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And for a bit more than $100 less.

i can only say that my liogiers are really nice rasps.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

What size/grain # rasp have you found most useful for neck shaping mahognay necks.
Speed would not be my first priority - finish and ability to work out fine detail at the nut and heel would be. (I do have several spoke shaves for roughing in the neck)

If I have to pick one - what would you recommend?

I know some of the people from this thread are not even here anymore so you won't hear from them. I'll just put in my 2 cents to say that I bought the coarse Dragon rasp from Stew Mac about a year ago and I liked it so much that I got the fine one too. They both really compliment each other well. But for roughing out a neck if I could only get one I'd get the coarse one.

I have two:
- 10" 9 grain (coarse)
- 7" 13 grain (fine)

Of these, I found myself using both equally, but the smaller 7" was essential when working details. It was the size more so than the coarseness that I found essential.

The small fine and small coarse SM dragon rasps have become my favorite tools for shaping the headstock/neck transition and for shaping the heel and the heel neck transition. Mostly the fine one. As mentioned, with the sharp point it's great for detail work.

Also this Grobet rasp gets a huge amount of use around the shop, mostly for smoothing neck transitions and ramping slotheads.

https://www.amazon.com/Grobet-Swiss-Pat ... 4%3AGrobet

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I have the two dragon rasps, and they will get the job done. Also I have three Liogier rasps, two cabinet makers a 10" "12" tooth? a 6" "14" tooth and a square 6" 12 tooth. The 10" 12 tooth takes over where the dragon leave off, I can see a 12" 14 or 15 tooth in my future. The 6" 14 tooth is great for bridge carving and finishing up around the headstock 15 tooth or finer would be nice. The little square is not used that much, I grab the 6" 14 tooth cabinet makers instead. The liogier are definitely worth the money they really deliver.

My mother bought me a Liogier rasp several years ago for Christmas (what a great gift). It's a lovely tool.....

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

Hand stitched rasps are great.

If you aren't doing much rasp work now - I would start with a Nicholson #50. While not hand stitched - It's a quality rasp.

Stepping up - I like my Auriou (pre-Lioger... Se family). I have a right handed #12 that's 12" long. I really like it - because you can really work a neck quickly - but but it still leaves relatives fine scratches. I go from that to 80 grit sandpaper.

A comment about right handed vs left handed. This refers to the orientation of the teeth... A right handed rasp would be held pointed at about a 45 degree angle across the work towards your left. A left handed rasp would be held pointing at about a 45 degree angle across the worm towards your right.

These rasps cut real nice and clean pointed the right direction - but can leave a lot of scratches pointed "backwards". Aka - angling a right handed rasp towards your right side.

When you are doing necks - especially the heel and neck transition - you are going to want a rasp that cuts nice and clean when you are pointing it "backwards." That's where I have wanted the "Left handed" rasp.. But I have just never gotten one.

So... I think I would get a fairly fine hand cut rasp. I like the #12 a lot. But I have to admit I like the huge one for neck duty.

From the top down:
12", 8-Grain Cabinet rasp from The Best Things (Made by Logier). I find a larger rasp a lot easier for making long smooth transitions.
Original Nicholson #49
Original Nicholson #50
Logier 9-grain model maker's rasp. I find this very handy for shaping the transition from nut area to the peghead.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

My Auriou rasp is one of my treasured possessions. I thought you couldn't get them anymore. Is the Logier the same?

Not the same, but both are hand-made in France and are of equivalent quality. Noel was posting here for a few weeks, which is how they came to my attention. Do a forum search for Liogier and I'm sure those first discussions will come up. You'll have a chance to read about his background and rasps.

For those on a tight budget I have 1 chinese swordfish rasp. which was bought 20 yrs ago.Howard core sells them, now.Also e bay has chinese rasps for a very low price,.

Anyone tried to order from Liogier lately? I've been trying for a couple weeks with no luck. Keep getting an error on the site when I try to add to my cart.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I sent Liogier and email saying the same thing, he responded that he's having some trouble with his web site, but send him an email and he will take your order and get you an invoice.

I sent an email yesterday. Glad to hear her responds. Got a couple of necks to shape and I'm ready for some quality ramps! Thinking of getting the 3 piece starter set.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I couldn/t make contact via their online page , sent a seperate e- mail. Got a reply in 3 days

Got a reply. He'll send a PayPal invoice once I decide what I want. Looking forward to getting some quality rasps!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

I prefer to use a small drawknife and spokeshave to carve the main length wise parts of the neck and the smaller details with rasps .files and sandpaper.Sharp tools cut cleaner

If these are the same Liogier rasps available at Lee Valley I bought one a while back, an 8" round
It was pricey but top notch quality!!
cheers
charlie

The quality of the Liogier rasps is incredible. I have 8 of them. Service is top notch.....

However..... as a Southpaw, I have always adapted and gotten by with all things right-handed since birth. I even play Guitar/Mandolin/Fiddle/ and, please excuse me for this, Banjo right-handed, as left handed instruments were few and far between in the time more than half a century ago when I took them up.

When I saw the "left-handed" option from Liogier I couldn't appreciate the advantage, but thought what the heck, it can't hurt?

The proof IS in the pudding..... The cut and chip clearing is a clear advantage to us of the 10%....

I can't imagine why I would use any other rasp.

Mike

oops I thought this was a new thread

I'm late to this discussion but wanted to add my $.02 to all the acclaims for Liogier rasps and to add a few things that have not been mentioned yet in this discussion. These are by far the finest rasps I have ever used. The first ones I got were gifts but I have bought a few since then as well. Here are my additional points:

1. It is the holiday season, and these make great gifts, especially for someone like me that usually tends to cheap out on tools. If the gift giver doesn't know what he/she wants, that is no problem. Just contact Liogier and tell them what the person makes and they will let you know what you need. Note that as a rule I never trust companies to pick things out for me but in this case these folks really do know what you need.

2. This is sort of a continuation of #1. Ordering can be intimidating, because there are a bewildering number of options on their website. But Noel truly knows this stuff so if in doubt just contact him and tell him what you are doing and he will recommend the right tools. Back when I edited the American Lutherie Questions Column, Noel was my go to expert for answers to any questions about files and rasps. In the context of that column, there were only a handful of people I could count on to have perfect knowledge of their fields, and Noel was one of them. I remember a question that came in asking to identify an appropriate file for shaping the tops of bone nuts. We got a bunch of "you could try this or that" type of answers, but Noel knew exactly the size, shape, and tooth count for this work. When I asked how he knew all that with such precision, he told me it was because they make surgical rasps for orthopedic surgeons. Imagine!

3. These tools are hand made to order. Consider the implications of that. Any size, any shape, any tooth density, etc. If there is some shaping operation you currently do on a regular basis (like the guy who was shaping the tops of nuts) there very well may be a rasp that can be made that would help do that faster and more accurately. All this by way of saying that you are not limited to what is in the Liogier catalog. They can and will make anything.

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R.M. Mottola
LiutaioMottola.com

Author of the books Building the Steel String Acoustic Guitar and Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms.