JohnRossitter Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Geez.. Never thought about this one. Not a bad idea. Well then, you made me change my mind again! I'm still confused about the truss rod thing. I would be much less complicated without one.. No need to route the channel from the back and glue a damn stripe. Argggh! Need to think about it longer I think... Regarding the truss rod. The way I think about it. Wood does change dimensionally with humidity (just a fact of life we live with). If you use a truss rod you have an opportunity to make minor adjustments to keep a neck in check with the tight tolerances we expect. If you add a material that is not subject to dimensional changes (or much less subject to), such as carbon fiber, steel, aluminum or what have you. You can control or limit that variance enough to keep things in check with those tight tolerances. You can work in some features (shaping your fretboard, build in relief, etc...) to give you more breathing room, but again if things go beyond tolerance your in trouble. I have had a graphite neck on a bass for years, no truss (although neck angle is adjusted with a set screw) and have never had issues. Mind you the neck is heavily reinforced and wrapped in carbon fiber around rock maple, composite FB. That neck still develops a slight bit of relief under tension, but it luckily is just right with the gauge strings I like. No truss requires a lot of thought, and design considerations. Ebony, although strong, is not going to remove the potential issues. So if you go without a truss, you are taking a path less traveled, it will be more difficult, and will have risks you will need to control. If it were me, I would be inclined to resaw off a fretboard, add a tasteful lam if you need to develop additional thickness, and drop a nice double acting truss rod in that baby. Peace,Rich This is starting to sound like good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MescaBug Posted March 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 (edited) Rich, you win I'll put a Hot Rod in there just in case. I will use some leftover from the board to make the stripe. I'll stick to the one piece neck. This is the challenge I wanted, and I'll stick to it this time. No more going back. Thanks for all the advices guys, really appreciated. I will let you know how it turns out. I'm working on a customer order right now, but I will take some time to start this project. I feel like a kid going to Disney Land! This is gonna be fun Very exciting to start something for yourself. Last project I did that was not for a customer was at least 1 year ago. Edited March 13, 2008 by MescaBug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRossitter Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 We can't wait to see it. Man it's going to have an interesting sound... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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