Shaping a Classical Guitar Neck - My Latest Concert Grand Guitar

 

My wife and I took last week off for a quick get-away from the dreadful Denver 'burbs and now a new week begins back in the work shop. 

I carved this neck two weeks ago and today the goal was to finish shaping and sanding all the surfaces that a guitar player's thumb will be resting on. My guitar necks have a flattened "D" profile, in my opinion this profile is more comfortable, therefore more ergonomic that a standard "D" shape. The human thumb is not shaped to ride along a fully rounded surface, a flatter surface is more comfortable.

The heel is shaped in the manner that the Jose Ramirez III guitar shop used back in the 1950's and 1960's, no exaggerated dip and scoop, just a simple arc.

The profile gauge is to make sure that I get both sides of the heel shaped more or less the same.

The heel ready for "whiskering", raising the grain and final sanding before I start pore filling with shellac and pumice.