I am really starting to like the 'Fatback' profile, and my thumb does spend an awful lot of time on the back of the neck so it should suit me. I have continued to smooth out the transitions at both the headstock and the heel of the neck using 80 and 120 grit sandpaper.
I also use a couple of different cabinet scrapers including a couple I have made myself out of bits of flat scrap metal. I find a cork handing block is the way to go here as well rather than anything harder including my rubber block.
The grain is really starting to show through now as well and should look wonderful finished.
Not much further to go now that the bulk of the profile has been roughed out. But lots of further sanding and smoothing required to remove some of the deeper rasp tooth marks.
The heel is almost complete as well and shows a nice gentle transition to the rest of the neck. Now a thought has just occurred to me... I haven't put any small fret markers on the side of the neck! I feel the time is now while I can still be quite rough with the neck.
So sticking with the wooden theme I was racking my brain trying to think of something thin and round to use as the fret markers... Then inspiration hit! Toothpicks!
A toothpick is pretty much precision machined, cheap and easy to get hold of... We had some in the house already! So I marked up the side of the guitar, used a nail to mark an indentation to start the drill hole and then super-glued a piece of toothpick into the holes.
I wiped the excess glue off with thinners and then cut each pick almost flush and then sanded them smooth with the edge of the fingerboard.
They might not be to everyone's liking but with a little lemon oil rubbed on the fingerboard they stand out in a nice subtle way and give the neck a great antique quality.
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