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Make a fretted wood neck narrower ?

jlh60

jlh60

Aug 21, 2009
77
23
Warren ,Mi
#1
I don't have the equipment to make a neck. Is it possible to remove wood from the sides of a neck with the frets installed? I'd like to get a P or Jazz bass type neck and get the dimensions close to those on my Steinberger XM2. I'm able to build a body without any problem.
 
#3
You need a coping saw... or jig saw, a wood rasp, and some sand paper to work the neck. The finger board is a little trickier but easy enough. You can buy a pre-slotted finger board, eliminating the need to buy a fingerboard slotting jig. Other than glue, a truss rod and something to drill holes that's about it... besides cutters to cut the fret wire. I made my own fret beveling block by cutting an angle into the edge of a 2x4 and driving a rat-tail file into the slot after breaking the tail off.

Most luthier tools can be hand made. It's nice to have a radial sanding block to get the proper finger board radius curve. It's not that difficult... if you find the proper information for building what you need. A straight edge is nice to have as well.
 
#4
i dont know if i get it correctly, but if you want to remove mm or two from the sides, you need just a straight sanding block and some lets say 320 grit paper, light touch and patience. than trim the frets. i've done it on my P neck and i'm completely satisfied.
 
#5
Hi.

I have been planning to do just that with an Epi T-bird neck to get it closer to my liking.

There's no shortcuts though, it'll be a quite a long job, in which time I could probably make a completely new neck if I used a pre-made FB.

If I would go through with narrowing an existing neck, I'd shorten the frets first with a metal file, and then sand the neck narrower.

Regards
Sam
 
#6
I've narrowed necks for the last couple of decades using sanding drums chucked in a drill press, a platform for holding the neck and a healthy dose of care and patience. I did my first one with files but that became tedious.

After the narrowing the neck it's files, scrapper, and sandpaper to finesse the neck shoulders and profile followed by dressing the fret ends and doing the nutwork. I then wipe on Tru-Oil as a finish.
 
#8
Thanks for the info. What I am wondering about is if the neck width can be narrowed with the frets installed. I don't have any specialty tools to make a neck from scratch. I think it would be cheaper to use a pre-made neck, rather than buying materials and the tools I don't already have.
 
#9
jlh60 said:
Thanks for the info. What I am wondering about is if the neck width can be narrowed with the frets installed. I don't have any specialty tools to make a neck from scratch. I think it would be cheaper to use a pre-made neck, rather than buying materials and the tools I don't already have.
Click to expand...

Any of the sanding tools can, although they tend to wear faster. Best bet, put the scary grit on first (60) then (80) then 120 by hand up to 320 or so.
 
#10
Mark the fretboard(pencil) to the width you want to achieve, buy a 5 dollar file and file down the fret sides til they're just shy of your width line. Sand(or file, scrap, plane) the wood to desired width, dress the fret ends, finesse neck profile, cut a new nut, apply finish, setup, and finally jam(did I miss anything?).

P.S. File towards the back of the neck so you don't catch a burr and pop the fret right out of the slot.
 

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