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Ive decided I'm ready to venture into this area of building. I was having my necks custom built, but the difficulty of build (harp guitars) has led me to a dead end. I have a local supply of 12/4 mahogany. A nice band saw. I also purchased the new Luthier Tools neck jig! (and just about every other jig they sell as well). So, I'm all in. What do I need for shaping?

Mike

A chisel, a spokeshave and a scraper all I've ever used. And sandpaper of course.

I always favored a saw, a four-in-hand rasp, and then sandpaper or a scraper.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I profile it both ways (side and top profile) with a band saw leaving about a 1/16" extra wood. Then I clean up the head with a spindle sander, rasp, files, scraper and sand paper. Then I do the shaft with mostly rasp, files, scraper and sand paper. A good rasp is hard to beat. I actually use two. One fairly aggressive and one moderate.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I asked the same question a while back & got a lot of good replies.

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=31111&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=neck

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I use a 2 1/2 inch round over bit on my router table, then finish with a rasp and sandpaper

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MK5acoustics.com

I bandsaw, then the coarse Dragon rasp, then 150 grit & up.

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Weslewis...

Could you share some pics? Would love to learn a bit more about your process...

After band sawing out the rough shape I use Microplanes for the heel, half round rasps to get the curved volute thingy at the back of the headstock where it meets the neck, and a small draw knife to cut the neck facets; then final shaping with 80 or 120 grit sand paper. Shaping a neck turned out to be much easier than I thought.

Here is a link to the Microplanes. They are incredibly efficient, accurate, easy to control, and cheap. I highly recommend them... http://us.microplane.com/shapingrasps.aspx

As can be seen from the previous replies, whatever you want.
Personally I use a router with a bevel bit, followed by careful paring with sharp chisels, a spokeshave, a card scraper, and this file around the ends (E):
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=63451&cat=1,42524

I used a two handed sur-form on my neck, followed by a cabinet scraper and sand paper. I'm probably going to pick up some micro-planes for the next neck. I've never used a draw knife, I'm sure it works great although my necks are laminated with curly maple which may be a problem for that particular tool.

Various size Microplane rasp, band saw assorted gouges and chisels.

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Another day, another dollar.

Here's a little photo thing of what I do. This is just one approach. Everyone has their favorite way. I do a one or two piece neck and first rough cut the blank on the bandsaw and plane the face flat on the planer and one side flat to index on the router fence and table saw.



Truss rod slot cut on router table and carbon bar slots on table saw



Gluing the heel block





Cutting the rough profile and taper on the bandsaw using a jig that indexes off the truss rod slot and holds the neck at a right angle to the blade.



Shaping the final profile with a Robosander and template jig.





A template for the Robosander to make the initial heel profile





Profile at 1st and 10th frets shaped with Microplane, Nicholson 49 and 50 and Grobet rasps. (Headstock has already been shaped by template routing and thicknessed on the belt sander.)



Heel shaped with hand drill pneumatic sanding drums (from Grizzly), the above rasps, and scraper. I recently got the "dragon" rasps from Stew Mac and really like them too. The sharp point is nice for transition areas.



I hog off the remaining shaft wood with air sanders and 40G going to 80G and true the shaft with flat sanding blocks with 80G then it's a matter of feeling for irregular areas, finish sanding and refining the final shape and fretboard transition. It's a satisfying process and I enjoy it.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

lovely work Terence .... I'm a spokeshave and microrasp fella, with a bit of round filing and sandpapering thrown in for good measure.

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imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited, imagination encircles the world

keep thinking I will make a jig to hold the neck but clamps work fine , seems a little daunting at first but real easy, follow appropriate safety procedures...I cut the neck to the final size, plus a 1/8 inch in width, and thickness to final thickness before profiling other wise you end up doing too much carving, same with heel , cut to final outline and on a cutaway the heel is shaped to fit the body...

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MK5acoustics.com

Thanks Wes.

Is that an off the shelf router bit or a custom made one?

Your blank seems parrallel from end to end. How do you account for the taper from nut to heel? Seems like you'd end up cutting flat spots as you taper the neck to match the FB...

Thanks

bit came from MLCS woodworking..taper from nut to heel must be sanded before routing to the correct thickness,I use a rigid sander with the 4 inch belt attachment , the board is straight so after the fretboard is glued on and the neck blank flush trimmed to the fretboard there is some shaping of the neck required, but easily done with a rasp and some 80 grit sandpaper...

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MK5acoustics.com

What radius round over bit are you using Wes?

Thanks

This is worth seeing
http://www.chassonguitars.com/necksander.html

That is truly wicked cool!