First build, Order of Operations

[bvdon123]

Building my first instrument. Wood work experience, decent shop, 30 years playing. So my question is....

Building a neck through bass with laminated body top. I already have the 5 piece neck laminated, planed and squared. I plan to trim the entire 5 piece to a tall trapezoid (similar to how Fodera starts off).

What are the order of operations here? Here is what I am sort of thinking:

1. cut fret slots (I have the stewmac tablesaw blade and built a nice sled specifically for this job)
2. route truss rod, then glue (or double tape??) the finger board blank to the neck through.
3. radius the neck (again, built a nice jig for this)
4. cut the neck through side profile creating the trapezoid
5. cut the profile for the back of neck and both sides of the headstock (headstock will get wings fit to size)
6. route the body perimeter and cavities
7. glue body wings to neck
8. glue body top (covering entire top... not showing neck through). There will be a lot of sanding required since the bookmatch pieces are of different thickness (almost 1/8" diff) and I hope to get the top flat here... quite concerned about this.

9. final shape back of neck, body, etc.
10. do neck block inlays (should I do this earlier before I radius the finger board???)
11. install frets, file, dress, etc.

Two tools I do not own: drum sander, edge sander

 

[headlikeahole]

I would put the fingerboard onto the neck and then slot it. That way you know they are perfectly square. After that I would do any inlays on the fingerboard. Then I'd taper the neck and radius the fingerboard.

 

[Musiclogic]

I always slot my fretboards before applying to the neck blank. If you blank is square, and 1 side of the fretboard is square, you can pin and block the to to gaurantee a square fit. If you are accurate on your centerline, you can pin and align on that as I do. It's really all about what you feel most comfortable doing.