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I have a neck that is ready to carve. Is it best to glue the fingerboard on before carving? Any recommendations before I begin?

Carve the neck before attaching the fingerboard for the initial carving. The neck can change (bow, twist) as you remove material. You will want to be able to straighten this all out before attaching the fingerboard. Just make sure you do not carve all the way to the edge by the fingerboard to make sure you don't create a "divot". You can blend this edge with the fingerboard after it is glued to the neck

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John Ressler

I glue the fingerboard to the square neck, then carve. JRessler has a good point about watching for movement as you carve the neck. I level the fretboard very late in the process to correct any warping, but i have never found it to be a big deal with nice well seasoned wood.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Well, it looks like John and Jordan have different approaches... Does anyone else want to weigh in? This is my first neck carve. I'd like to see if others have opinions - not that I don't respect John's and Jordan's opinion. Thanks guys, for your responses...

I glue first, but my necks are laminated and won't move around anyway.But i do cut out the basic shape before glueing then lap the neck flat before glueing the fretboard on.If your necks aren't laminated, i would glue last as they might move around on you during the carving.I'm doing a neck right now come to think of it.

Steve, when I see two talented builders with different opinions, that tells me that both approaches will work just fine. You just decide then which will work best for you.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

like steve said, there are many ways to skin a cat and they all work.
i glue on the fretboard, then flip it over on the router table and have the bearing of a flush trim bit ride the edge of the fingerboard.
from there i start the real carving. in my case i use three piece laminated necks and only true the fingerboard once it's attached to the body. no problem with movement.
phil

Steve,
I've got a pretty good tutorial on my website here:
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com/products/p10-2.html
This is straight from the Colorado School of Lutherie. You can do it either way, but this is just another way to do it. There is no perfect "right" way. Good luck and hope this helps!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

For me, this is the main consideration for not attaching the fingerboard. Fitting the neck to the body is so much easier with out the fingerboard extension in the way (at least for the method I use). Something to consider...

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John Ressler

Right, to clarify, i shape the headstock and heel area- then fit the neck to the body- then glue the fretboard- then carve the neck.

All of Todd's points are good ones.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY