A new Guitar Build part 5: Shaping a guitar neck by hand. 

Hi Rick, Thank you very much for the compliments and the support. One of the reasons why I decided to do these informative videos is because I also was missing specifics in other videos. I try my best to show as much as possible, but if anyone wants to know more they are more than welcome to leave a comment and if I can I'll make a video about it.

Hi Ron, Thank you very much for the huge compliment. Nice to hear you're getting some useful information from my videos.

Thank you so much for the compliment and subscribing. I hope the viewers will come eventually. It all depends on how often the RU-vid algorithm decides to suggest my videos. Growing a channel takes a lot of time, but your comment and subscription already helped to improve the ratings.

The math involved in the neck was explained very good. Great video.

True, same thoughts

Hi Gurup, Thank you very much for the compliments.

Hi Dave, Thank you very much. Nice to know my videos are providing you with useful information.

Hi FreaksArise, Thank you very much for the compliment and the sub. Nice to hear you're enjoying my videos.

Hey Andres, Thank you very much!

Hi W13rdguy, Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Creativity on how to get a particular job done is half the fun of guitar making isn’t it?

Hey Rosalinda, I had to think for a while on how to answer your questions because there are no straight answers. It all depends on so many factors, but I'll try and I hope not open a can of worms: 1) I would say as much as possible.. It really depends on how thick you want the neck to be, what kind of truss rod you're using, etc. The truss rods I'm using require a 9mm deep channel for the main part and +/- 12mm for the 'head'. This means if I have a 6mm thick fretboard and I want 20mm thick neck at the first fret I end up with just 2mm of material underneath the 'head' of the truss rod and 7mm and more for the rest of the neck. If I want an even thinner neck I have to balance the fretboard thickness with the neck thickness to have at least 1mm underneath the truss rod head, but this is very scary when carving the neck. It didn't happen yet, but I'm always worried I'll carve to far and end up in the truss rod channel. (Keep checking the thickness of the neck while carving). If you want to be sure on where the limits are make a cross section drawing of your neck to get an idea and a graphical confirmation. 2) I don't.... I believe the amount of tension a player wants to 'feel' is a matter of personal preference. I'm happy to experiment with the owner of a guitar on what string gauge is best suited for a particular playing style on that particular guitar instead of putting on a set of 10's because that's what I've calculated or that's what the player always uses. The same goes for scale length(s). I personally just love the feel of a 25.5" scale length. It suits my style, hand size, etc. and I'm used to it. And I'll experiment with string gauges, brands, types, etc. to achieve the feel and tonal quality I'm looking for. There are so many factors, both technical and personal, that influence each other within a guitar I don't believe it is possible to determine or predict every aspect of it beforehand. I believe you can only have a design intend based on educated guesses and/or experience. But in the end it all comes down to the user. For example string length.. One could argue that specific string lengths have a certain impact on tonality, stability, etc. But the moment a player uses more windings around the tuners for example, or changes string gauge, or whatever. I believe everything goes out the window. More windings have an impact on tuning stability for example. Even the tuning method has potentially an impact on tuning stability. String through body vs. Top loaded strings on a fixed bridge... I believe there is a difference, but that's merely based on my assumptions on what happens in a guitar. I think with a sting through construction the forces on the bridge are better distributed throughout the bridge and body with a potential 'better sustain'. Where with a top loaded bridge the forces are mainly linear in the string direction and only the mounting screws for the bridge have to deal with all the tension and vibrations. Of course the type of bridge and the construction also come into play here. I believe the more contact surface between bridge and body the better. Like I often say in my videos... when building or designing something You really have to think about what it is you're trying to achieve, what is involved and what the best approach is to get the result you're aiming for. And leave yourself enough room to adjust when necessary. And if you're not certain... experiment and do some research. For example go to a music store and try out different guitars with different construction methods, hardware, strings, etc. and take notes on what you like and don't like. Try to figure out why that may be and what you might be able to improve and incorporate those findings in your designs. Or do what I did... just start building and figure things out along the way. As long as you keep thinking about what you're doing and what you want to achieve, chances are you'll end up with a good result. Good luck.

@@UnquendorGuitars wow... Thank you so much for all of this..... It helps a great deal & has cleared up a few dubious decisions that were in the pipeline 😀 . Thanks again!!!!!!

Hi David, I will definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Hi LettersToAGhost, I think it depends on the jig saw and how much the blade flexes while cutting. But if you're confident it will cut nice and square it should be doable I guess. Never done it myself though. I would keep enough margin for error and cut a little further from my line.

Hi Sedar, Thank you for your question. This is a bit tricky to judge without all the information on how you made the neck and what all the dimensions are. thinning down the neck depends on a couple of things: - Depth of the truss rod channel, usually around 9mm for the main channel and 13mm where the adjustment nut is. (assuming the adjustment nut is at the headstock side of the neck) - Thickness of the fretboard - around 6mm is common. The minimum thickness of a neck, keeping a save amount of material underneath the truss rod, is +/- 21mm (13+2+6) How ever you can take a little more risk with the 2mm material underneath the truss rod nut if you have a strong wood type for your neck like maple. But I like to keep at least 1mm of material. So if you know there is still enough material left underneath the truss rod you can sand down the neck a little. If you're not sure, or there isn't enough material, you can also sand down the fretboard. When I need to make a (very) thin neck I always start with a thinner fretboard. Sometimes changing the shape from a "D" in more a "C" shape also changes the feel of the neck. Making it feel slimmer than it actually is. It's often the 'sides' of a neck and how 'steep' they are that make it feel chunky rather than the overall thickness. I hope this answer helped you somewhat. Good luck.

@@UnquendorGuitars thanks for your answer. I know there is enough material because i was afreid of removing too much material at first, so my neck about 23 mm. I would like to keep the D shape. İf i sand it with send paper can i make it slimmer without damahing the shape?

Hi Cédric, Thank you very much for your reaction. I'm thinking about making the diagrams shown in my videos available for downloads but at the moment I unfortunately don't have the time available to make the diagrams presentable and setup a download page or to create new diagrams I myself don't use. As soon as I have a page setup with schematics and diagrams I will mention it in a video.

@@UnquendorGuitars Thank you! ☺ I stay tuned! 😉

That is always a risk whenever you shape a neck…