Carving a neck from start to finish (SECRETS REVEALED)
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- Опубліковано 21 лип 2024
- Do you want to see more content like this? Comment below!
Neck carving is a long arduous task, but so much fun. Hopefully you enjoyed the ride of carving this cherry neck, and picked up some nice little tips along the way. All music played by Will McNicol, on his custom Tom Sands guitar.
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Bio:
Tom Sands is a luthier renowned for creating some of the most responsive guitars in the world. Since apprenticing for Ervin Somogyi, Tom has taken his talents to North Yorkshire, building custom acoustic guitars from the Tom Sands Guitars workshop. Subscribe to the channel for weekly videos, ranging from Tommy’s Tonewoods, Guitar rundowns, to beautiful live sessions from independent artists. Join the community here, we love ya x
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00:00 Intro
00:44 Flattening the Fretboard
02:08 Preparing the neck
06:00 Roughing out the shape
07:42 Check in with Tom
08:30 1st and 9th Fret Carving
09:23 Checking the shape
10:10 Joining the dots
11:15 Preparing the heel
12:08 Chiselling the heel
12:50 Tools and carving processes
14:13 Carving the volute
15:30 Process insight
16:51 Refinements
17:32 Using light!
18:14 Carving out tools marks
19:30 Somogyi's Secret Technique
21:20 Sanding the back of the neck
22:55 Reviewing
24:40 Outro
Tags:
Tom Sands Guitars, Tom, Sands, Tom Sands, Lutherie, Luthier, Handmade, custom guitars, acoustic, acoustics, acoustic guitars, expensive guitars, woodworking, woodwork, live sessions, steel string guitars, guitars, workshop, shop sessions, shop, sessions, tommy’s tonewood, tommy, tonewood, tonewoods
I’d really love to see much more of this type of hands-on woodworking demonstration and explanation for various parts of your builds. Your explanations of the tools you choose to use, what you’re looking to achieve (and carefully avoid) in each process, and some inside tips/tricks, are super interesting and helpful! It’s so cool to see the work in action AND hear the explanations.
You also did a great job of balancing the talking time versus purely woodworking sounds in the audio without overpowering them with loud music - nice film/editing work!
Next, I’d love to watch and hear how you thickness the top plate. I assume this is a substantial part of achieving “your sound” consistently from one guitar to the next.
Prospective questions to address:
- How do you decide on the maximum and minimum thicknesses (or flexibility) in certain areas of the top?
- Do you shoot for specific resonant pitches in certain areas of the plate?
- What tools/techniques do you use to safely remove small amounts of material/stiffness/mass from specific areas?
- Why those areas? More/less taper in certain grain directions? Near/between certain braces/bridge edges, etc.?
- Are your bridge mass, profile, and height always the same, so you can rely on that as a constant factor to the plate thicknessing/voicing process? If not, how do you adjust? (Maybe also make a bridge shaping video?)
- Do you dome your tops? What radius? Same radius for each top, or differently depending on stiffness of the specific board? Why?
- How do you treat the back plate, relative to this top plate technique? (Maybe a brief answer to this, then make another video explaining/showing that process in detail?)
In general, it’s not necessarily helpful/important to share your specific numbers for thickness or flexibility or frequencies, but it would be great to hear about the effects and relationships of those factors as far as you consider them important and controllable. Though, I’d love to know if you tune certain parts of the top & back in a specific interval (in a private message?)…
Thanks!
PS. You could call these your “hands-on deep dive” video series.
Thank you! Really appreciate it
That flat board with sandpaper! Of course! OMG, so simple and obvious once one sees it!
Love seeing your process and how you go about creating your necks.
excelent work
Lovley video! Made my day.
Cheers!
Loooove this, thanks for sharing your craft!
So welcome, we’re thinking to do more of these. Any ideas for topics would be welcomed!
@@TomSandsGuitars honestly any part of the build you do would be delightful to see. I’d love to see you track a build from start to finish! But I understand that’d be a big project.
Great video - love seeing all the craft that goes into making a special instrument
Thanks for watching, any video ideas would be greatly appreciated
I absolutely love this type of video! Always fun to see the master at work.
This is just great, Tom: it almost makes me want to make a guitar myself! Thanks for sharing
Do it!!
Loved this a lot
Glad it was useful!
Definitely content worth watching! Love the board technique, going to have to implement that one. Thanks Tom!
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Thanks very much for this informative video, Tom! I very much enjoyed seeing how the neckwork is done.
So welcome! We hope to make more of them soon
Great explanation and very satisfying to watch!
Great video Tom. Super interesting to see the level of craft that goes into making these guitars
Thanks Rob!
Very enjoyable and interesting, Tom, thanks!
Glad you like it Nicolai! Have you build with Cherry necks?
@@TomSandsGuitars my necks are almost always spruce with a veneer wrapped around. But I use cherry all the time for headstocks, heels, and the blocks that go into my semiacoustic builds.
Thank you! 👏
You're welcome!
Fantastic help for me, as I'm just about to start my first handmade/carved guitar. I am soo steeling your neck carving jig idea... Thanks!
very much worth watching, would love to see more videos like it!
Let me know what you’d like us to cover and we’ll try our best
@@TomSandsGuitars honestly, more on glueing thin stock to make the book matched backs, bracing and joining the front and back to the sides
Ace video. The neck carve is one of my favourite parts of any build.
Definitely!
Thanks, Tom! Very enjoyable and educational - please do more!
What would you like to see Steve?
@@TomSandsGuitars Tuning the top (I'd really like to know how you determine what wood/combination you will use on what guitar - do the woods guide you, or are you looking for a tone, etc.)
What a wonderfully useful video for aspiring neck-carvers out there. Thanks for sharing your tools and process. That cherry neck looks sharp and WOW that fretboard!
Thank you! The neck and fingerboard are an unlikely combo at first glance but they work so well together!
yeahman.
this vid is both intense, and zen-like.
now i see how you're able to create such superbly aesthetic instruments.
i'd love to someday play one of these exquisite guitars .. .
Excellent video, as always! Thanks for educating us newbies. Cheers!
My pleasure!
Thanks! As a Tommy's Tonewoods addict, it's also great to see the processes involved in the creation of a masterpiece. Looking forward to more…
What would you like to see next?
Shaving the top braces and your process/thoughts with that to get the sound you are looking for. Please!
Thanks, Tom, for taking the time to do the video. It's much appreciated, and I would love to see more of this kind of video.
Glad folks are finding it helpful, what other video topics would you like to see covered?
@@TomSandsGuitars How to do lattice type bracing on softer wood backs. How you do the bending and construction for the sharp cutaways. I honestly find most things interesting when it's done by a master craftsman.
brilliant video
Glad you enjoyed it
Best videos for a new luthier! Thanks you!
You’re so welcome
Big thanks, that was really helpful. I`m looking foreward for more informative vids.
How can we inform you? Let us know which topics you’d like covered
@@TomSandsGuitars Any aspect in the building process Tom. It`s all interesting to me.
Love the video
Thanks Phil
MORE OF THESE VIDEOS!!!
What do you want to know/learn/see?
@@TomSandsGuitars making nuts/ saddles, and maybe fretwork. But to be honest id watch 99% of the things you make anyway so whatever youd like?
Thanks Tom always great to pick up new tricks😊
You’re welcome dude!
Loving these videos Tom. Great quality on the production and brilliant insight into a process that isn't really shown well on UA-cam. All the best
Ah thanks very much! Anything else you’d like to see?
@@TomSandsGuitars I'd love to see how you finish your guitars. Oils etc. And I would also like to see how you do your bracing and binding. Very glad i stumbled across your channel!!
Great info! I will definitely be implementing the board technique on my next one.
Yes!!
thanks for the video i shape necks in much the same way really like your neck holding jig i see ways to improve my neck jig from your video again thanks a million these videos are helpfull to anyone who builds.
Great job, thanks! I will use that MDF trick in the future.
Woop Woop!
Wonderfully informative video. I hope you will upload more videos showing your building techniques, thank you.
We’re hoping to do a full build one of these days, which techniques are you interested in?
@@TomSandsGuitars Hi Tom, I'm just a hobbyist builder and I dearly want to raise my game. I've built 16 acoustics so far, all with dovetailed necks, which I find quite difficult. I notice nowadays many highly regarded luthiers are now using bolt on necks and I am now considering this option. I feel that the neck to body joint is possibly the most crucial (and difficult) part of the build. An advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in anticipation, Dave.
Love this.
Love YOU!
Great content. The fingers are great measuring devices...
They sure are, an old machinists test was to see if they could detect the presence of a human hair between the pages of a bible.
Awesome video, would love to see how you make a rosette
Oh wow the little tip with using the shadow to see the contour of the neck is priceless Thanks for the uploads great video
Ahh glad you liked it!!
Let me know what other tips and tricks you’d like to see more of
As a fledgling builder (working on #1), I’m loving this content. I learned valuable tips. Can’t wait to start neck #2. Now I can buy more tools!
Great to hear!
This is brilliant. I've been telling everyone I know about that melamine board trick. Super smart!! Thanks for sharing!!
Works an absolute treat
This is fantastic! You’ve earned a subscriber. Lots of great techniques that I am going to adopt. I’m a beginner, at about 7 or 8 instruments. I struggle with the neck to heel transition, though I genuinely love doing volutes! The tip about the big flat sanding board is brilliant, btw. Cheers!
Brilliant video, very interesting 👍
And that fingerboard! ❤️
Gorgeous.
Recently picked a fingerboard for my soon-ish to be finished guitar, flamed, figured ebony 😍
Ah amazing! Would love to see it
@@TomSandsGuitars Hopefully another 1-2 months and it should be in my hands!
Edit: added as my banner :)
Next to the Cocobolo headplate
@@StringsAtHome enjoy!
Very helpful. I just started carving my first acoustic neck and there are several of your techniques that I will adopt. Thank you.
My pleasure
I've been hooked on watching Tommy's Tonewoods for months, but I love this video. I stared a cello a while back and did a test neck, but I could only use my experience from non musical projects. I really learned a lot from this and would like to see more.
Ah thanks so much! Which bits did you find most helpful and what would you like to see next?
@Tom Sands two things I learned was using the wide sanding board to keep it flat and meaning both ends of the neck and working to the middle. That way, you don't get a swale in the middle.i agree that your finger tips are the best measure if there are imperfections. .
By the way, my cousin was in the Philippines for 20 years and brought back hundreds of board feet of Macazzar Eboney and Narra wood. He died about a year ago, but his daughter is selling it now. She has maybe a hundred 10in x8 ft logs of both, and wide slabs of Narra. She lives in Santa Fe, NM. The Narra has a beautiful ring to it.
@@TomSandsGuitars I would love to see a series on building a basic acoustic from start to finish, you could maybe sell plans and tools etc to go along with the programme?
Great work Tommy! I’m a fan of this format of video. Tuning tops would be an interesting watch as well.
Are there any specifics you’d be interested in?
@@TomSandsGuitars perhaps a little insight into your process as it pertains to deciding what type of bracing, bracing patterns, double tops, brace scalloping. I’m not a guitar builder, just a player and lover of fine guitars with a lot of respect for the builder. Thanks for the reply. Your videos are very entertaining.
@@ericmojave6061 thank you!!
Great video man, love the new format. It’d be good to see some bracing at some point
Anything specific re bracing?
A joy to watch and very pleased to see my pic featuring in the background!
I love that print!
Content is awesome!! Always waiting for your next vid honestly.
What grit paper on the flattening board?
Thank you! I start with 80 usually.
Very interesting.
Thanks Steve, hoping to make more of this content
That was great Tom seeing you in carving mode on the neck. I build acoustic guitars and found some helpful techniques from this video. I would like to see more aspects of your guitar building methods. Sharing the knowledge is good for guitar builders.
What other areas would you be interested in?
It would be interesting Tom to see your bracing format and demonstrate shaping the braces on the soundboard. Making the saddle and the nut including how you do the intonation. Showing your methods thinning the top to achieve the best performance. Hope that this is helpful.
Wayne
@@waynejohnson4819 thanks Wayne, I’ll ad these to the list. We actually just did a little short about making the saddle, just needs editing. Are you a builder? Where are you based?
@@TomSandsGuitars Tom I build Acoustic Steel String Guitars and I am from Australia.
@@waynejohnson4819 Fantastic! I love Australian timbers ❤️
I'm pretty sure this is the best guitar related video I've ever seen. I could watch this all day for therapy. Thanks for doing this. I feel like a loser for not having built guitars all my life, but that's a problem I can work on.
You can! Hopefully this video will help
When the time comes. You might want to check out the video I did on bridge carving. Similar vibe 🙏
Would love to see how you construct the neck itself, especially the volute and heel...
Super content , Tom! Seriously! If this is something that works for you in addition to the Tonewoods version of things, pretty sure you will have a following. You, always authentic, passing on knowledge about rasps (they are wonderful, in my mind! ) and so many other things in terms of process and feel, those are meaningful things to share, imprint at least, right? You rock, Sir! (toast yourself! laphroaig, did i miss your tasting?)
Thank you! I’ve got some laphroaig lined up for sure! We’d like to make more of this sort of thing, anything in particular you’d be interested in seeing?
THANK YOU so much Tom. Love 'The Hog' . That thing really gets to work. And hey UA-cam, very worthwhile watching.
Thank you!!
Ever try the shinto saw rasps?
@@20Posaunen yes, bought one to try, never used it again.
Hi Tom. I'm a luthier from Argentina and I loved the video. I'm going to start using MDF board with sandpaper. It's a great tip.
Glad you enjoyed it! Please consider subscribing for more videos in the future 🥰
what grit sandpaper would you use? It sems that you have one for each side? Thanks!
Enjoyed that very much Tom. Useful tips to boot :) And yes 'organic' is the word.
CNC built guitars to me just don't feel right - 'sterile' Some lucky person will love playing that I am sure. Well done fellow.
John.
Cheers John!
25 mins flew by fast. Great video! I hope you would do a similar video for the fret installatiom on this guitar
That’s a great idea! Cheers Cef
Fantastic as always!!!
Make as many of these as you can!
Do you have different carving jigs for various scale lengths or does the one jig do them all?
One jig to rule them all!
@@TomSandsGuitars Hahahaha!
Tons of thanks for your generous sharing of your skillful technique. Without this information, our next gen will only get CNC in their mindset.
You’re welcome! We actually just bought a CNC, it’ll be a useful tool but I think any woodworker should start with a solid grounding in hand skills. It helps when the power goes out!
Never would have thought about the MDF board truck.
It’s a peach
algorythm; comment; good stuff, keep it coming.
Feed the algorithm and it will score. Thanks for the comment!
👀👀 appreciating these videos. This is actually in my next task on my build! I saw you used several tools to carve the neck, what would be your bare minimum must have tools to do this part (those starting out 👉👉👉 me) also what is that neck shape tool thing you were using?
Very satisfying to watch Tom. A question. Do you choose any particular type of lamp in your workshop anglepoise and bench lights? I ask because I am very prone to seeing flicker in some types of bulbs which used to give me eye and head aches.
Have you tried LED bulbs?
@@TomSandsGuitars I use LED cobs now but the SMD ones - they don't flicker for me
Tom you are a magician! Any one knows what sort of wood is used for the fretboard? and a question for Tom, have you ever tried verawood for fretboard? I am getting ready to build my second guitar and I like the idea of verawood for the fretboard as it will go green with time!
Thank you! This is Mun Ebony, I love it. I’ve not heard of verawood, I’ll check it out!! Thanks for watching ❤️
Great video Tom! What is your target final thickness for the neck at your two measuring points (1st and 9th?? fret)???
And other then #3, which Auriou rasps do you recommend- I've had my eye on them for ages but don't live any where near where they sell them.
Thanks Beau, for this I think we went 20-23mm
Nice work! Does the heel cap area flange out a little or does it just look that way because the sides taper down into the neck curvature?
Thanks Tom very educated 😊 how thick is the neck before you shape them in mm ?? And how thick is the final Peg head in mm ?
The ASMR is unreal.
Would you like more of this kind of content?
@@TomSandsGuitars totally! and I'd like to know what you do for your tenon and inserts for the bolt on!!!
@@tomdalia5284 what specifically are you referring to?
Is it possible to use like a trim router to shape the neck? I'm wanting to make full solid body (all one piece) guitars as art. Not an actual functional guitar. I've got everything else figured out, it's just the shaping of the neck. Any help from anyone would help greatly!! Love your videos as well.
Worth watching indeed algorithm. Great video Tom. Thanks for taking the time to show us how you do it.
You’re so welcome, we want to make more of this content so let us know what you’d like to see!
how would you suggest making a neck a wee bit thinner...sand with block? rasps? profile templates or just by hand with callipers for occasional reference? How would you first approach this if someone asked you to take the neck down a bit? Cheers.
How I would do it and what I would suggest someone else do are different things and would be based on skill set, I would suggest practising on something first and seeing where your comfort level lies and go from there. It also depends massively on the neck wood, finish and how much you’re going to take off. Experiment!
what grit sandpaper would you use? It seems that you have one for each side? Thanks!
Something course, p80
We should all slow down and take more time to do it right like this
I’m all for slowing down! (Except when rents due 🤣)
Please show us how to cut the dovetail joint.
I’d love to but I don’t use a dovetail, I use a bolt on mortise and tenon. There’s actually a video on that from a couple of years ago. 👍
@@TomSandsGuitars ok thanks I will look for it.
I must have done my last 10 or more necks with whittling knives, I don't think there is a much nicer way to carve the transitions and much less sanding involved!
I guess it all depends on what you’re most comfortable with and the accuracy you want to achieve.
CLEEEEEEMMMMMIIEEEE
A question from a player rather than a builder: How does a Tom Sands' client (me for example 🤠) convey their desire about the neck profile on an ordered guitar to you as a luthier (or any other luthier) in a way that makes sense when you are carving the neck? This has always confused me, as a lover and collector of hand-crafted guitars.🤔
Thanks, John
Gig Harbor, WA
Hi John, I have many different ways to help with this and we can go through my methods when the time comes 🙏
Great video! It looks like you are a bit starved for routers though!
I actually need a couple moren
I was watching you with the Rasp and you mentioning a CNC. But there isn't a machine made that can out think and produce like our Eye's , Mind and down to our fingers ! Being from Deep in The Appalachian Mountains ,, I try to show my Heritage in my work , And Hate a Neck with a Poly or Goopy mirror finish ! it seems like it's so slick that your hand drags across it especially that little snag of skin between our thumbs and index ! Right now , I'm using only woods , native to our area ! Just to keep the the Heritage , But Black Walnut , Curly, Birdseye , Long, Hard maple , Poplar , Sourwood, Apple , Elm ... Bla Bla Bla . Hemlock , Spruce , are at my deposal ! I Had a Idea though while taking a break and watching your Video ,,, One of the Tributes to a Nice , hand hewn Ax handle is for it to be so slick , so you could swing it smoother ! But Ole Timers would take a Hot Iron and scallop the very top at the ax head and the very end , so they didn't throw it out of their hands ! So even though the Body have a finish and the neck satin finished , I'm going to make one so that the heel and head of the neck are slightly scalloped , if it turns out nice I'll send ya a pic !
How interesting! Would love to hear how you get on
... medium flat c - hmm, is that anything like a sort of b sharp?
That’s exactly it
You seem to have the neck higher than others I have seen - is there a reason?
Just wherever is comfortable 🙌
You'll find no CNC in Tommy's shop, just time.
You might find one soon! They’re an interesting tool when used in a considered way. Some things are best left to the hands!
flat sanding board, who'd of thought! simplicity should never be discounted.
The camera man, lol.
Why lol?
@@TomSandsGuitars He jumped in the shot.
@@SevanGuitars anything for his five minutes
I'm sorry, a cherry neck with Mun ebony fingerboard? Oh, _that's_ gonna be a beaut when it's finished...
It’s getting close! Definitely a fun combo to try 🙌
Did we get a short glimpse of a dry fit with the body in this video as well, or was that just the brace?
It'd probably be too late for this particular instrument, but I'd love to see how you handle some of those curlier, more intricately-grained woods you source, like with thicknessing the back or sides of something.
Oh, you really make the guitars yourself?
From time to time, it has been known
@@TomSandsGuitars Well, now I have seen the proof ;-)
Or, be practical and buy a CNC'd neck ready for finishing. OR, mine your own nickel and make your own strings. Got it now?
Oh you silly sausage, why are you so jealous and insecure? It really doesn’t need to be this way. You’re obviously watching and enjoying my content so how about this, either stick around, be part of the community and contribute respectfully like everyone else or I can just block you and you can go back to playing Fortnite and furiously masturbating.
One piece neck is a waste of good wood.
Thanks for stopping by 👍