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5 string Ricken-Musicman Bass.

#281
Ive been doing 5/8" headstock thickness which works with every tuner I've bought. I like my neck really thin, but the trussrod depth drives it, I'm leaving 1/8" minimum under the deepest part of the rod, but thats usually right under the volute anyway. Ive realized that the feel is more about the "shoulders" right below the fingerboard, my first couple builds were kind of "square" in that area. I just got a board slotted and radiused by LMI, they spec 5/16" minimum for the blank, its 1/4" thick at the centerline by the time they are done. Im going for the absolute thinnest, sleekest neck I can on the Lemmy build, might shave that 1/8" under the rod another 1/32" if I can work up the nerve.
 
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#282
This is how close I was to having to make some radical changes.
20221009_080633.jpg
 
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#294
Chiming in late, but I agree with @ctmullins and @Gilmourisgod, 5/8" thick headstock seems to work with the tuners, so that's what I shoot for. And the neck thickness right in the center is driven by truss rod slot depth, and I also struggle to work up the nerve to carve as thin as I'd like. I love the Ibanez neck profiles, but man does that stress me out carving it on my own. :eek:

Also, my truss rod slot on the Hellcaster is off center a touch too. I plan on covering it with a fretboard so no one will know. ;)
 
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#296
Matter of fact, my trussrod slot will look more or less exactly like that on my HF IV build. I had the laminations clamped flat, but not necessarily dead straight. You assume the clamps will pull it straight, but they don’t. I’ve used my tablesaw fence to clamp them straight during glue up before, don’t know why I didn’t do it this time. The lamination flexed a fat 1/16” during glueup, hopefully it won’t matter on neck stability, and won’t be visible without a straightedge. I ran it through the jointer to straighten one side, then ran that good edge through the tablesaw fence to true the other edge. That way I have two edges square to the center for the truss rod and CF stiffeners.
 
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#297
Mine got off center because I wasn't thinking everything thru. I routed the slot, but the router bit that I got from StewMac, specifically sold as the "hot rod truss rod slot router bit" that should perfectly match my StewMac "hot rod truss rod" was too narrow and the truss rod wouldn't go in it. So my brain said "Pft, just bump your fence over a smidge and run another pass." Which worked fine and the truss rod fits now, but it's "one fence bump" off center now. :meh:
You'd think StewMac's router bit specifically sold as the one you need for that truss rod would actually...you know...fit. :cautious: :meh: :mad:
 
#298
TerribleTim68 said:
Mine got off center because I wasn't thinking everything thru. I routed the slot, but the router bit that I got from StewMac, specifically sold as the "hot rod truss rod slot router bit" that should perfectly match my StewMac "hot rod truss rod" was too narrow and the truss rod wouldn't go in it. So my brain said "Pft, just bump your fence over a smidge and run another pass." Which worked fine and the truss rod fits now, but it's "one fence bump" off center now. :meh:
You'd think StewMac's router bit specifically sold as the one you need for that truss rod would actually...you know...fit. :cautious: :meh: :mad:
Click to expand...

1/4" round nose bit fits perfectly. I used a 5/16" to route the end with the nut, and then set the 1/4" round nose to cove the bottom of the wider channel.

I routed extra long because it will be mostly removed by the headstock angle, and what isn't will be covered with the truss rod cover.
 
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#299
Gilmourisgod said:
Matter of fact, my trussrod slot will look more or less exactly like that on my HF IV build. I had the laminations clamped flat, but not necessarily dead straight. You assume the clamps will pull it straight, but they don’t. I’ve used my tablesaw fence to clamp them straight during glue up before, don’t know why I didn’t do it this time. The lamination flexed a fat 1/16” during glueup, hopefully it won’t matter on neck stability, and won’t be visible without a straightedge. I ran it through the jointer to straighten one side, then ran that good edge through the tablesaw fence to true the other edge. That way I have two edges square to the center for the truss rod and CF stiffeners.
Click to expand...

I used several cauls to line up the laminations, because I realized very early how much they were sliding around.

I have a large slick that was perfect for scraping all the glue and cauls off, and then ran the whole thing through my jointer to clean up one side, before sending it through the thickness planer to bring it to almost final thickness.

The part of that process that is time consuming, is that my jointer and planer are the same tool, and switching between modes takes a bit.

I have a Jet 10" planer/jointer combo, which for the price and the size is an excellent value. Although if I were doing it again, I'd love to find a nice 6" cast iron jointer, and a wider thickness planer.
 
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