Jon and Craig,

I thought a starting shot and my mindset would help with a good mental picture.

I start by working down to about a a few mm of thickness that I want at the 1st fret.
You can see the two tools I'll be using.



I got this close enough...about .920 and I'll probably end up with .820 or a little thicker...no less.

From here I'll do the same thing at the 12th fret but my targets are anywhere around .900 target .830 or about
10 thousandths thicker than the thickness at 1st fret.

So once I'm in the park at 1st and 12th I'll work inbetween and also the head and transition to body.

As I have done, I left a lot of wood where neck and body join. No reason other than that's the way I do it but
I won't use a file to get rid of it LOL...I'll get the side grinder and get it down.

Like I said...pretty boring. The real thing about this is...you can't put the wood back. :)

I don't use contour templates. Since this one is for me it will be by feel. If it where for somebody else I'd
be shaping as they wanted.
Some may not think much of it but ya know......guitarist can usually tell the difference of one thousandths with their
fingers. Most don't have any trouble telling the difference between a .008, 9 or 10 first string. Most carry that ability
on to the rest of the strings too......pretty cool.

I think that is the point I'd pass out.
 
One slip and it's wreckage, I guess there is no magic available here apart from pure skill, patience and constantly checking.
 
Definitely not 3 of my stronger traits.  I even get regular complaints for messing up a cheese block with the grater.
 
It truly is mind-blowing.

Nice! You're really going old school with the neck carve. I know at the local guitar builder they are using a shaper to get the rough profile and then using the rasp and files for final shaping. My friends at F-Bass shape the necks by hand with a draw knife and rasp. There's one guy that's been doing the necks for years and I always wonder what happens when a key person like that moves on.

Hats off to you for tackling a job like that, I can hardly wait to see it finished.

Jon you may notice in that close-up- one can see where I stop short of the fretboard. Filing into the fretboard is
the bad slip of which you speak. I haven't blown it yet by filing into the fretboard and sure not looking forward to
the day I do. I don't know of anything other than having to replace it should that happen.

John it's the only way I know. I thought of trying a draw knife but filing seems much better for a beginner like me. I'd probably
dig in to deep. Thank you both for the kudos...I appreciate that.

Well I got all the holes for the output jack and controls PLUS! The neck ruffed in.
Now its dialing it in and smoothing out the transition.

I'm posting this picture especially for Craig. He was curious why I put the Wenge piece on the neck.
It is just for looks. I wanted the Wenge laminates in the neck to "end" or tie-in with the head and body.
One can see and I think it worked. I like the look very much.

The headplates and set-in are the new things I wanted to incorporate and now I have built a set-up to
steam headplates and a mold to clamp them in to put the curve for Fender style heads.
Didn't know anything about steaming wood...it's cool.
I also ordered a block of Holly to make headplates. First time I've had Holly...man it is so beautiful white wood.
It seems like white ebony.
I think Gibson went from using black dyed Holly to a plastic that they have inlayed from China....and for some time
they used decals. Not much on Gibsons so I could be wrong.

Well here it is....ruffed in. I really like the backplate and the piece at the heel.
Down the road I have to learn how to do that with a tilted head (like Gibson).
I watched Led Zeppelins' Celabration video yesterday and man Jimmy played a boatload of beautiful guitars- one
of them had a black backplate....looked wonderful....and the most beautiful Black Beauty with 3 pups and Bigsby I've
ever seen.

Ooops, I nearly swore there.
 
Man you got that far already?
 
That neck join is looking beautiful now.

It just blows my mind that you did that with that file, a rasp.

Looks great spacey.

The Wenge lines look real straight on that curve.

Sweet.

Incredible craftsmanship, you got that neck carved out quick and it looks awesome, love the stripes on it and the wood pattern on the body (facing). Can't wait to see it all finished. 

Wow!

Thank you guys!

Yeah that file will sure tear up some wood.

I guess it does seem fast but that was just to get it down.

I've been working on it some more and still much more to do tomorrow.
It's gets slower the closer ya get. I'd probably get done quicker if I didn't
have so much air guitar time....well it keeps it fun!
.....I'm tired.