MIMF

Would anyone have plans and pics available of a neck shaping jig? Thanks.

Dont have plans but saw one on stew mac that might give you ideas. http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Trade_Sec ... newsletter

My immediate impression when I read the title to this thread , "Neck Shaping Jig", was of the set up Charles Fox used at his American School of Lutherie in Healdsburg. It is a custom fabricated belt sander that is not difficult to make, and it sands the profile of the neck between the heel and the headstock. The profile is controlled with the selection of wooden 'cams' that fit at each end of the fixture that holds the neck as it is pushed against the belt, and gently rocked. You end up with the transition to the headstock to make and the heel to carve. For repeated accuracy and for production it is a slick contraption, and fairly low tech.

Do you mean something like this: http://cambrianguitars.com/compradjig.html ?
It can be made to radius fretboards or necks.

Doolin also had a neck carving jig that duplicates and neck and heel you stick in it. It's immediate benefit was that it used the side of a longer 1/2" spiral router bit to do the carving and pull the chips down into the box. (Most carvers only use the tip of the cutter which dulls very quickly.)
I'm not sure he ever documented it but I'll ask him.

American Lutherie number 73 has Pantograph neck shaft duplicator by Mike Doolin. It looks easy to build .

I have built one from Doolin's plans. I like it, use it, but I'm not sure I'd build it again. It takes up a lot of room in my shop and I think there are better jigs that might be a little simpler to build and use. I like the idea of a dedicated belt sander. The Doolin jig is a little tricky to use, and a minor slip or incorrect setup and you've trashed a neck.

Actually I'm thinking about a deadhead sander. Something like Charles Fox uses.

Getting traction on the belt is tricky if there's any extra friction. I was given an old three wheel ski sander and was going to alter it so that I could set two of the wheels at any distance I needed and have different length platens that slip down behind the belt. Tracking is always an issue too. I'm just as happy hand carving my necks in the 20 minutes it takes me.

Yes,that's it. The dead head sander. Very low tech compared to a CNC outfit, and you can make it yourself. Frank Ford's Frets site shows one.

Hans Bezemer wrote:Do you mean something like this: http://cambrianguitars.com/compradjig.html ?
It can be made to radius fretboards or necks.

This is very similar to what I've had kicking around my head for the last couple years, good to see it works and I don't have to go to the trouble of building it first to find out! I was struggling with what kind of hardware to use at the swivel points and hadn't thought about these bearings, they look perfect. I was thinking about having the swivel points be in a channel so they could be repositioned rather than be located in a static location. I think that could be easily done with a couple design tweaks.