Reshaping a neck

[dewey finn]

Anyone ever reshape a neck on a set neck guitar?

[Jeff R]

Yep. I've used files, scrapers, sandpapers of various grits, depends on how much material is targeted for removal and its location (trunk versus transition into headstock or body).

Not that I've learned the hard way, but I've seen some horror stories online ...  would remind you of the golden rule of woodwork in general if you take on a project like this as a DIY ... you can always take off a little more material, but putting it back can be somewhat more challenging. Be mindful too that there is a truss rod channel in there and if you go too deep and expose that channel, you've created a whole new realm of fun.

[dewey finn]

Jeff, is this something I could do myself? I'm not afraid to try I just don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

[kizanski]

54 minutes ago, dewey finn said:

Jeff, is this something I could do myself? I'm not afraid to try I just don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

I think it's safe to say that if you're afraid you might be biting off more than you can chew, you probably are.

[Jeff R]

Echoplexing Kiz's DIY reasoning ... you might want to consider buying a few cheap pawn shop pound puppies to learn and practice on before you get to the real business at hand. Not only the idea of how much wood you can remove, but also the simple how as in the actual wood removal, from the tools you choose to use. AKA, no surprises. Just a thought.

[dewey finn]

What would a shop generally charge? If i'm buying pawn shop pieces to practice on, I may come out ahead having it done for me.

[Jeff R]

Depends on the shop that does the work (hourly rates vary), the target guitar, the scope of the work you seek ... not enough information above. We don't know if you want the finish restored via a partial or full refin after the neck is slimmed, for example. Go to a pawn shop and see if you can get crash test dummies affordably in prep for a DIY. Then get a quote from a local reputable shop for what you specifically want done and compare.

[Biz Prof]

3 hours ago, Jeff R said:

Echoplexing Kiz's DIY reasoning ... you might want to consider buying a few cheap pawn shop pound puppies to learn and practice on before you get to the real business at hand. Not only the idea of how much wood you can remove, but also the simple how as in the actual wood removal, from the tools you choose to use. AKA, no surprises. Just a thought.

^^^THIS^^^ Same goes for practicing leveling/crowning, slotting nuts, shimming necks, etc.

[texwest]

I've done it on 5 guitars.  Take Jeff's advice and practice before you do it on a good guitar.  My first one didn't turn out as well because I just winged it and kept sanding and feeling the neck.  Not the best method.

The others turned out better because I learned from that.  I found a guitar with a neck I really liked and used it as a template.  I got a  caliper and measured the neck width and depth at several frets and wrote it down.  Then I got heavy solid core wire with plastic coating and carefully bent it around the neck I wanted to replicate and cut it off right at the edge of the fingerboard.  I got it to fit perfectly at certain frets. It took a few tries to get these wire templates shaped perfectly. So I ended up with about 4 or 5 of these wire templates at certain frets.    I think these templates are important because its really really hard to get that curvature right.

Then started sanding with around 220.  I usually would sand it to get the width of the fingerboard correct first and kept checking it all the time with the caliper.  Then I would start working on the depth of the neck and the curvature at the same time. I would keep checking the depth with the caliper and the curvature with the the wire templates.  Wow those necks turned out awesome and perfectly the way I wanted them.  Give yourself several hours and keep checking alot!

Then use like 400, then 600 and 1000grit to smooth it all out.  With that sandpaper I would create a 2 inch wide strip  that I could hold on each end and then buff the back of the neck like I was drying my back with a towel.

Then you need to finish it to protect the wood from your sweat.  I usually used Birchwood Casey truoil, but first used their pore filler and kept buffing with 600 or 1000 to try to get the neck smooth.  This will be hard with mahogany.  Maple you really don't need to do pore filling.  I got instructions on how to do this off of Luthier Mercantile website.  Don't know if that is still up as it has been awhile.

Hope this helps