Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 so i was rough cutting everything on the neck of my neck through bass project, and i cut everything about 1/8-1/4" away from the outline.... but the paper i taped to the neck somehow slid to the left (im pretty sure i had it lined up but i guess not lol). My questionis... i can still get it lined up straight if i reduce the width at the 12th fret to 2-1/4 vs. 2-1/2 inches... in essence this error will take about 1/8" off either side. Im also gonna put the fret board on soon... which im gonna overhang a bit to get some width back. Do you guys think that a width of 2-1/4" at the 12th fret is enough. nut width = 1-1/2 inches.. and i havent gotten a bridge yet... so i could get a closly spaced bridge and that should help the problem too. I already have the body shaped, i suppose i can rip the wings off... cut a new neck and reglue it if i have to. But its so close to the right width it kinda pains me to do that. Any input on this little predigament i got myself into? thanks alot, Louis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 If I made a neck 10% narrower than I had anticipated(which is exactly what you've done), I'd either try to see if it'd be the right size for some other project...or chuck it. Here's a very important question: have you put a profile on it yet? If there's no profile and you essentially have a block of wood, you could graft on the 1/8" thickness to either side. Don't alter your string spacing to compensate for a mistake, I can assure you with great certainty that you would regret it in the long run. So now you tell us where you stand. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 (edited) If I made a neck 10% narrower than I had anticipated(which is exactly what you've done), I'd either try to see if it'd be the right size for some other project...or chuck it. Here's a very important question: have you put a profile on it yet? If there's no profile and you essentially have a block of wood, you could graft on the 1/8" thickness to either side. Don't alter your string spacing to compensate for a mistake, I can assure you with great certainty that you would regret it in the long run. So now you tell us where you stand. peace, russ ← what do you mean by graft. If your saying to glue a strip of maple... (and no i havent profiled it yet) i was thinkin about that. but then i started thinkin of maybe overhanging the fret board a butt-hair and then sanding it down so its flush with the neckwood that i screwed up. im gonna figure out the exact spacing of the bridge im lookin at getting though... do some drawings and see how it looks. But i kinda wanna avoid reglueing it cuz i dont have the scraps from the wings anymore... i used them to practice carving. Edited December 15, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 I suggest you get some more maple and glue it on the sides. Obviously we're not going to be able to convince you that you shouldn't use this blank. So at least take my advice by fixing the neck and making it the width you originally wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 no i mean, if you think it woul dbe best to scrap the neck i could... i got enough maple left over to make a new one... but im just wondering if thats the best solution and how would i go about re-clamping the wings (thats probably the least of my worries and its probably in here somewhere i know) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Listen, don't scrap it. It's salvagable. You might even be able to make the patch blend in well. If you have maple left, then patch the thing. I'm just a very picky person, so you have to take that into consideration. Regardless of whether you decide to start from scratch or fix this(which seems possible by all means), you really need to just avoid settling for what you have by making your string spacing narrower. If you've got the maple to build another neck, than you've got the maple to fix this one. It's your first neck afterall(correct?), don't give up on it just yet. Patching it and recutting it will take all of what, maybe half an hour? peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 (edited) yeah, ill think about it... i jsut gotta figure out if it will be more time consuming to patch it... or resaw it... cuz i have the body and the headstock rough-shaped... so im gonna have to work around all that ...to tell you the truth i AM leaning towards patching it because it is maple and its not gonna be that noticable Edited December 15, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Wait, are the wings already glued on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 hahaha yeah, thats why ive been asking about reglueing the wings and all that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 My bad. Yeah, that makes your job a tad more difficult. I'm sure you'll work something out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 hahaha, alright, ill talk it over with my shop teacher and see what he thinks... he seemed to think it wouldnt be a problem about the overhang of the strings, but then again i dont think i explained it to him clearly... ill just do some studying and think it through and figure out what would be the best approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 ok, i looked at the string spacing on the bridge i was gonna buy, and it lines up with the guitar with room to spare. And i figured out some good news, the template i layed on the body was a little bit bigger to accomodate room for error, so thank god for that. Ill look at the actual bass and take some more accurate measurements tomorow... but now i feel a little better, i think its gonna fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Just for future reference. You might save yourself a bit of trouble if you get 100% of the tooling on your necks done before you attach them, be it a glue in or neck thru. By "tooling" I mean pretty much everything except laying the finish on it. Not everyone does it this way, but imho, it makes everything much easier. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 (edited) yeah i was thinkin about that... but it was also nice just to run it through the planer to get everything flush after i glued the wings on.... if i contoured the neck i could do that, id have to hand plane it right? Edited December 15, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiggz Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Just for future reference. You might save yourself a bit of trouble if you get 100% of the tooling on your necks done before you attach them, be it a glue in or neck thru. By "tooling" I mean pretty much everything except laying the finish on it. Not everyone does it this way, but imho, it makes everything much easier. peace, russ ← amen to that, using a spokeshave and rasp on a neck through when it has wings on is very difficult, not impossible, but difficult, but u gotta learn somehow i guess. but id leave a little bit of shaping around the neck-body joint until the wings are on so u can flow them into one-another. luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 Hey, Led, does you shop teacher play bass? How would he know if the overhang would be playable? I'd go with Russ's idea, if it's possible (hell, everything's possible). Sure, you 'might' be able to find a narrower bridge, but it's not the bridge you wanted to use. (You should have all necessary parts available before starting the build anyway!) You can get some excellent results with patching with wood --I had to do a few patches on my guitar. I make the patch thicker than the area, and by the time it's sanded down, the patch itself is barely visible (in some cases, it literally disappears), because the fibers mesh really well. And you can play around with the idea --like get a contrasting wood color and use it as a binding of sorts for both sides...it would end up looking very cool. And if nothing else, there's this stuff called paint. It's really good at hiding mistakes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 yeah thanks MG, i got shop next class period... im in government now... so ill just use this time to think about my options. As much is I dont want to, painting is an option. I could get an oil drum and do a full body swirl... what do you think? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiggz Posted December 16, 2005 Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 if u can get a good joint u wont even see it, if u can see it a bit u could cut a small groove along the joint, and fill with putty/stainable wood filler, and then stain it. just a thought luke :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ledzendrix1128 Posted December 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 (edited) Good news now... turns out the bandsaw wasnt perfectly straight(normally bad, but in this case its not) so i was taking measurements off the back of the neck thinkin theyd be the same... today i took measurements on the front and it turns out its thinner only by a hair... So i think it should work out alright. Edited December 16, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marzocchi705 Posted December 16, 2005 Report Share Posted December 16, 2005 Thats sounds like you got of easy, congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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