Carving the neck is one of my favorite steps in building an instrument. The many curves and angles each have a function, but when it all comes together, it feels like sculpting a work of art. The neck starts out as three pieces glued together and cut to shape:
The heel is rough carved with a chisel:
This customer asked for a moderately thin, C-shaped neck. To achieve this, a facet is laid out the length of the shaft and cut with a chisel.
Smaller, secondary facets are carved with a rasp.
The shaft is sanded to smooth the surface and achieve the final desired shape.
Finally, the transitions from the shaft to the head and heel are sanded smooth and fair, and voila: the sculpture is complete!