All of the wooden parts are assembled, The dings are all patched and filled- now begins the careful sanding that will make these babies beautiful when the French Polish is done. I want to do some final shaping of the neck and then the sanding begins.
I spent some time today shaping the necks to my liking. First with the scraper-then with the bow sander equipped with 120 paper. That contours the neck nicely and still leaves a pretty smooth surface. once I get the neck perfect I will hand sand with 180 grit, then 220 and finally 320. The entire instrument must be carefully sanded before the finishing process begins
Because the neck shape is so critical I brought all four tenors up to the living room to carefully measure and compare necks with a favorite tenor #47. I found all four of the new necks were thicker than my favorite. I took measurements of each at the nut, the first fret, 5th, 7th and 10th frets. This exercise gives me the confidence to shave these necks down thinner, wanting to make them slick and fast. Notice the fancy electronic thickness gauge. Handy for turning bowls, or the thickness of necks.
