Neck shapes

[jongor]

I'm taking a stab at building an EUB and don't know where to start with the neck shape....

My experience has been completely with elec. jazz/p bass type basses.

I think I'd like to make something more toward p than j.

What are the dimensions of these necks? .....know where I can find this?

thanks

[mslatter]

Do you have access to an EUB? If so, get yerself one of dem dare contour gauges, like this: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...itemnumber=907

You press that against any curve you want to copy and it takes the shape, which you can then transfer to paper. For copying a neck, start behind the nut, then take contours at regular intervals all the way. Every two inches is (probably more than) adequate. From there, you can cut matching templates for checking your carving as you go.

I have that exact gauge. It's nice in that it's plastic and won't mar a finish. The tines are a little wide, so the precision isn't as good as some others, but it's good enough for this purpose. And cheap!

I'm not sure about using a Jazz or P profile neck on a bass of that scale. They generally are over 40" and would thus require a lot of reinforcement.

[Suburban]

Well, are you making a 34" EUB, make it whatever you please.
BUT, are you making a 40", real EUB, then you need a very different approach. The neck of a contrabass is some 20mm thick, plus ca 10 mm fingerboard. The shape of the neck is a real U. And the crossection(s) of the fingerboard is very, very different from a shortscale, due to the long strings.

Get in touch with an upright bass, and explore it!

[jongor]

I did want to use a scale longer than the normal 34", but I'm not sure if I could play a true 41.5" upright scale (22% longer).

Also driving the scale is the hardware. I'm having a hard time finding a headpiece that doesn't use the double ball end strings. So unless I find a clamp style headpiece the scale will be driven by the strings that area available for the double ball end.

[Suburban]

Headless EUB?

Talk to ABM or David King. They'll fix it for you, for some change