[charles Tauber]

Toothed plane blades are commercially available, but it is probably over-kill given that there isn't usually much to plane off on a commercially-purchased top and spruce is a very soft, easily worked wood.

Scrapers aren't fantastic on soft woods. They work, but there is a tendency to tear the wood. Still, even on soft woods they are a good choice for removing plane marks (tracks), levelling rosettes, etc. Better still is to learn better blade (iron) sharpening technique to eliminate the plane tracks. Skilled cabinet makers have this down pat.

In my opinion, cabinet scrapers are to instrument making what a light sabre is to a Jedi. One should learn how to use one. Inexpensive and indispensable. With good instruction, they are easy to sharpen and use.

I hand plane all my guitar tops. I plane each half along the grain with minimal overlap of the center seam. Tear-out is usually minimal, as is the overlap of the center seam. Then scrape and/or sand. Not really a problem. Also, use a plane with an adjustable throat and close the throat to the smallest setting that just allows the thickness of shaving you are taking. It can make a huge difference in eliminating/reducing tear-out.