neck through construction...

[wsal]

I'm building a neck-through fretless, and I want to know people's opinions on the coordination of fingerboard thickness and bridge height? I will be building it such that from the nut to the bridge end of the body, the neck will be an entirely flat block of laminations (ie. no elevated portion under the fingerboard, like Spector do with their bolt ons). My bridge is still on its way, and I haven't started cutting wood, so I want to know what the general consensus is... Do I need a thick fretboard? Do I need to route out a cavity for the bridge to be recessed into?

 

[Greenman]

I think I seen 3/8 or .375 before but someone will probably correct me on that.

 

[Cerb]

I used a 3/8" fingerboard on my first fretless. Depending on the height of your bridge, this should be a fine option.

 

[Musiclogic]

I use 1/4" for my FB's, and the bridges I use are 7/16" tall when the saddle is bottomed out. You have to know the bridge height to know the height that the fingerboard will need to sit for proper action over your FB.

 

[Bryan316]

I've seen basses that had the bridge recessed into the wood maybe 1/16" to 1/8". And it looked pretty good. So don't worry if your bridge sits too high and your string action is too much. As long as your bridge won't be too low and raising the saddles won't work, you'll be fine with 3/8".