Hey guys, I’m in the middle of carving my first neck and have hit a (hopefully minor) snag. As you can see from the pics I’ve rough carved the side facets - one larger facet, and one smaller section to be carved into a facet - about the thickness of the fretboard on either side. Unfortunately as you can see from pic no. 3 the smaller facet is completely uneven as it dips in the middle (see pic 2 for how it’s meant to look). Question is, should I level this out and merge with the larger facet or carve the opposite side to match, with the dip in the middle? What does everyone advise? My gut tells me to merge both facets on each side into one, then add further facets from there working towards the middle (either before or after thicknessing the profile - I’ve seen it done both ways and was going to start a new thread on what’s advised, but maybe someone can chip in here).
There is plenty of room for error at this stage so it's probably just fine...
Here is what to do:
Ignore it...for now...
Carve the 3rd facet and continue as normal...
When you get to the 'Add more facets' stage then you just skip over the bits that were overdone previously. It will start to look normal
I bet you a million pounds that it will 'all come out in the wash' as I often say...when 'shoe shining' or blending in.
I hope that makes sense?
Let us know how it goes!
Measure twice, cut once...
Thanks Mark for the advice, I will give this a go tomorrow!
@frank1985 how did you get on?
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
Just need to tidy up that heel transition with the surform and use progressively finer grits all over.
One thing about the neck is that the transition up to the headstock sort of begins between the 1st and 2nd frets. I know 1st fret is the standard but it feels quite comfy in my hands as is. Has anyone else done this? From the point it levels out after the first fret till the 12th it’s dead flat, though tapered to a slightly greater thickness (19.7mm > 23ish)
One thing about the neck is that the transition up to the headstock sort of begins between the 1st and 2nd frets. I know 1st fret is the standard but it feels quite comfy in my hands as is. Has anyone else done this? From the point it levels out after the first fret till the 12th it’s dead flat, though tapered to a slightly greater thickness (19.7mm > 23ish)
@frank1985 It’s looking good Frank. I wouldn’t worry about the transition up to the “volute” too much, it depends how “you” feel about it. If it feels comfortable to you and it plays well, then it’s fine, it’s not going to make much difference to the playability and/or tone (unless you are a virtuoso that can detect any slight irregularity and it will be detrimental to your playing style, technique and tone).
You should just get the guitar built, put it all together and play it for a while. If anything annoys you too much (such as that neck transition), take it apart again, carve it some more and refinish it. Find out what works for you and take things from there. You think you will do things differently when you build the next one and remember the problems and pitfalls from what you did last time or remember something that worked and you liked, so you can do it again.
Don’t get hung up on making the perfect guitar every time, just make a nice guitar. You are certainly doing a good job of this one. Keep going. 👍
Boo.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
Looks very professional
Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.