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Is it as much of a pita as it looks like it might be?

yes, yes it is.

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
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I've done 2 and they were both easy as pie. One with a subtle flame and one with a pretty dramatic flame.

This is the more dramatic of the two. It was a flamed hard maple blank from Hibdon Hardwood


This is the less dramatic one. It's a curly euro maple from LMI with bloodwood and black veneer laminations. Of the two this was the hardest to carve but only because of the inconsistent hardness due to laminations. The maple part was very easy to work with.

Years ago when Hamer still owned Hamer, I saw him at a show shaping the neck with a scraper.

Really? I used a very sharp Lee Valley Veritas spokeshave and all I got was chatter. Had to skew the blade to get a fairly clean cut. Mind you, the files work quite well shaping it.

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
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https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

I got a little chatter but nothing horrible and the chatter marks sand out with very very little effort. I found the trick was to take light shavings. But it was easy for me.

I've never done one, but I'm betting a coarse rasp would work better than a spokeshave. Somebody just posted one of those dragon rasps from StewMac in the classifieds, which looks pretty good for it. Tempted to grab it up myself, but I probably won't be doing any curly necks due to humidity expansion concerns (increased longitudinal expansion due to the orientation of the grains causing the neck to bow). Then again, I could use a curly fingerboard as well to balance it Have any of you curly neck users tried exposing them to significant humidity swings to see if it's really much of a concern anyway?

I think it must depend on your particular piece of wood. I recently shaped this highly figured maple banjo neck with a very inexpensive Record spokeshave. It was literally honed to razor sharpness on a razor hone, and set for a very light cut. In spite of no adjustability in the mouth, I got beautiful, curling shavings the whole time. I probably just lucked into mellow wood, but it was totally enjoyable the whole time. I finished up the finer points with a file, and with sanding blocks. No rasp necessary. I used one-foot lengths of PVC pipe in various diameters as curved sanding blocks where necessary. I suggest you try it. You will know immediately whether a shave is right for you, or whether some other tool will suit you better. You can default to rasps and files easily if need be. These pictures show the neck after a dye process, but before any finish is applied. No brightness or contrast adjustments, either, but they definitely show that it can be done. Good luck on your neck. I hope it's as much fun as mine was.
Patrick

For what it may be worth, I shape ukulele necks and a maple bouzouki neck using a 36 grit belt-sander belt cut to flat.
I round the neck using my shoe-shine sanding. 36 grit is a bit coarse but it works ok for shaping with 80 grit shoe-shine for finer shaping.
I clamp the heel to the bench and stick the head on my belt for support and sand it like the proverbial shoe-shine boy. You have to be careful that it rounds symetrically by having equal tension on both hands.

It works for me.

Bob

Let me post an addendum to my previous entry. When I said "very fine cut", I meant it. I was pulling shavings no wider than 1/8th-inch, but they came off beautifully. I started with a flat back and bandsaw-tapered sides. No preliminary hogging cuts on the bandsaw. It was all rectangular in section. It worked for me. My total shaving time was no more than 30 or 45 minutes. But I'm not on a schedule, so I don't have to work fast. I just work enjoyably.
Patrick

Where is a good place to get neck blanks?

I had wondered if the figure would cause complications....

I have carved a gazillion curly maple necks, and although like any wood some carve better than others, I've never really had any problems. I use a spokeshave with a very sharp blade for the most part and always cut with the blade skewed, taking a fairly thin shaving. On particularly prone to chipping wood, I will carve more of it using a rasp. I tend NOT to use a scraper on really flamed wood since it's really easy to end up with a nice scalloped neck where the scraper chatters in the flames.

I've also roughed out a lot of curly necks with a shaper or CNC, and again, as long as the cutter is sharp I haven't had any more problems than with any other wood.

Dave

Much as I like edged tools, my weapon of choice for neck carving is a cabinet maker's rasp. Fine-tune with a scraper, shoe-shine with some sandpaper, done.

I haven't made nearly as many necks with curly maple as Dave, but on my mandolins, I band saw as close to finished dimensions as I dare, and go with rasps, files, and sand paper from there. They are a lot smaller than guitars, of course, so it really doesn't take long. Edge tools are either slower, riskier or both, in my experience, and scrapers can be problematic (the new Al Carruth scraper works well on carved, curly maple backs and sides, however).

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

many of the forum sponsors carry neck blanks. I've had very nice 2 neck curly euro maple billet and a 1"x3" east Indian rosewood from LMI. A wonderful curly hard maple from Hibdon hardwood. And a sweet honduran mahogany 2 neck billet from bob at rctonewoods.

My preferred method is a spoke shave. As was mentioned it's got to be sharp. If you cannot shave hairs off your arm then it's dull. There always is the potential for tear out though in which case you have to be careful. So it may be best to use edge tools up till you are close then rasp and paper. Because trust me the time you do get some tear out will be on the last two or three strokes with the spoke shave

If all else fails, Microplane rasps.

Brent

Give Bow River Woods a call. Curly maple is their specialty, so they should have something in a style you like.

Back to the original topic, I have carved four curly maple necks, and have no complaints. Just keep your edge tools sharp, as the others have already said. I have a nice rasp or two, but they don't get used for neck carving at all.

Chatter eh...hmmm...

1. Lack of rigidity in the blade or the workpiece.
2. Not enough pressure on tool.
3. Tool not properly sharpened.

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