thinning bass neck... how to...

[KenToby]

I need to know how to determine how much material I can remove from the back of a bass neck before I compromise the structural integrity. The bass is a MIM 5 string deluxe.

Thanks,

KT

[Gord_oh]

i have a chucky 4 string bass neck i wanted to do this too as well.
how far before you get to the truss rod....
i hope you find an answer.

[stflbn]

based on past threads here from people who have tried it...

Not as far as you'd expect.


.

[scottbass]

Originally Posted by stflbn

based on past threads here from people who have tried it...

Not as far as you'd expect.

+1. I have only removed the finish with steel wool. I have never tried to remove any significant amount of wood. I would be leery of trying to remove more than 1/16" of wood.

[FunkMetalBass]

It depends on who makes the bass.

1/16" - 1/18". Otherwise you risk the truss rod pushing through the back.

[Tim Skaggs]

The only way sure way to determine how much you can remove is start removing material until failure. I'm sure you don't want to do that. I wouldn't remove anything other than the thickness of the clearcoat / polyurethane. If you want a significantly thinner neck, I would recommend swaping out the neck if a bolt-on or changing to another bass. Is there anything you've played that has the neck dimension you're after just to make sure what you want can be achieved?