Now that the guitar has been under string tension for a day of so, Mark went on to shape the fretboard this morning. The first photo shows his neck dial indicator tool in place over the center of the fingerboard.
The second photo shows a graph of the data points before doing any shaping. The nut is at the left end of the graph and the right end of the curve is a point near the sound hole. The upper curve is Mark’s theoretically perfect target curve. The lower curve is the actual shape of the fingerboard based on the dial indicator measurements. You can see in lower curve the the classic “body hump” at the neck joint.
The third photo shows the curve after shaping. Mark has found that it’s not necessary to match the “theoretical” curve exactly. Establishing a smooth curve that is close to the target it is his goal.
The fourth photo shows bass, middle and treble curves taken across the fretboard. The upper, yellow curve is the curve between the E and B strings. The lower yellow curve is between the low E and A strings. The treble curve is ‘flatter’ than the bass curve indicating less relief. Mark went on to correct the “kick up” seen at the right end of the graph after the photo was taken.
