Is it possible to Re-carve a neck?

[bcsolomonganz]

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read this. I have a carvin guitar, which has a bolt on neck that has the same dimensions as a feder strat neck at the bolt. However, the rest of the neck is slightly different and a bit wider then a standerd fender neck. Is it possible to recarve the neck to a standerd fender size? And if so is that a job a novice can do? And if so how?
Thanks sooo much,
Solomon

[stevespo]

CNC seems like overkill for this project. My first thought is to use spokeshave, rasp, file, scraper, etc to reshape the neck to your liking. It sounds like you're mostly interested in changing the width. You'll need to be careful about changing the depth (thickness) too much, to avoid carving into the truss rod. Sand smooth and refinish with whatever suits you - lacquer, shellac, oil, etc.

The 2nd option is to check and see if a standard Fender Strat style neck would bolt onto your Carvin body. I am not up on my electrics, so this may not be the case. If they are interchangable, this would save you a lot of work. What model Carvin do you have, and what is the scale length?

Good luck,

Steve

[anoel]

Yep, get out a good half round rasp and have at it... finish it up with a sanding block and a few different grits. should not take more than 20 minutes to do. I shave necks all the time down to my liking. I also scratch build guitars and carving the back of a new neck build take about 20-30 minutes from the block shape.

If you want to match an existing neck then use cardboard cut outs or a contour gauge at designated fret positions to double check your work you can make a pretty close match. I had to match an acoustic neck that I built for a client to his favorite Collings guitar. They are a pretty deand nuts match in the end.

[ger21]

Originally Posted by bcsolomonganz And if so is that a job a novice can do?

You might want to get some scrap maple to practice on before tackling the actual neck.

[bcsolomonganz]

its a carvin bolt-t and the a fender neck would fit, but this is my first electric and I'm attached so I would rather not throw out the neck

[bcsolomonganz]

Thanks for the info, would I have to take out the frets and up them back in, or could I just try and shave it down with them in?

[luthier]

Here is my 2 cents. If your neck is like the bolt on neck on their website, it has a nut width of 1.71 which is probably around a 1/16-3/32 more than a standard fender nut width. I think I might try a less aggresive approach by using coarse sandpaper or a file to remove material. A rasp will really take off material quickly and then you need to smooth all that out with a file and abrasives. Measure your Fender neck and see what it would require to narrow it some. Fret ends get filed after installation so I suppose you could do it without removing them. I'm just wondering if a stationary belt sander could remove the material to width and then you could shape the carve back into it.
In all honesty, I think your best bet would be to just get a replacement neck and save the original for when you decide to sell it when the G.A.S attack occurs. You could get a paddlehead neck and shape it to something similar to the Carvin if looks are an issue.
Marty

[luthier]

Check out the necks 4026, 4027, and 4028 at Stewmac.com

[guitarattack]

Here is a link to my site that may help:

http://www.guitarattack.com/FM_TV/reshape/FM_TVneck.htm

I concur with Stevespo's post -- this is a hand-tool job and CNC would probably be more trouble than it is worth.

Good luck,
John

[bcsolomonganz]

Thank you so much for the info, I did the job last night with coarse sand paper for the wood, and I just used a file for the frets and it came out great and took about 2 1/2 hours. I am very happy with it and could not have done it without the hlep of all the posts, so thanks so much, and keep rockin all.