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Some builders carve the neck attached to the body others carve it solo.

Some builders apply finish with the neck attached others finish them separately.

Which methods do you use and why?

I've always done both with the neck attached. For carving the body allows better clamping for carving the neck. For finishing I like the transition between the body and neck to disappear underneath the finish, rather than seeing a gap however small.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

I carve and finish the neck separately.

Looking at the question of finishing, if you finish them together, the hapless luthier 50 years from now who has to remove the neck to do neck reset is going to hate you for making his (or her) job more difficult by gluing the two together with the finish as well as glue.

As far as carving the neck is concerned, carving the neck separately seems to me to permit far greater flexibility in positioning for convenience in carving. To hold it, I use a clamping fixture that I hold in my vise. The sketch gives the general idea. I made mine out of a piece of 2x6l, I think. One can readily clamp the neck to it for carving and one doesn't have to contend with the guitar body when positioning the neck.

separate

Always separate and why

1. If you are sun-bursting/shading or maybe just making the neck match the body you have to finish separate
2. Easier to carve the neck separate (easier to hold in jig)
3. Easier to spray (I use the holder from Stew-Mac
4. The neck/body junction gets a buildup of finish if finishing together
5. Easier to wet-sand and buff

Separately.

Separately. Just the thought of applying finish and wet sanding at the heel gives me nightmares. I have never even glued the neck- just bolted it. Easy peasy.

Ed