Telecaster build - more neck profiling

In the same way that the 1st fret area was profiled, I did the same at the 12th, again matched to the equivalent on my Parker. This leaves the neck looking like this:



The idea now is to hack away all the wood in the middle until the 1st fret profile and the 12th fret profile are joined in a straight line. This ash block has had a straight edge planed on it and illustrates the idea:



Eventually it will sit flush on the neck, proving that the neck is straight along its length. I draw on the neck to find high spots when the neck is sanded along its length with the ash used as a sanding block:



Getting closer, mostly using the Japanese saw rasp and spokeshave at this point:



When the neck was getting closer to being complete I changed to less aggressive files and turned my attention to the headstock area. I wanted there to be quite a defined 'step' from the neck to the headstock. Initial rough shaping yielded this:




Similarly at the heel, I marked out a circle where I wanted a heel transition:



And rough cut this:



I then continued to finesse the heel and headstock area, as well as continuing to sand the length of the neck profile down to meet the 1st / 12th fret profiles. By the end of the session, it was close to completion, and looked like this:



And the headstock:



And heel:



The 1st/12th fret profiles are not fully joined yet, the neck probably needs another couple of hours to make it completely straight and to finalise the shape of the heel / headstock. After that, the fretboard will go on, followed closely by the frets :] At that point I will turn back to Telecaster Two to get its neck to the same state.