Neck Through

Spearhead · #1 10-31-2002, 02:39 PM

I have 2 questions on the construction of the neck on a neck through bass. The woods i intend to use are zebrawood with a santos mahogany center (where the truss would go) and an ebony fretboard.
My first question is concerning the 13 degree angled headstock. How do i accomplish this without a cnc router. Do i buld a jig that is mounted on top of the neck with a 13 degree angle inlcine and feed it through the table saw and then plane it using the same jig to achieve a level thickness?
My next question is when I put on the two side body pieces (the wings?) and glue them to the neck I should have to plane it all down (shouldnt I?). How will I be able to do this and have a thickness where the fretboard starts that is greater than the uniform body thickness?
Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you guys so much.

FBB Custom · #2 10-31-2002, 05:35 PM

I cut the headstock angle on the bandsaw. Then I clean it up with either a edge sander, a jointer, or you could use hand planes. For the back of the headstock, a random orbital should be enough to clean it up.

I'm not sure what you're asking on the second question.

Spearhead · #3 10-31-2002, 07:10 PM

Thanks FBB. As for the 2nd question, let me explain it a bit better. The body is a uniform thickness of 1 3/4" and the body portion of the neck through neck should be as well. To achieve this uniform thickness I should have to run it through a planer after the body pieces are glued to the neck. The problem lies in the fact that this unform thicknes changes to 2 1/8" where the neck should meet the fretboard (the thickness previously mentioned excludes the fretboard). How am I supposed to plane the body off to be level with the body portion of the neck when that section of the neck (where it meets the fretboard) is slightly higher than the rest of the body? Should I not plane it and just do a damn good job of gluing the wings on to the neck? If that is the case , what tips do you suggest when executing this.

FBB Custom · #4 11-01-2002, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Spearhead
Thanks FBB. As for the 2nd question, let me explain it a bit better. The body is a uniform thickness of 1 3/4" and the body portion of the neck through neck should be as well. To achieve this uniform thickness I should have to run it through a planer after the body pieces are glued to the neck. The problem lies in the fact that this unform thicknes changes to 2 1/8" where the neck should meet the fretboard (the thickness previously mentioned excludes the fretboard). How am I supposed to plane the body off to be level with the body portion of the neck when that section of the neck (where it meets the fretboard) is slightly higher than the rest of the body? Should I not plane it and just do a damn good job of gluing the wings on to the neck? If that is the case , what tips do you suggest when executing this.

Try to get the neck just about the right thickness before you glue the wings. If you do a good job of that, and gluing the wings on, you should have little material to clean up. This could be done with a belt or random orbital.

Personally, I leave the neck about 1/16" over and I have a "sled" that the bass fits into, upside down, and allows me to run the whole thing through the thickness sander. You must be very carefult when running the whole instrument through the sander not to let it tilt once the body is through or the neck will hit the drum.

The thickness sander has one side open, which your planer might not. This allows me to slide the whole bass out through the side of the sander.