![\"IMG_1553\"](\"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_1553.jpg\" "\\"IMG_1553\\"")
<\/p>\nNote up front: Carving a neck is largely about feel rather than process; this is not something that can be described as a 1-2-3 method, nor would we even attempt to. <\/p>\n
Neck carving is a fundamental reason why luthiery schools exist, and is best learned in that style of environment. However, we will do our best to give you a general overview of what is involved.<\/p>\n
At this point our neck blank is still a rectangular block of wood.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The carving tool of choice is a half round file, the same as the automotive tool. <\/p>\n
The blade is available generally as a Stanley Surform Half Round blade<\/a> (seen above as the blade shown at bottom.)<\/p>\n It is not necessary to house the blade in a holder, as said holder would do nothing more than get in the way. Preventing hand injury from the blade is easily done by wrapping the blade ends in masking tape. You can also wear gloves if desired.<\/p>\n The best way to describe this is that you will be carving a series of facets into the neck. At this point the blank is a block, and you will be first cutting two long facets down the length of the board, similar to if you were shaping one side of a hexagon. These sides you create will be divided again and then again until the end result shape is round-ish.<\/p>\n This is called a “round-ish” shape because ultimately, to achieve proper smoothness, this is where hand sanding comes into effect, which we will describe later on. <\/p>\n For carving this part of the neck, a more curved file is desirable for easier shaping. Generally speaking, a rasp file<\/a> should get the job done here. <\/p>\n You will notice that there are several varieties of rasp files available. If unsure which to go with, the double-radiused sizes (both fine and coarse) would be the ones to get; you can see these in the photo above.<\/p>\n When shaping the heel of the neck, you would ordinarily start with the coarse file, then move on to the fine file to smooth until you have both the desired shape and feel you’re looking for.<\/p>\n 10-inch Planer Saw Rasp<\/strong><\/p>\n The purpose of this saw is to make a flat surface. The advantages of using this particular saw is that it is held in an offset position, which is good for neck shaping use.<\/p>\n An example of this tool is shown in the above photo at top; it is the largest tool seen with the red handle. You can typically find this tool on Amazon and other places for sale as a “Shinto Planer Saw Rasp”.<\/p>\n In the end process of a traditional old-school shoeshine, a cloth is draped over the shoe and pulled back and forth to finalize the shine. A similar process is used on the backside of the neck to smooth the neck, except instead of cloth, sandpaper would be used, usually an 80 grit strip. The above photo shows the style of sandpaper used at bottom right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Note up front: Carving a neck is largely about feel rather than process; this is not something that can be described as a 1-2-3 method, nor would we even attempt to. Neck carving is a fundamental reason why luthiery schools exist, and is best learned in that style of environment. However, we will do our … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[70],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Technique<\/h3>\n
Heel end of neck<\/h3>\n
Other tools needed<\/h3>\n
Additional shaping method: “Shoeshine” sanding<\/h3>\n