Video on neck carving

[Noel Liogier]

An US professional guitar maker, Daniel Roberts, for who I did some rasps and ended up being a friend, has made a video on his techniques to shape a guitar neck.
I thought some of you may enjoy it.
Cheers,

Noel Liogier

Part 1 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxq8Po9wbk

Part 2 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LlJjM2TjNs&feature=youtu.be

Part 3 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5FcX72B8NU&feature=youtu.be

[John Coloccia]

An US professional guitar maker, Daniel Roberts, for who I did some rasps and ended up being a friend, has made a video on his techniques to shape a guitar neck.
I thought some of you may enjoy it.
Cheers,

Noel Liogier

Part 1 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyxq8Po9wbk

Part 2 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LlJjM2TjNs&feature=youtu.be

Part 3 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5FcX72B8NU&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for posting this, Noel. I've been meaning to pick up a couple of new rasps from you, actually.

[george wilson]

I find it a lot more effective to hog away the bulk of the wood with a spokeshave. It is much quicker,takes a LOT fewer strokes with my old arm joints,and saves wearing out very expensive rasps.

I found a brand new horse rasp broken off at a stable,and ground off a nice 4" long piece of it. These have rough rasp teeth on 1 side(which I don't use much). The other side has a very sharp,very coarse angled file tooth surface. It is quite effective for running it up and down the neck and taking off any wavy surface left from previous hogging.

The Spanish used a LONG handled knife for carving heels. It has about a 4" long blade that tapers in a straight line to the tip,which is about 1/4" wide,flat point,with the front edge ground back at about a 20º angle to put the tippy-tip cutting edge in the foremost position. The blade is 3/4" wide at its base,and made from 1/8" spring steel stock,supplied from Dixie Gun Works,or Brownell's,annealed. I used spring steel because this blade has an 18" handle,and can be under great stress when you bear down on it. I ground the blade to resemble a straight razor,though hollow grinding is not mandatory,flat would be just fine. I hardened the steel,and drew it blue.

The knife is used to carve the heel,when the neck is laying flat on the bench top(on a slab of wood to protect the bench. One hand is placed near the butt end of the blade,the other way back on the handle. Front hand pushes down,back hand twist the handle to produce a swooping cut. You can really put great pressure on the blade,and easily shear cross grain mahogany with it. You can quickly remove the bulk of the wood with this knife,saving a minimum for rasping and wear on your rasp.

This was an old,traditional Spanish guitar maker's tool,that still is just as fast and useful as it ever was. I need to post pictures of it.

P.S.: I did put a nice,thick ferrule made of brass at the end of the handle,to keep the blade from working loose. The ferrule is about 1/8" thick.

[Bryan Morgan]

I use this guys method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Wxw3YFHsg

Although I, like George, use a spoke shave to remove the bulk and the rasps and sander to round and detail the neck. With a spoke shave I can remove the bulk in less than 5 minutes. The finishing takes significantly longer than that of course.

[Tim McEneany]

Thanks for the link Bryan! This build series looks very good.