Neck blank dimensions

[Rip Topaz]

Hi all. Quick question. I've built several basses now, and this is more of an economical question.

When gluing up my neck through blanks, I use the method in Hiscock's book, meaning three laminations of 3/4", or some derivative thereof. I usually start with the boards each being around 52" long, and maybe 2 1/2"-3" thick.

I've started using scarf joints to save a little lumber, but in order to make a neck through, how thick is, um, to THIN? In other words, I know I'll need more thickness at the body end than the neck itself. But how thick does it really need to be, other than the obvious thick enough to house all hardware, like truss rod and pickups and such?

If I make my necks taper from 3/4" thick (before fingerboard) at the nut to around an inch thick right before the heel, is it ok to add horizontal laminations on the body section of the blank?

In other words, 3 vertical laminations the whole length of the blank, with one or more horizontal laminations at the body end?

Does doing something like that effect stability, or is this a total newb question,since it appears that companies like Alembic have laminations going in what seems like every direction?

Pics would be appreciated if anyone has some examples. I'm trying to come up with new (to me as a woodworker) ways to pretty up my builds. Not meaning to steal anyone's ideas, just trying to grow and not repeat myself too much.

 

[Musiclogic]

Look up Dremy2006 thread on his first neck through, he used a narrow blank(1"x3"x48") or something similar, then added laminates at the body end to fillin the back to form the rest of the central core. I use 2"x3"x46.5" for full NT but am considering what Dremy did to stretch lumber cost.

 

[Rip Topaz]

That's my primary reason for considering this too. I've seen a few things about "stacked" lamination, but not exactly what I mean. I don't want to put the horizontal lams in the neck, just the body end.

I looked at Dremy's thread. Thats exactly what I mean. Thanks. Sometimes searching on the TB iPhone app doesn't turn up much.

I've seen the Linc Luthier page as well. Interesting.

 

[Musiclogic]

Yeah, just the body, at 1" you have plenty to accomodate the neck area, then build up the area below the central core that runs through the body, keeping the neck all vertical through the Headstock, and scarf the headstock

 

[Rip Topaz]

Exactly. So that won't effect stability at all then? I guess the extra laminations at the body end would make the blank pretty much the same dimensions in the end, just with different woods.

I'm gonna play around with this on my newest build. I just started a few days ago, and did the scarf today. It's only the second scarf joint I've done, and it came out very clean. On my other builds, I just cut the angled head out of the blank and added veneers to strengthen it. ALOT of waste that way, so I decided to spend the time to make a jig for my radial arm saw, clamped the headstock piece to my neck blank, and cut them together. It barely required any cleanup at all, and will be the way I do my necks from now on.

 

[Musiclogic]

Yeah, with your neck under the FB going from approx. 1/2" at the nut to 13/16" just before the body transition, there is plenty of stability, and with all of the different styles of scarf joints, it's quite stable. I have a neck I am testing with a stacked scarf reinforced with headplate and backstrap, and is looking good, this may be my key to less waste too.

 

[devo_stevo]

On my first build I ended up having to do just what you are talking about at the body end of the bass. It turned out pretty good and it hasn't given me any problems.

 

[Rip Topaz]

Biggest problem I can envision is getting the edges of the lams situated after gluing. Can't exactly run it through the jointer at that point. (that's probably a stupid statement, I've been awake for a very long time!).

 

[devo_stevo]

After it's glued on cut it close and use a flush trim bit on the router to clean it up. Works great.

 

[Rip Topaz]

After it's glued on cut it close and use a flush trim bit on the router to clean it up. Works great.

Yeah after I posted that, the router dawned on me. I'm still pretty new to building, and I'm really starting to use my router for ALOT more than I did at the beginning.

 

[Rickett Customs]

If it's a scarfed headstock (mostly BO), i'll go 4/4 just to be on the safe side. If it's not scarfed I go 10/4, but that's NT only for me in most cases (somewhat wasteful though, but the customer gets exactly what they pay for)

 

[Rip Topaz]

If it's a scarfed headstock (mostly BO), i'll go 4/4 just to be on the safe side. If it's not scarfed I go 10/4, but that's NT only for me in most cases (somewhat wasteful though, but the customer gets exactly what they pay for)

So on your neck-throughs, do you do the scarf or just cut the angle from the blank? I have only done NT's up to now, and have done both scarf and no scarf. I am using a scarf for this build cuz I wanted to get a little fancy with the headstock.

 

[Rickett Customs]

So on your neck-throughs, do you do the scarf or just cut the angle from the blank? I have only done NT's up to now, and have done both scarf and no scarf. I am using a scarf for this build cuz I wanted to get a little fancy with the headstock.

I only do non scarfs for uncapped headstocks (looks cleaner), although my standard max. angle is 10deg, so no worries with breakage.
On the 10/4 pieces, I cut the headstock angle....on the 4/4, that gets the scarf..

 

[pilotjones]

As a piece to put "behind" your neck beam in the body area to thicken it, an alternative to using an unrelated piece of wood would be to make your neck beam an extra 24" longer, then cut that piece off and use that. With a good glue line it would appear like you had used a 2" thick beam to start with. Or you could fancy it up with a veneer or two in between.

 

[CH Design]

Look up pics of a NT Fodera. They use thinner neck stock ( I don't know exactly what they start with), and laminate additional woods on the body end to add thickness. On most that I have seen they actually add two pieces of contracting wood to create a pretty classy looking transition, IMO.
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[Rip Topaz]

Very cool, and some great info. I had never considered making the blank longer and just using that!! Great idea!! Thanks for getting the wheels moving, everyone.

Every day, building basses becomes more fun!!

 

[Rip Topaz]

As a piece to put "behind" your neck beam in the body area to thicken it, an alternative to using an unrelated piece of wood would be to make your neck beam an extra 24" longer, then cut that piece off and use that. With a good glue line it would appear like you had used a 2" thick beam to start with. Or you could fancy it up with a veneer or two in between.

This would've looked really cool on the build I'm working on right now. Dangit!!!

 

[mikeyswood]

The set-through neck is the best yield of lumber.

 

[Rip Topaz]

The set-through neck is the best yield of lumber.

In time. I've only done thru necks to date, but have plans to try a bolt in the near future. I guess I'm trying to get one down before I move on. That way I'm not building crap with different techniques.

 

[adam.beauchene]

I like necks with constant thickness, and the necks I've done so far have started as a thick blank (2" at least) that I then worked to final thickness. The neck I'm doing now is from a 3/4" slab, it's a bolt-on. I'm going to do a chop-and-flip scarf joint for the headstock, and I'm debating whether to add stacked laminations for the heel, or just make a super-shallow neck pocket. It seems to me that a properly glued stacked heel would be stronger than a scarf-jointed headstock, because there is so much more area involved; so if the headstock can take 200 pounds or so of string tension, then the heel could handle it with ease.

break- this is my first post using the TB iphone app, love it!