

8) Sand down to 100 grit.

9) Make small adjustments is needed

10) Sand down to 180, 220, 330, 400 grit.

If I'm doing ebony board with a maple neck, I tape over the ebony when sanding the maple so that the fine ebony dust doesn't get into the maple's pores.

What do you think?

I think that maybe 3) could be done on the bandsaw.

I think using the band saw would take longer. My proccess is,

1: Mark at nut and heel where the truss rod starts

2: Draw a line slightly under the marks across the side of th blank (with enough space so the rod doesn't break the back of the neck, I make dual action rods so that's a possibility)

3: Use the disk sander (I have used the Rigid sander you mentioned as well) and start on the sides first to round them in) grinders work good too.

4: Mark the contures at the heel and nut and rough them with an oscilating sander then finalize with a rasp

5: Sand with 120 grit, buff with 220 then I use 0000 steel wool to get a smooth feel to it, that way even if it looks rough it feels smooth, I have had many people compliment on how smooth and fast they play for not being sanded to finer grits.

I don't even buff the finish on the neck, I just spray lacquer on then (cabot aerosol cans) then rub between coats with the steel wool.

[RestorationAD]

Get a Shinto Saw Rasp

Then build a neck eater like this

And do this to them first...

Then cut the sides with the Shinto Rasp.

Then use Dragon Rasps followed by a scraper to clean up.