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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on March 2, 2018 at 6:47pm

Flat back necks work. A neck with a radius on the back plays more smoothly for me, and is a more familiar feel to prospective players and/or buyers. I put fretboards on my necks, which increases the neck thickness. It doesn't seem like much, but I like the feel of the radiused neck in my hands on a fretted git. You didn't ask, but there are several methods to form  the radius on a neck. The first method I used was using 80 grit sandpaper strips, and "shoe-shining" the  back of the neck to shape a 1/4 round shape, then using 150 grit to smooth out the rough work. After doing a couple of those, I got a 1/2" round over bit for my router, and that's what I use now. Another method, previously discussed in these forums and favored by many is hand shaping using a spoke shave or draw knife. I haven't used a spoke shave, so I'll defer discussion of that method, or any others that may be offered to those with experience. Hope some of this will be helpful to you, and happy buildin'.

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Permalink Reply by Kigar on March 3, 2018 at 3:40am

Definitely a "no rules " area.  Square, rounded off, D shape or whatever you want. Generally though, a conventional stringed instrument with a neck is usually fully rounded. 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on March 4, 2018 at 8:43pm

If your going to be fretting and running your hand up and down the back of the neck, your going to want to at least round over the edges.

I usually just put a 1/2" roundover bit in the router or you can use a spokeshave, files or scrapers.

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