Shaving a fat neck.

DirtySteve

DirtySteve

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Anybody here ever shaved down a fat neck to make it more comfortable to play? I'm thinking about doing it to my Traditional. I have a 60s standard with a the slim 60s profile and it's a little too thin. I have my Traditional that has a neck that's just a little too much. Obviously I can't add wood to the standard, but I can remove a little from my traditional. What I plan to do is take the neck down on my traditional to be somewhere in between a slim 60s profile and what it is now and then refinish it with tru-oil, my favorite neck finish. I'll probably use a little wood dye to try to match the finish, but I'm not really too concerned about that.

I watched a boat load of vids on the subject, but most of them have guys using rasps and scrappers and even power sanders and whatnot. I wasn't about to do all that, but then I found this vid where the guy only used sand paper. This is much more up my alley and I would be comfortable doing it this way. I don't think I need to remove much once the finish is gone.

Far Rider...I don't want to hear it. :squint: :rolf2:


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DirtySteve said:
Once I started researching it seems to be way more acceptable than I would have ever expected.
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Steve, I think you should try my '79 LP in my AV pic. I am in the ADD WOOD to the small necks I have boat possibly on that one and at least 1-2 other guitars I have for one reason or another.

I bet there is a way for you to duplicate the carve on the one neck you like, and transpose it to the LP Trad. I have a contour gauge/guide I've never used, but want to put it to every guitar I have and see if my BRAIN/ Hands are lying to me, or if my gut is right and my favorite necks fit into a fuller range vs a narrow or thin type.
 
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chilipeppermaniac said:
Steve, I think you should try my '79 LP in my AV pic. I am in the ADD WOOD to the small necks I have boat possibly on that one and at least 1-2 other guitars I have for one reason or another.

I bet there is a way for you to duplicate the carve on the one neck you like, and transpose it to the LP Trad. I have a contour gauge I've never used, but want to pu tit to every guitar I have and see if my BRAIN/ Hands are lying to me, or if my gut is right and my favorite necks fit into a fuller range vs a narrow or thin type.
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I had the frets replaced on my Standard with the biggest fattest frets I could get in an effort to make the neck feel a little fatter. It helped, but not enough.

Tell be more about this contour gauge you have.
 
DirtySteve said:
Oh ok, I have a metal version, but that looks a lot better to make templates with.
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That's the ticket if you ask me. Use the guide to record the shapes of the Trad vs the other neck, , Use the shape to make templates like in the vid you posted, and then take the range of templates from both necks and compare the differences, then aim for the compromise you want.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
That's the ticket if you ask me. Use the guide to record the shapes of the Trad vs the other neck, , Use the shape to make templates like in the vid you posted, and then take the range of templates from both necks and compare the differences, then aim for the compromise you want.
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Sanding is some awesome shiz, as low tech as it comes, hard to remove too much material in oops accidents with power tools, and nothing but time and patience is needed to get it done.
 
Stewmac sells neck profile templates for specific neck profiles. Only problem is I don't know what the different profiles are.

Neck Shaping Templates for Electric Guitar - StewMac

Everything you need to make perfect reproductions of sought after necks.
www.stewmac.com www.stewmac.com

I ordered a contour gauge and a digital calipers, they should both be here tomorrow (weather permitting) and then I can get started taking measurements between my necks to give me an idea where I need to aim. Maybe it will tell me which template to get, but I really don't think I'll need it.
 
CoyotesGator said:
You got this Brother!
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At this point I'm more worried about setting up a way to do it and hold the guitar in place while I do it. In the vid I posted the guy has the body on a bench with end of the neck on a separate stand with the headstock clamped. I need to come up with something like that so there is nothing under the neck to get in the way of sanding like he did. That's going to be my biggest challenge in doing this myself. Right now my bench is a wobbly 2'x4' plastic folding table and that's not going to work. :rolf2:
 
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