Tools for cut blanks

Hardwoods can be cut with a nice sharp blade on a table saw. Make sure to keep up a constant slow speed as you push the wood through- no stopping. I would build a custom tapering jig to get the angle from the head to the body, and another to get the backside taper. I would prefer this way over a band saw, as you get a much straighter cut. Practice on cheap wood first!

 

Have you seen my thread about Router Planing Fixtures? If you already have a tablesaw, you can easily make up special fixtures, and use the router to make many of the precision cuts that you need to make building instruments.

Router Planing Fixtures

You should also eventually get yourself a bandsaw.

 

Check out the tablesaw safety thread that's stickied at the top of the forum:

Table Saw Safety

Table saws are great tools, and are basically purpose-built for the kind of cut you're talking about (a clean, true long rip cut). The fact that you mention yours has no guides makes me nervous from a safety perspective. Make sure you understand how to rip on a table saw before you cut anything. Watch some youtube videos, make sure you're safe. Besides the immediate danger of the spinning blade, tablesaws can kick back and throw a board with incredible force - enough to break bones or take off body parts.

Sorry if you know all this, I don't mean to down talk to you, but it bears mentioning.

That said, a table saw can rip clean enough to be glue-able if it's set up right and has a good ripping blade on it. So if you get the details worked out, yes - you can rip a neck blank and have the cut come out clean enough that you don't need to sand it at all. Ideally, you wouldn't be sanding to dimension or joint wood anyways, that should be done on a jointer or planing jig of some kind. Or by a hand plane. If you need to clean up after a saw cut, go read Bruce's router planing jig thread and build one of those. It'll work better for you than a jointer anyways, and it allows you to dial in dimensions much more finely than you probably can on a table saw.

 

Someone buy this man a push stick and featherboard!

 

The kind of cuts you're talking about are called rip cuts. Rip cuts are very demanding in hard wood, blades tend to load up and that puts a lot of stress on the saw. Blade manufacturers make blades specifically for ripping, they usually have very low tooth counts. Essentially, the opposite of the blade you have posted - that blade would be a poor choice for ripping.

This would be a more typical choice:

https://www.amazon.com/Freud-Indust...FjAAegQIBRAC&usg=AOvVaw0CbIUwQ2Ma9_U6rkhAh8q7