Removing excess wood from the ‘shoulders’ of the neck before final shaping.
Note the cardboard hourglass shape resting across the vise. This is the template Tom’s using to shape the neck’s profile. My 12-year-old Circa OM has a neck profile inspired by that of a vintage Martin, and one I find just perfect for my hands, so I specified the same profile when my Bashkin and Buendia were built. That way, whichever guitar I pick up will have an identical neck and feel familiar and comfortable.
I wanted the same profile for this build also, so I used a fine-toothed contour gauge to get the Circa’s profile at frets 2 and 9, where Tom requested them, traced the curves onto a piece of sturdy cardboard, cut them out and then sent the template to Tom.
Using the template to check the profile at fret 2.
Once the excess wood is removed, the basic shaping is done with a rasp.
