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I could go archive diving and find some of these I'm sure. I've got to set up an accurate way of thicknessing this part of the neck. I have a Wagner power planer on my drill press. I've been less than successful with it, maybe it's technique?

I've used my benchtop sander to some degree, but need to jig it so it's much more accurate than hand sanding it. Any ideas? TIA, Bruce

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I do mine on a disc sander,like Robbie O`brien teaches in his video.
               james

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I do mine like John Mayes. Get his neck making DVD.
Sorry, I looked for pictures and I don't have anything. John's DVD is well worth the money.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

I thickness it from the top just after joint the scarf jiont.

Sometimes i will cut it close to thickness on the bandsaw and then clean it
with a block plane.

If i need a little more taken off later i use the wagner.
You need a realy stable drill press for the wagner to work.

Joel.

Cut close to size on the bandsaw, then clean up to final thickness in my shopbuilt thickness sander .. creates a lovely volute at the same time.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I use my thickness sander, only takes a few minutes.

I've used a Robo-Sander in the drill press. Needs a sturdy fence, though. sort of like a vertical thickness sander.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

We use a belt sander.

The pic below is a bridge but the headstock works the same way and makes a great volute as Tony says.



Bob

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

How do you do this on a thickness sander. We are talking about a drum sander right. Do you shut off the feed table and feed it by hand? Is your headstock attached to the neck at this point or do you do this before joining the scarf joint?

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Guitars, guitars and more guitars.

I cut to rough with bandsaw then use the Wagner Slayer planer.  Wished there were a better way.

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

I have a jig that I mount my neck in and cut to thickness on a bandsaw, with the proper blade( I use my resaw blade) it's nearly perfect right then and there.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

I'm with Rich. Once I get the face of the headstock and the gluing surface for the fingerboard right w/r each other, I thickness the headstock (and the neck shaft for that matter) with the Wagner fingernail nibbler.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

This could be fun (just fer roughin' in...)

I found a pic in the archives showing a small delta sander tabletop type with a plywood adjusable wing.

Problem with mine is it's quite worn and the bed will raise about a 1/2 inch when wiggled up and down. I may be able to tighten the allen head screw at the motorized end which holds it all?

Time to bring in my big floor model. My shop just keeps getting smaller. Rod.... help!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

hey bob,
your system looks like it makes a lot of sense - and even leaves room to tuck the end of a shop vac in somewhere. could you show us another picture or two of how you make adjustments?
phil

Just a couple of wing-nuts Phil

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Bruce, I made this simple jig that works well for
headstocks and other things like brace ends and bridge wings.It makes a nice volute too.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I use a scarfe joint.
I thin it with a jack plane.
I taper the neck in the same way.
Select the grain direction before glueing the headstock on.
Mark it out carefully and double check your progress at regular intervals.
Plane away from the centre of the joint
Clean it up on a large sanding block.
Gets nice results
Takes about 15 minutes with care.

Claire

Home-built thickness sander here as well. 

I use a 3" drum to shape up to the volute (tuner side),I use a 2" drum on the shaft side of the volute, then I thickness sand the remainder of the underside of the headstock using the open end of my 16/32. I will stop just a fraction shy of bringing it totally level, and smooth it with a sanding block. Very slight hand sanding, but if you try to use the drum to take it dead flat the end of the drum will rub the volutes radius. Works pretty nice for me.

Rich

Drum sander here, just like Tony Karol described.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

My shop built uses a sled ... so no feed system to turn off !!! Just slip the headstock in upside down to snad the back side and you are there ... pretty simple really. Its just like the stationary belt sander setup shown above, but in a 6 inch drum sander with a bigger table

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I use the method Bob Benedetto shows in his book. Get the upper surface flat, then glue a 1/8" shim to the tip of the upper surface of the paddle (this establishes a subtle taper to the headstock). On a drill press, passes under a rotary file will reduce thickness as required (Benedetto suggests safe-t-planer.....hate those things!) Remember to measure thicknesses of front & back face veneers first, so you can plane to correct thickness for your tuners to work (You're probably sensing I know this from experience!)

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Dave
Milton, ON

I use a router to profile my necks. I got the idea from Ryan's website and it
does give you a lot of accuracy and precision. Ideally, it would be nice to
have a shaper for the task but I can route away the excess in just two
passes. Obviously, you need to remove most of the extra material
beforehand.

Handplane for initial thicknessing (from the front, after scarfing), then either a router jig and rasp or (now that I have it) a drum sander/end of the belt sander, creating a nice, even surface for the backstrapping.