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machine shaping neck.

J

jordan_frerichs

Jan 20, 2008
1,773
9
Nebraska
#1
I am very bad at neck shaping. i plan to work on it and practise, however i have 2 neck through builds, one of mine that is going very well and i don't want to have a major screw up, and one for my first customer, which i want to be as good as it can get. i have heard of necks precision shaped by machine by companies like Wal. i was wondering were i could get the things to do this right, and how to go about doing it. i have the high school workshop at my disposal, so i imagine i would have the machinery to do this
 
#2
on the cheap: Link Removed
this could make a great highschool woodshop project in and of itself

the real deal outside of utilizing a CNC: http://www.terrco.com/marlin.php

the latter isn't a simple plop, drop, and make sawdust operation. you have a lot of set-up work and alignment jigs to create before you can make an accurate copy of a neck. I have one of these and will get to use it when I once again have a fully functioning woodshop


even better: learn how to carve a neck with rasps, spokeshaves, and other tools. ALL of this experience will help you on your future builds ;)

all the best,

R
 
#3
jordan_frerichs said:
I am very bad at neck shaping. i plan to work on it and practise, however i have 2 neck through builds, one of mine that is going very well and i don't want to have a major screw up, and one for my first customer, which i want to be as good as it can get. i have heard of necks precision shaped by machine by companies like Wal. i was wondering were i could get the things to do this right, and how to go about doing it. i have the high school workshop at my disposal, so i imagine i would have the machinery to do this
Click to expand...

I find this post disturbing. Why are you taking paying orders if you admit that you're very bad at shaping necks. This is THE most important part of the build. If its no good then the bass will be unplayable. I really hope your customer knows the level you're at and is not paying big dollar for that.

There's no machine you'll find at your school that will let you do that easier than doing it by hand. The simple trick to making nice necks is to measure often, make templates of the back shape of the neck at 3 or 4 places along the lenght of the neck and use them often to see the progress of the back shape. Use long sanding beams that are flat for sanding the fretboard and the back shape too. Feel the neck often with your hands. If there's bumps its no good sand them off until if feels perfect.

Practice makes perfect, do your customer's neck last, you don't want to ruin HIS neck, at worst, build a couple of spare necks for practice before making his.
 
#5
When I was at school, a lot of us were really scared of doing anything freehand, like moving away from the jigs was opening us up for disaster. When you're working to a school project deadline, you dont want to take any chances.

Jordan, do you draw freehand? I guess its the same principle, so probably gets easier the more you do it. You might like to practice drawing dead straight lines and true curves, may help overcoming some of the mental block.

Anyway, Ive been carving my neck for several weeks now, Im just taking it easy and enjoying the ride :)
 
#6
This reminds me....

Time to get off the computer and head down to the shop to get carving. :hyper:

Neck carving seemed to click for me right away. I've always been pretty good at sculpting, so I'm sure that helped. It truly is the most enjoyable part of building a bass.

Take your time and shape until it feels like it is making sweet love to your hand.
 
#7
RedemptionBass said:
Take your time and shape until it feels like it is making sweet love to your hand.
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHAHA, I agree its the coolest part in building, that and the heel. I need to get myself some nice chisels to make it even more fun.

Jordan, some people like to shape up the heel and the top of the neck first, then when its at their liking, they just take out everything in the middle until its flat, checking very often with a straightedge especially when things are starting to be straight. And like Phil said, take it out of the vise often and feel the neck. You should see my brother play run to the hills by Maiden on a bass with no strings trying to give me an opinion on my necks. Its hilarious.
 
#9
yes i planed to do steps on my own project, search them for error, then attemp to improve on the customers instrument. i do like the idea of spare necks for practise. i have 2 local luthiers, one helps me hands on, and a proffesion one in another city, that i get word advice, and opinions of my work, and hoiw to improve it. today my teacher gave me an ancient (he says 50 years) spokeshave. i took some pine to practice with, and it actually makes things much easier, more even shaped, and everything. i plan to do the necks for these supervised, so that any mistakes can be broght to my attention, and corrected. I am much more confident on the shaping, after practising with the spokeshave.
 
#10
yeah, thats how i practiced shaping necks. i just made a couple of pine necks, a bunch of different widths and thicknesses and practiced rounding them over, its a bit harder to a maple or wenge neck than it is pine but its basically the same principals.
 
#11
Phil Mailloux said:
I find this post disturbing. Why are you taking paying orders if you admit that you're very bad at shaping necks. This is THE most important part of the build. If its no good then the bass will be unplayable. I really hope your customer knows the level you're at and is not paying big dollar for that.

Practice makes perfect, do your customer's neck last, you don't want to ruin HIS neck, at worst, build a couple of spare necks for practice before making his.
Click to expand...

IIRC his customer is his woodshop teacher, so he probably has a reasonable understanding of what he's going to get.

Edit: I was wrong, it's his science teacher. Either way, I imagine his teacher is not expecting a Ritter.
 
#12
Most of the mistakes I've seen students make involve the failure to create templates and layout tools to check their progress frequently, mental laziness, and poor physical technique.

I found that making a few pieces of furniture for which I had to make a set of four identical cabriole legs was great preparation for neck shaping. Both tasks involve making templates, training your eye, and developing effective work habits using a band saw for initial shaping, and creating fair curves and straight lines with patternmakers' rasps, Vixxen files, scrapers, spokeshaves, carving gouges, and so forth.

Roughing out a neck can take as little as an hour in poplar or basswood; IME, it's premature to shape a maple neck until you're feeling comfortable and proficient using secondary woods - and don't even consider shaping a wenge neck until you feel as though you're proficient shaping maple necks! :eek:
 
#13
don't worry, i will make roundness templates. btw, how would i go about doing that? the really weird thing is that this will be my science teachers very first bass. i am charging around $800. it has many odd features (melted top, semi open carved head, wooden covers) that would be found on customs costing significantly more. i will only get a few hundred cash gain. i am keeping it low, as i would consider myself still an amateur, and the experience from just making it will be of far greater value to me. i plan to reinvest any profit from this into essential tools for the job.
 
#14
I have a wierd thinger, basically about 50 needles between two plates with a 'butterfly nut' so I can squeeze the 2 plates together easily. I just throw the little thing onto a back of a neck, tighten it up and then just scribe around the needles onto a 1/4 piece of scrap and cut it out. recheck.. done. I think it could be a very fool-proof method, especially with a customer who tells you he likes the neck of his warwick or his fender or whatever. You could basically recreate exactly the same neck.
 
#15
T2W said:
I have a wierd thinger, basically about 50 needles between two plates with a 'butterfly nut' so I can squeeze the 2 plates together easily. I just throw the little thing onto a back of a neck, tighten it up and then just scribe around the needles onto a 1/4 piece of scrap and cut it out. recheck.. done. I think it could be a very fool-proof method, especially with a customer who tells you he likes the neck of his warwick or his fender or whatever. You could basically recreate exactly the same neck.
Click to expand...

i have seen one in a book i checked out from the library. they called it a feeler gauge, but when i looked them up, could not find anything like that. if you could show me where i could find one, i would greatly appreciate it.
 

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