I reshaped the neck of my Magic Fluke Flea soprano. I found the neck, as it comes from the factory, a bit chunky and unrefined. It was the thickness and rather hard edges that detracted from my playing comfort especially when playing chords in the first position such as E7 and Fm. So I concentrated my modification toward the tuning head end of the neck where I removed a good deal of thickness there and worked on smoothing some of the connecting surfaces leading into the tuning head. Then I feathered that back toward the body.
The Martin C1K is the basis of my comparison and I think its neck is just about perfect for my needs. I didn't mind the flat back section of the original Flea neck but when I did the reshaping I wanted to try to come as close to the Martin as I could, so I rounded the neck, removing any defined edges as you can see in the photos. In the end, I could have taken a bit more thickness out of the Flea neck but I think it is pretty good as it turned out.
Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the process so you'll only see the end result in the comparison photos. I used a Simonds half-round rasp for the rough work of removing stock. I then used a Simonds half-round file for smoothing, followed by varying grits of sandpaper. I finished with a few coats of Tru-oil and a bit of wax. Note: Magic Fluke uses a bit of tint in their finish so the tone of the new finish doesn't match perfectly but it's good enough for me.
In the photos you'll see the Flea in the vise. In the comparison photos you'll see (top to bottom) my wife's unmodified concert Flea, the modified Flea, and my Martin C1k.
The Martin C1K is the basis of my comparison and I think its neck is just about perfect for my needs. I didn't mind the flat back section of the original Flea neck but when I did the reshaping I wanted to try to come as close to the Martin as I could, so I rounded the neck, removing any defined edges as you can see in the photos. In the end, I could have taken a bit more thickness out of the Flea neck but I think it is pretty good as it turned out.
Unfortunately I did not take any photos of the process so you'll only see the end result in the comparison photos. I used a Simonds half-round rasp for the rough work of removing stock. I then used a Simonds half-round file for smoothing, followed by varying grits of sandpaper. I finished with a few coats of Tru-oil and a bit of wax. Note: Magic Fluke uses a bit of tint in their finish so the tone of the new finish doesn't match perfectly but it's good enough for me.
In the photos you'll see the Flea in the vise. In the comparison photos you'll see (top to bottom) my wife's unmodified concert Flea, the modified Flea, and my Martin C1k.