First build question

[ryker888]

I've been wanting to make a bass for sometime now and Ive finally decided to do it. My question is should I do a set neck or neck-through for my first build?

[wilser]

there is no right answer to your question. it's whatever you are comfortable with and what you want the bass to be. that said, technically, a neck through is simpler to build.

[jordan_frerichs]

i have heard this too. you could also try a bolt on. that may or may not be easier than the neck through, but if it is your first build, it would be smarter, because on a bolt on, mistakes in the neck no big deal, just learn from the mistake and make another one. mistakes in a glue on, same deal (until after its glued, but mistakes on a neck through can be more of a pain. if have help and or are confidint in your abilities, more power to you. btw, fretless unradioused fb will also take away room for error to an extent

[MNbassist]

Depends on the tools you own, I think a bolt on is simpler, you could make it with practically nothing but a jigsaw and router. I found that when I made a neck thru i found myself struggling to make the lams due to me not having a planer.

[pbagley]

I made a bolt on for my first bass (first instrument). It's your choice, of course, but a bolt on may be easier in a lot of ways. Most important thing is to come up with a plan you can follow and go for it.

[Arx]

Originally Posted by MNbassist

Depends on the tools you own, I think a bolt on is simpler, you could make it with practically nothing but a jigsaw and router. I found that when I made a neck thru i found myself struggling to make the lams due to me not having a planer.

You don't necessarily need to do a neck through multi-lam though. My first bass was a bolt on (I bought a warmoth neck), my second bass is neck through (working on it right now) I bought a cheap 9" hand plane. it seems like it should work fine. I started with some nice maple boards a friend gave me (free). He cut them off of a larger plank with a bandsaw, so they were far from straight. Now it's straight, and I'm a whole lot better with a hand plane.

I guess what it comes down to is that if you're looking to do something relatively quickly with not a lot of tools, just buy a neck and build a body for it. Getting the neck pocket precise can be a fair bit of work, though if you go with a fender style neck, you might be able to buy pre-made templates. Ditto on the pickups.

I don't think building a neck through seems any harder, and in some ways it should be easier, but with a lack of tools it could be a lot of work. I spent a couple hours straigtening a board. A guy with a full woodshop would just chuck it through a planer/jointer a couple times and be done in a few minutes.
I'm not too worried about it. I'm just doing it for fun, and I want to learn to use all these tools properly, so I'm willing to put up with a little inefficiency.

Choose based on what you want, not what you think is easier.

[Jensby design]

Originally Posted by jordan_frerichs

but if it is your first build, it would be smarter, because on a bolt on, mistakes in the neck no big deal, just learn from the mistake and make another one.

You do realize that you can router a defective neck through to make it a bolt-on.My suggestion is"don't screw it up"but no pressure

[Cerb]

I did a through neck for my first. Doing a bolt-on actually scares me a bit.

[Jensby design]

Originally Posted by Cerb

I did a through neck for my first. Doing a bolt-on actually scares me a bit.

Thank you!
Its nice to know that I'm not alone.My first was a neck through,my second a bolt-on,I remember getting a little nervous on the bolt-on thinking "this is never going to line up right" I didn't have that problem on the neck through.So I decided to make all neck throughs unless the costumer wanted different