Great work. One tip I can give you to drastically reduce your hand sanding time after the carving, as well as make the contour stay true to the curve your after, is to use a auto body repair style sanding block. Start with a 120 grit (US) and minimal pressure from the center and move diagonally to the edges with a little more pressure. It will knock of the high spots quickly. Go up and down the neck where you've carved without focusing on one spot too long. Remember not to push hard on the center or you'll keep losing thickness. The longer and wider you can make your strokes to the edges the better. Then move your grits of sandpaper gradually up to 800 grit (US). You can even take it up a notch by taping up the rest of the neck/guitar and spray a very light dusty coat of flat black spray paint where you'll be sanding. Once all the black paint is gone, you'll know it's dead level with itself. Cheers.
A good tool for this type of work is a spokeshave. Will do what the knife does, but the tool is specifically made for rounded wood shaping (they were originally designed for making cart wheels). Nice work on this project!
A good tip is to take a damp cloth to the bare wood in between the different sandpaper grades to raise the grain of the wood. Dry it off with a hairdryer then sand again. Do that about 3 times and it'll come out smooth as silk 👍
I love it, working on your area rug. Done that many times. Bloom where you’re planted, right? I like to use a single-source light - this way I can rotate the neck and “correct” for the shadows.
i put my old guitars away for a few years i was stuck in a powerchord rut ,then discovered youre channel and its made me bring out my old guitars and just get on with it and fully enjoying tinkering with them again .thanks :)
I'm not the only one who does this wherever it's comfortable! I started with a template and rasp since I was going from a C to a V profile. You really have to pull the neck off and secure it with clamps since there's more wood being removed ..but that's how I fine tuned it. On the floor at times too, honestly it's the best way to get the feel of it as you go. It's also why vacuum cleaners are made. I bought a Tele 60 American Original...perfect in every way except the neck was slightly too chunky for me. I love the V profile, so I was able to give it a nice V-ish profile but still keep that Tele feel to the neck. Like you said....go slooooow. I never had any intention of ever selling the guitar, so why not make it perfect for me.
Once the approximate shape is achieved, if you play the guitar for an hour with some 180 grit sand paper in the palm of your hand it will become a more natural asymetric shape. Then go through the grits to fine. Nice tip on the wax, I thought it might feel sticky but will try that now.
Did similar to a squier strat neck. Being cheap ish and bought for experimenting with, I rolled the edges and and re profiled the neck to a soft v. Was way easier than I expected and made it more playable for my hands
You are always doing something different in every video. I fully expect, one day, to see a new video entitled "Dave does open heart surgery while rewiring a 1968 Marshall" :). Best Regards and Best Wishes my good Sir.
I guess you missed #143 before it was taken down... I'm not sure Mr. Dave will try the open heart surgery thing again. That poor guy just screamed and screamed...
I just bought an H-B ST62DLX last week, and of course I watched the video you talked about here (3 years ago, wow). Fortunately, they have changed the neck. Now it's a thinner, caramelized maple neck, and it is just stunning! Now I know where they get their ideas from! Thanks a million, Dave, and keep up the good work!!! 👍
Hi Dave, in addition to the knife work have you thought about getting hold of a couple of cabinet scrapers? They are a bit of a faff to keep sharp but you can get curved ones the use of which reduces the amount of sanding necessary. I found this really helpful btw.
I have a tele with a slim/modern c neck. It’s pretty small, I thinks it’s harder to play the types of chords I play. I play thumb over the neck chords and I have to squeeze so hard because the neck is so thin. I played a fat u which actually felt better, I think a v neck is what I need.
I don't think I would have the "bottle" to do this but thank you for showing how you do this. I have sanded the gloss off the back of a polyester lacquered neck and this smoothed it off (less grippy) but did dull down the blue colour, which I didn't mind. I think here you are thinning the neck down rather than re-profiling it but never-the-less you are achieving what you want to achieve by making the neck more comfortable for yourself. What I mean by profile (or shape) is the neck shape i.e. C shape, D shape, V shape etc - here you have thinned the neck down maintaining the same shape or profile. To change the profile of the neck is getting into genuine luthier territory in my opinion. Good vid - thank you.
I've done this more than once. I haven't yet watched this but I've looked through the comments and got some very handy tips. The video awaits, it'll be interesting for sure. Taking the guesswork out of it - probably impossible unless you have done this before. So - try to have to hand another guitar with a neck you really like. Take the trouble to prepare templates for the first, seventh and twelfth frets ( or the tenth is it's a single cutaway job) and work out how to secure the guitar for the job which may take quite some time. Use the templates to work out the material you need to lose, use masking tape to get these lines on the neck. The first cut will be straight across to get a flat somewhere around your final thickness, the second and third will be to repeat this having used the templates drawn and superimposed to find the cord of the radius and rough-cut to those. All this material can be quickly and easily removed with a file. From these, a straight cabinet scraper will do the rest (A curved one doesn't help at all and getting an edge on those is a black art anyway). The rest is now sanding and - take the time with the temples and your comparison neck. Try to get another guitar to hand to work from and make these two comparative eets of templates. Best of luck! Now I'm going to watch the video to see how he does it.
I reshaped the neck on my Ibanez recently. Couldn't be happier. I used a mouse dancer and by hand. I just wish I had known to scrape the lacquer off first. I sanded it off with the electric mouse sander and it took forever!
What an absolute nutcase. My kind of guy. Function always before form. It's all about confidence and good hands. That's what Dave has and I don't. If I can ever afford some sort of Musicman bass (one of the cheaper ones such as Sterling or Sub) I would love to send it to him - I have small hands. But how do you know (especially with a bass) when you have gone too far? I suppose when the thing rears up and the fretboard folds in on itself? Then you can say "I better slow down now". Of course I have subscribed.
Love your channel Dave and especially loved the recent video of your 3 piece band you guys are great !! After you finished sanding and waxing 8 must say that on that instrument you sound alot like that Dave Simpson fella....
God forgive me for coveting your Stratelli...when you are just jamming I feel like Scallieri wishing he was blessed like Mozart. I appreciate your inspiration 👌👍🙏
that’s it! I’m reshaping my japanese fender tele! For some reason japanese fenders almost all go with the D shaped neck, and damn its huge…MASSIVE THANKS to you David
I'm doing this to my squire contemporary Jaguar right now. I am using 40grit aluminum oxide automotive sandpaper. It is removing wood at a fairly fast rate by hand but not so fast that I can mess it up easily. I am also leaving it tuned up and feeling it as I go.
Thanks so much for sharing this Dave. I'm so tempted to do this to my Yamaha Revstar. I didn't realize I could just a sharp knife to it like that. With enough patience, I reckon I could do it 🤙🎸🎶
The Neck thing is so interesting, somehow I'm the opposite idk why but with my small fingers I feel more comfortable on more of a thick c shape neck than a thinner neck shape.. Most people in guitar stores suggested me to get a guitar with a D shaped iby neck for small fingers.. After a while my hand cramps and playing with an round and thicker C shape neck I feel way better.. Also care about the fretboard radius to feel Comfy.. Finding the right neck shape is way more important than the guitar itself imo. And BTW great video!
What the heck Dave?! I got a Teisco style Strat almost identical to yours, then I found your videos about it, then i was thinking on reshaping the neck on one of my guitars and then you post this video, cheers from Mexicali, Mexico!
Take a sheet of 220 and fold it in half and tear along the fold then take those 2 sheets and fold those in half and tear the other way so you end up with 4 smaller sheets 4.5 x 5.5 inches. Now this time just fold the long way but don't tear it. Now start sanding cupping your hand to curve the sand paper around the neck. It won't take long to take off material and like Dave says leave the guitar strung and in tune so you can play it to see how you like it as you go. Take you time and once you like it use 400 then 600 and finish off the back of the neck either with paint or clear lacquer or the way I like it is pure bees wax and polish it. Shes a beauty neck now
Fantastic job and result Dave. I did the same on maple neck I got from eBay. ( maple with skunk stripe and glued on maple fretboard). I went in a second time with a knife, but then the skunk stripe became really thin. I had to soak it with super glue because it was so thin. After some light sanding, the neck was saved, but I nearly ruined it. So be cautious going too far!
Hi Dave, great video as always! I really want to try this out on a spare squier neck I have. I really like the soft v profile one of my necks has so want to try and replicate it!
I always thought that they put a skunk stripe in the neck instead of maple, after fitting the truss rod, as putting maple back in would leave what might look like a defect. Putting a skunk stripe like that makes it look like a feature. Good video as always
Hi Dave! Love the vids man.. Just had a set of Toneriders fitted to my strat! I'm in the process of sanding the neck atm.. How closet can you get to the edge (of the finger board)? Do you go right to the edge?
“I’m not a luthier” he says as he cuts into his neck with a knife he grabbed from the kitchen. “I can see that” says the luthier picking up his spokeshave plane 🤣
That was gutsy. I didn’t think it would work but you already knew it would because you’ve done it before. Good job applying the wax. That will seal the wood and prevent damage from the atmosphere. BTW have you ever tried a made in Japan 60s ST-62? They cost about half the price of the American Strat and the quality is incredible. The necks are made smaller for Japanese hands. I really like mine. 👍☮️🌞🎸❤️
It's funny you say you're not a Luthier yet do most things a Luthier does. Mr humble man lol. By the way it looks great, and happy for you that it's now comfortable to play Yet another very informative video 👍✌️
I've reshaped a couple of necks using a rasp and sand paper. Actually theres a whole other story about a Samick built Epiphone Les Paul bought cheap off ebay with a broken head stock, a failed repair and the eventual grafting of a chunk of mahogany a refret and the eventual fakery into a Gibson including 50's style headstock with a 17degree break angle and MOP inlays and side fret bindings. It then getting Stolen and turning up in a Pawn shop several months later with a £1000 price tab on it.but that's another story lol! A few years ago I bought a Squier Telecaster Custom 72reissue ( VintageVibe or HeritageVibe) or what ever vibe they were going for. I gotthe one with the Duncan Designed p90s . Unfortunatelythe neck was really fat unlike the neck on a fender 72 tele custom I thought about reshaping the neck but was offered good money for it so rather than devalue it I took the money. As it happened I'd just built a telecustom with humbuckers and a swampash body and a really nice flamed maple neck with lovely fretwork with hemispherical fret ends It played so well the squier had to go.
Thanks Dave, I bought a kit Strat last year, it works fine, but much like you`re problem, the neck is like a baseball bat, and almost impossible to play at present, I`ve tried to sand it down a bit, but that`s gonna take me a decade to do it like that, so as I`m a former cabinet maker, I also own a small knife similar to your Dad`s, and so I might do exactly what you`re doing there. 😎🎸
O know by your videos that you know what you are doing , but it hurts me just watching you , reshaping that neck ! I wouldn't have that courage of doing that to any of my guitars , they are like my babies ❤ But at same time i wish i have the expertise of knowing how to set up a guitar with so much confidence as you
Dave do t wory about he purest ...were players..I like to target shoot and my guns I will file and reshape the grips to mynliking..and I dnt wory about resale value..maybbi should but at the moment I'm more concerned with my interface with the tool feels as good as it can comfortably and cotrolable
How far down can you sand before the truss rod is a concern? I have a very thick necked Fender pro 2 that I want to do this on but the Skunk stripe makes me a bit nervous.
My problem is I want to reshape necks by making them fatter. Fat like a '58 Gibson Les Paul will do just fine. The anorexic slim shredder necks give my hand cramps.
It's been awhile since i've seen your videos. Just wondering if you stopped using solid state amps, I see some tube amps behind you. Either way you play great! Just curious,..Cheers!
Dave have you heard, Blackstar has just released a 50 watt all analog solid state combo for just over 200pounds. You might like it, edit: it's called the debut 50r
Polecam do polerowania zamiast papieru ściernego. Spróbuj szkłem obojętnie czym, ale żeby było z gładką krawędzią żeby nie powstały zadziory to szkło z gładką powierzchnią bez ostrej krawędzi. Nie wiem jak wytłumaczyć po angielsku haha
Hello, first i have to tell that i like your videos quite a lot. Well, most of them. But this time i miss a warning not to wear headphones before you start to work off the lacquer! What a horrible noise blown in my ears with the full "i'm listening to music that moves my old bones" volume and it peeled off the skin of my brain. 😂
