Shaving Your Neck......

[ZenG]

I have read of a couple of instances where people had this done......because they didn't like the basic shape of their bass neck and wanted something that suited their needs more...

Is shaving the neck a good idea?....in terms of still retaining the original strength of the neck?

How much can you take off sensibly?

Guess this would be a pro luthier job with special equipment.....

 

[two fingers]

What kind of bass/neck?

I guess it would depend on the wood and original thickness of the neck you have. Shaving the neck of an early 90s Ibanez probably wouldn't work out so good for you because there wasn't much there to begin with. Taking an mm or so off of some Fender baseball bat neck (not knocking them because they're my favorite kind) probably would have very little affect at all on neck stability (again depending on material of the original neck).

Just my gut thoughts. Not a professional wood worker or luthier.

 

[ZenG]

I was thinking of Fender "C' necks....to make them more like a "D'......


I get what you mean.....if any was taken off my Sr500 Ibby, there'd be nothing left.....
The Ibby doesn't need it.......

 

[Jisch]

You need to establish how much wood is behind the truss rod, which may or may not be easy to do. I wouldn't want any less than 3/16ths back there, but I'm not sure what the minimum really is. If it's a Fender neck, I'm sure you can find the dimensions out on the net somewhere. If there is enough wood back there, then it's just a matter of choosing your weapon - check out that thread on shaping necks as it will give you ideas for how it's done - just flattening the back of the neck probably won't do it, there's more shaping involved than that.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Yeah, that's risky as hell unless you know where the deepest part of the trussrod channel is. If you shave too shallow and the trussrod pops out when tightened, the neck is toast. If you leave the centerline thickness untouched and shave the sides to a "V" profile, you might be OK. Definitely not a job for an amateur either way.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I use a 4-blade razor and Dr. Carver's shave butter. It smells nice and doesn't leave irritated bumps on my neck.


Oh...you mean a bass neck. Yeah, unless you have very detailed knowledge of the truss rod and any potential stiffening rods, it could be a real problem.

 

[wintremute]