Shaping the Neck

So, now pretty much the entire guitar is put together; everything is almost ready for beginning the finishing process. However, the most important (and potentially fun part of the build) needs to be complete. That is, shaping the neck of the guitar. Now most guitarists know that one of the the things that draws them to a particular guitar is the shape of the neck. A neck that is too fat, feels like a baseball bat, where a neck that is too thin, might not feel right in their hands. Additionally, some people - like myself - prefer a somewhat "V" shaped neck. For this guitar, I began by drawing out something that looked about right to me to get my bearings, but then I realized that it was relatively asinine, as it would be much more important to me to just do it by feel, so I kind of threw it out the door and did what I wanted. 

The first thing that I needed to do was to take off a great deal of material of the mahogany. The first step was to take out notches at the 1st fret and also at the 10th fret and then shaving that area down. The picture to the left shows the saw that was used to cut out the material. Additionally, once two cuts were produced, a 3/4 inch chisel and a few different rasps were used to get rid of the rest of the material.

Then using a spoke shaver, I took off the material between the two notches on each side. This was relatively quick work as the spoke shaver takes off a pretty good amount of material from each pass. Once most of the material was gone, I used a flat rasp to make sure the surface was completely flat.

The picture to the left shows what one side looked following the use of the rasp. Additionally, you can see on the left side of the neck where a few passes of the spoke shave have taken out some of the wood. In the picture to the right, you can see that both sides of the neck have been flattened and are set to be shaped even more.

The next step was to set up the depth of the neck. The neck that I created was a little bit proud. using the spoke shave, a hand plane, a few chisels and rasps, I took the wood down to the correct thickness. Then it was time for the fun situation of using numerous rasps to actually shape the neck. Basically this was done by feel. In essence, I took down all the heavy sections of the neck - the ridges that were created by making flat surfaces. Once I felt satisfied with the shape, I then began to chisel out the areas that had not been touched by the spoke shave. I first worked on the heel of the guitar, which can be seen in the picture below.

When I was happy with the feeling of the heel, I realized that I had need to take a little more wood down in the area that I had previously worked on, again using a rasp. This was mainly done by trial and error. Basically picking up the guitar and feeling the neck throughout the entire area that I have worked on. This is one of the most fun processes of building a the guitar because it is something that you can make the guitar your own. A hand crafted neck to your own specifications allows you to make the proper modifications in the way that you want it. For this guitar, the neck has a slight V-shape, but is slightly heavy on the left side of the neck (in the picture on the right) as it will allow me to be able to use my thumb at times.

I next bean working on the headstock section of the neck. For this, I decided I wanted to add a velote. This is basically a small carved portion of the neck where the body of the neck meets the headstock, right at the nut. I decided to do this as it occasionally comes on some of the more high end guitars and I wanted to add a little something to the neck. For this guitar it is s slight pyramid shape that has been carved, using multiple chisels, carving tools and some sand paper. Some individuals that don't really like velotes, however there is some structural significance to them. It allows for additionally strength at the scarf joint since there is added wood placed where the tension of the strings. However, it is more done for some extra flair.

In the pictures on the right and the left, you can see a few different pictures of the volute. I have worked with some guitars where the volute somewhat impedes playing at the first fret. However, I am pleased to find that this one is small enough and placed correctly on the neck that it will not be any bother  when playing.

Lastly, the final stage of the neck shaping is to sand the whole thing down to 320 grit, as this is the last thing that needs to be done on the main body of the guitar prior to final sanding and finishing. One way that makes life easy for sanding is to take a bit of paper and put some pressure on both sides of the neck and run the paper up and down the neck from the heel to the velote. This really allows to get all the bumps, ridges and scratches out of the neck without deforming the shape. After sanding the neck down, I also sanded the rest of the guitar down from 120 to 320 grit in preparation for finishing, which I will try to post pictures of the process throughout the next 3-6 weeks, which is the amount of time it will take to French Polish my guitar.