Hi chaps, thought I would compose a discussion to while away a dreary and quiet Saturday.
I've been thinking recently about neck taper, as you would find on any production guitar. I believe this would always usually be done with a band saw, however for better or for worse I try to do everything with hand tools...
I had a go at doing a neck taper on the mandolin neck I've been working on. The way I went about it was to glue the fretboard to the neck, then mark the taper (37-32mm), then use a rasp to eat away the excess material on either side. Seems to have worked ok to my eye, but the proof of the pudding is in the stringing up and playing, as they say.
I've given it a bit more thought recently and thought it might be easier to taper the fretboard before gluing it on, thne shaping the neck to match...
Has anyone attempted this before? A fool's errand? Please share your knowledge and experiences.
Cheers!
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mate just rule the line on the face, flip it on its side and start planing...
if you do ever get the power back on then a bandsaw is good for taking an initial slice, but its gonna scar it up. A disc sander is the man for the job imho, give you a nice straight line in seconds.
I'd taper a diddy bo neck myself, big square ones look (& feel) dog ugly and amateur to me
Hey Richey, as I told you in an earlier message I would draw the taper lines on the neck and then go at it with rasps. What I forgot to add is that the quality of the rasp makes a pretty big difference. Last year I purchased a set of hand cut Dragon rasps from Stew Mac. They cost as much as some of my power tools and I questioned my wisdom until I started using them. A quality hand tool is a real joy to use and now my Nicholson rasps rarely get used. But I still use the band saw for neck tapers to save time and to save my wrist and finger joints so I can play a little when the instrument's done!
Thanks Jim. I have been seriously considering dropping some cash on some nice hand stitched rasps. The mando seems to be coming on well, thanks for your help thus far!
I mark it out accurately and then work carefully towards the lines. I've made a few taper necks quite happily with hand tools - a couple of saws, a plane, a large and small small surform, a 4-way shoe rasp, sandpaper and cabinet scrapers. I always glue the fingerboard on afterwards and then finally shape it to the neck, but that's just my preference.
Doing things by eye and hand is the way to go..if you can't do it that way, ultimately power tools will be of no real use to you. Set it out and mark it out accurately, go steady and use your eyes and hands constantly to check. Sight down the neck, feel with your hands and with a bit of practice you'll be surprised at how accurate this can be. I can usually tell just by running my hand down a neck whether it's accurately cut and shaped...to within a millimeter or less. The more you do this, the better you'll get, and you'll soon realise that there's absolutely no substitute for these hands-on skills..power workshop tools are great, but they are an adjunct to handworking skills, not a substitute for them,
Richey Kay > ChickenboneJohnJune 8, 2014 at 4:05am
Thanks John. I believe you're right. I seem to be able to shape necks pretty accurately now with hand tools, and as mentioned I would rather do everything by hand than use power tools, where possible.
Well, you play guitars with your hands, too, don't you? If you can fret a note accurately, you can do other things with your hands, too, can't you? All power tools do is save you time magnifying your mistakes. They can be really useful, but your eyes and hands, as CBJ sez, are amazingly accurate.
Hmm. I learned something here. My main conclusion is that doing a nice smooth taper is beyond my humble skills. A good band saw and operator seems the way to go.
I have used them all, the band saw, fret board first with a rasp and with the fret board attached with a rasp and the method I like the best is none. Mandolins are the only ones I will taper the neck on now and I taper the Alder fret board with a band saw first then rasp the Poplar neck down to it. With this 100 degree weather this week in Sacramento, I am not doing anything.
Replies
mate just rule the line on the face, flip it on its side and start planing...
if you do ever get the power back on then a bandsaw is good for taking an initial slice, but its gonna scar it up. A disc sander is the man for the job imho, give you a nice straight line in seconds.
I'd taper a diddy bo neck myself, big square ones look (& feel) dog ugly and amateur to me
Hey Richey, as I told you in an earlier message I would draw the taper lines on the neck and then go at it with rasps. What I forgot to add is that the quality of the rasp makes a pretty big difference. Last year I purchased a set of hand cut Dragon rasps from Stew Mac. They cost as much as some of my power tools and I questioned my wisdom until I started using them. A quality hand tool is a real joy to use and now my Nicholson rasps rarely get used. But I still use the band saw for neck tapers to save time and to save my wrist and finger joints so I can play a little when the instrument's done!
Thanks Jim. I have been seriously considering dropping some cash on some nice hand stitched rasps. The mando seems to be coming on well, thanks for your help thus far!
I mark it out accurately and then work carefully towards the lines. I've made a few taper necks quite happily with hand tools - a couple of saws, a plane, a large and small small surform, a 4-way shoe rasp, sandpaper and cabinet scrapers. I always glue the fingerboard on afterwards and then finally shape it to the neck, but that's just my preference.
Doing things by eye and hand is the way to go..if you can't do it that way, ultimately power tools will be of no real use to you. Set it out and mark it out accurately, go steady and use your eyes and hands constantly to check. Sight down the neck, feel with your hands and with a bit of practice you'll be surprised at how accurate this can be. I can usually tell just by running my hand down a neck whether it's accurately cut and shaped...to within a millimeter or less. The more you do this, the better you'll get, and you'll soon realise that there's absolutely no substitute for these hands-on skills..power workshop tools are great, but they are an adjunct to handworking skills, not a substitute for them,
Thanks John. I believe you're right. I seem to be able to shape necks pretty accurately now with hand tools, and as mentioned I would rather do everything by hand than use power tools, where possible.
Hmm. I learned something here. My main conclusion is that doing a nice smooth taper is beyond my humble skills. A good band saw and operator seems the way to go.
I have used them all, the band saw, fret board first with a rasp and with the fret board attached with a rasp and the method I like the best is none. Mandolins are the only ones I will taper the neck on now and I taper the Alder fret board with a band saw first then rasp the Poplar neck down to it. With this 100 degree weather this week in Sacramento, I am not doing anything.
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