Neck shave

[marciero]

I have a beautiful custom archtop with a gorgeous flame maple neck that is 11 years old. The back of the neck has those wear spots where it looks like the finish is gone but it is the stain that has worn off with some finish left and still smooth. Very cool. I've gone back and forth on the idea of having it shaved as I went a bit overboard on the thickness. It goes from 0.915 to 1.04 at 11th fret. It is also very full C so I was thinking making it slightly less full, and maybe even keeping the thickness in the center. It's weird because I've typically not liked V or even soft V. I have gypsy jazz guitars that are very sharp U shape-much sharper than any non gypsy type guitars - and I really like the feel of those, though I would not want that on a non gypsy. One of them is also pretty fat, but not as fat as the archtop. So is a combo of thickness and shoulder. Those guitars have wider fingerboard too- 1 13/16 vs 1 34/, complicating things. The thickness on the archtop also makes the fingerboard feel narrower. I'd resolved to leaving as is but a recently acquired acoustic guitar has soft V with about the same center thickness at the high frets- I didnt measure but the spec says 1.018 at 9th fret- and has me thinking about this again. I have a feeling I know what the advice is going to be...
(not having luck inserting images...)



https://www.dropbox.com/s/sd0ftmpu1u..._3011.JPG?dl=0

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by marciero

I have a beautiful custom archtop with a gorgeous flame maple neck that is 11 years old. The back of the neck has those wear spots where it looks like the finish is gone but it is the stain that has worn off with some finish left and still smooth. Very cool. I've gone back and forth on the idea of having it shaved as I went a bit overboard on the thickness. It goes from 0.915 to 1.04 at 11th fret. It is also very full C so I was thinking making it slightly less full, and maybe even keeping the thickness in the center. It's weird because I've typically not liked V or even soft V. I have gypsy jazz guitars that are very sharp U shape-much sharper than any non gypsy type guitars - and I really like the feel of those, though I would not want that on a non gypsy. One of them is also pretty fat, but not as fat as the archtop. So is a combo of thickness and shoulder. Those guitars have wider fingerboard too- 1 13/16 vs 1 34/, complicating things. The thickness on the archtop also makes the fingerboard feel narrower. I'd resolved to leaving as is but a recently acquired acoustic guitar has soft V with about the same center thickness at the high frets- I didnt measure but the spec says 1.018 at 9th fret- and has me thinking about this again. I have a feeling I know what the advice is going to be...
(not having luck inserting images...)



https://www.dropbox.com/s/sd0ftmpu1u..._3011.JPG?dl=0

Marciero,
Whatever you do, make sure that the carving takes place while it is strung, and you keep playing it, handing it back & forth to the luthier.

Whatever 'differences' you've felt with other guitars has really NOTHING to do with THIS particular guitar. The human body is FAR more sensitive than the logical mind can fathom, and if you try to transfer traits of one guitar type/shape/size to another, you may be greatly disappointed.

When Woody Mann was alive, he'd had another guitar built by John Monteleone. He took it home to live with it a bit, and then brought it back to John to re-carve the neck, while it was strung, passed back & forth, until it felt right.

Like many of us, Woody was incredibly sensitive to the smallest differences.

I've lost count of how many threads & posts by forum members prove, unequivocally, that advising a bunch of numbers & specs do NOT a perfect feel/sound make.... but still they keep on trying.

It's probably an attempt to avoid making a mistake, but frankly a mistake teaches far more than any 10 page thread could ever teach.

Your hands, your ears, your guitar.

Best,
Howard Emerson

[marciero]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Marciero,
Whatever you do, make sure that the carving takes place while it is strung, and you keep playing it, handing it back & forth to the luthier.

Whatever 'differences' you've felt with other guitars has really NOTHING to do with THIS particular guitar. The human body is FAR more sensitive than the logical mind can fathom, and if you try to transfer traits of one guitar type/shape/size to another, you may be greatly disappointed.

When Woody Mann was alive, he'd had another guitar built by John Monteleone. He took it home to live with it a bit, and then brought it back to John to re-carve the neck, while it was strung, passed back & forth, until it felt right.

Like many of us, Woody was incredibly sensitive to the smallest differences.

I've lost count of how many threads & posts by forum members prove, unequivocally, that advising a bunch of numbers & specs do NOT a perfect feel/sound make.... but still they keep on trying.

It's probably an attempt to avoid making a mistake, but frankly a mistake teaches far more than any 10 page thread could ever teach.

Your hands, your ears, your guitar.

Best,
Howard Emerson

Thanks I appreciate this. I actually tried the guitar before finishing to check out the neck and could have done this. At the time I had obsessed over fingerboard width and thought I should have gone with 1 13/16, so wanted to leave it thick, even though it felt thick, as I have large hands and necks have always been too small. But yeah- that makes sense about not being able to transfer one neck feel to another-regardless of spec.

[JKA]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Marciero,
Whatever you do, make sure that the carving takes place while it is strung, and you keep playing it, handing it back & forth to the luthier.

Whatever 'differences' you've felt with other guitars has really NOTHING to do with THIS particular guitar. The human body is FAR more sensitive than the logical mind can fathom, and if you try to transfer traits of one guitar type/shape/size to another, you may be greatly disappointed.

When Woody Mann was alive, he'd had another guitar built by John Monteleone. He took it home to live with it a bit, and then brought it back to John to re-carve the neck, while it was strung, passed back & forth, until it felt right.

Like many of us, Woody was incredibly sensitive to the smallest differences.


I've lost count of how many threads & posts by forum members prove, unequivocally, that advising a bunch of numbers & specs do NOT a perfect feel/sound make.... but still they keep on trying.

It's probably an attempt to avoid making a mistake, but frankly a mistake teaches far more than any 10 page thread could ever teach.


Your hands, your ears, your guitar.

Best,
Howard Emerson

Howard, that's great advice. I'm always bemused by 'correct' figures, particularly when it comes to the action on a guitar. The only truth is how it feels when we play. I don't even know the width of my fingerboards other than they all feel slightly different, as my neck carves do, but all within tolerance.
Keith

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by JKA

Howard, that's great advice. I'm always bemused by 'correct' figures, particularly when it comes to the action on a guitar. The only truth is how it feels when we play. I don't even know the width of my fingerboards other than they all feel slightly different, as my neck carves do, but all within tolerance.
Keith

Keith,
Thanks! I had a student many years ago who was as adept at playing jazz as he was at doing Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff. He could play rings around me, but he wanted to learn fingerstyle, so we hit it off.

He always brought his vintage 1957 Strat to particular guitar tech who did everything with a ruler/gauge, but one day he asked if I could set it up for him, and I said "Sure. Bring it next time."

All I did was restring it, hand it to him, and asked how that feels. He pointed out what was good and what was not, and handed it back to me.

I got out my Allen keys and adjusted the saddles as indicated, just a little at a time, and handed it back to him. Within 15 minutes he was thrilled, for a big $25, and without having to be without his guitar for whatever amount of time.

If your hands don't tell you what feels right, there are bigger issues to deal with.

Best,
Howard Emerson

[JKA]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

Keith,
Thanks! I had a student many years ago who was as adept at playing jazz as he was at doing Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff. He could play rings around me, but he wanted to learn fingerstyle, so we hit it off.

He always brought his vintage 1957 Strat to particular guitar tech who did everything with a ruler/gauge, but one day he asked if I could set it up for him, and I said "Sure. Bring it next time."

All I did was restring it, hand it to him, and asked how that feels. He pointed out what was good and what was not, and handed it back to me.

I got out my Allen keys and adjusted the saddles as indicated, just a little at a time, and handed it back to him. Within 15 minutes he was thrilled, for a big $25, and without having to be without his guitar for whatever amount of time.

If your hands don't tell you what feels right, there are bigger issues to deal with.

Best,
Howard Emerson

Amen to that.