Neck thickness

[fidgec94]

On this page of the warmoth site, it quotes the thickness of its neck shapes at 1st and 12th fret. Will these thicknesses be including the fretboard? The standard is only 0.8" at the 1st fret and then if 1/4" of that is fret board, it only leaves about 1/2" as actual neck wood. Then again what do i know?

[Guitarfrenzy]

Neck Building Problems

Yes, they have included the fretboard in those measurements. But I don't think that their fretboards are gonna be 1/4" thick, on their thinner necks. All I can say is that if your building your own and your planning on using a double action truss rod with a thin neck, then you should be very careful and don't do what I did not long ago. I was carving the countour with the duplicator and after I got done and sanded it smooth I noticed a small crack develop 2 days later. It was a paper thin layer of wood left to hold the truss rod for about 2 inches from the nut area. Basically I'm gonna have to scrap that neck and start over. It was my first neck that was around 17mm to 18mm range and I learned a hard lesson. lol I then looked at the original neck and noticed that the fretboard was alot thinner than mine.. I was sick.. So I'd advise anyone making a neck that thin, plane down the fretboard if it's 1/4"(.250")(6.35mm) some. What happens is that with a thick fretboard you end up carving more wood off the neck wood, thus if the truss rod is let's say a Stew Mac Hot Rod, you'd end up with little wood behind the nut to 4th fret area. I made an assumption that the standard fretboard width was 1/4", since I'd never ran into this problem before, everything was ok.. Until the thin neck.. So if you was going for a wizard neck configuration which is .735" at the 1st fret. And you plan on using the Stew Mac truss rod, which will take a 7/16" (.4375") deep slot routed for it. Then you try to use a 1/4" (.250) fretboard. Just do the numbers and you'll see that's not a good thing.

Total Neck width 1st Fret--------------.735"

-(minus)Fretboard height--------------.250"

-(minus)Slot for truss rod--------------.4375"

---------------Total wood left-------==.0475"

Now you can see why I had a problem. There is two things that can solve this problem with thin necks. You can use take some off the fretboard, which isn't a problem because I measured the other neck I was copying and it was only .150" thick at middle. So that will save you alot of wood right there. The other thing you can do is use a slightly thinner truss rod that wouldn't need as deep of a slot. By doing both you'd be much better off in the long run. If your using carbon fiber rods on your neck make sure to stay close to the truss rod and don't use the thicker ones or you might end up carving down to them.. Luckily I didn't have that problem, but the truss rod issue makes this neck unplayable.

Wish I'd had written it out like this before I messed this last neck up. But hey I learned something that will help me out in the long run and might help some others out there who are reading this. Remember though you can learn only so much from reading, and alot from doing. Let the carving begin.. lol

[krazyderek]

the short and skinny is yes, fretboard is included in that measurement, makers of very thin necks often use 3/16" thick fingerboard instead of 1/4" thick, and they also use truss rod that aren't as tall (ex: at least 2 other members on this forum have carved right thru the back of their necks into the stew mac truss rods trying to get thin necks)

[LGM Guitars]

The only thing I'll warn about using thinner than 1/4" fretboards (and I'm one of those 2 members who carved through the back of the neck using a stupid hotrod) is that if you go much less than 1/4", in many cases you will have a hell of a time mounting a lock nut so that the 1st fret action is reasonable. You need a specific amount of height for the lock nut to work, and if the fretboard is to thin, you won't be able to lower the nut enough to make it work.

[Guitarfrenzy]

The only thing I'll warn about using thinner than 1/4" fretboards (and I'm one of those 2 members who carved through the back of the neck using a stupid hotrod) is that if you go much less than 1/4", in many cases you will have a hell of a time mounting a lock nut so that the 1st fret action is reasonable. You need a specific amount of height for the lock nut to work, and if the fretboard is to thin, you won't be able to lower the nut enough to make it work.

First off, I guess we aren't alone in making that mistake. I talked to a very well known guitar maker and was mentioned how I had been dumb and carved too far down. He told me that he did the exact same thing on one of his first guitars he built. He was using a spokeshave and was going real good then all of a sudden he hit a snag.. looked down to find out it was the truss rod.. lol So, I bet that mistake is a common one among builders. As far as the locking nut, why can't you just file down the area so it sets as far down as you need it to?

[Slaughthammer]

The only thing I'll warn about using thinner than 1/4" fretboards (and I'm one of those 2 members who carved through the back of the neck using a stupid hotrod) is that if you go much less than 1/4", in many cases you will have a hell of a time mounting a lock nut so that the 1st fret action is reasonable. You need a specific amount of height for the lock nut to work, and if the fretboard is to thin, you won't be able to lower the nut enough to make it work.

i had the locking nut problem when i converted my strat to a flod-style kahler trem. i had a roller nut on it before, so the locking nut fitted in that place. but the action would've been 1mm to high, and i couldn't take off some wood beyon the nut because there is truss rod. i just made the nut 1mm smaller. it was a pain in the ass, because the steel it's made from is hardened, but now it works fine, i stay in tune perfectly. in fact all i want to say is, that a locking nut will work even with a pretty thin fingerboard

sorry for my bad english

[krazyderek]

according to my math setting the nut right on the neck blank should work provided you have jumbo frets, anything smaller and the action would be high you're right...... did you notice that to LGM? or am i way off?

[YDoesGodMockMeSo]

*hopes Derek knows what he's talking about*

[bassman]

I was afraid of making my neck to thin as well on my first bass aout a year ago. I used the hot rod and a 3/16 rosewood fretboard. The neck is laminated purpleheart and bubinga with two carbon fiber rods. I got my neck down about 11/16 at the first fret, I believe that only leaves about 1/10" of wood behind the rod, before the neck belnds into the thru body it is only about 12/16" thick. This is quite thin, but I am happy to say that the bass has been played hard for one solid year with no neck problems. It is also a five string, 34.5" scale with extremely high tension fatwound strings, about 50lbs. per string and has taken at least one very solid impact on the neck upon hitt ing the edge of a drum riser on its way to the stage.

I am letting you all know about this so that you may get an idea of what you may be able to get away with. This may be one of those anecdotes that can mislead, so watch out and dont make those neck too thin. But damns does the neck feel awesome for a five string bass, everybody loves how easy it is to play.

Peace,

Ryan

[fidgec94]

Righty-ho, thats certainly helps me alot - i'll be extra careful (utterly paranoid) when carving! Im not planning on a locking nut this time around, but thanks for the info, its worth bearing in mind.

I have a piece of mahogany to use and i seem to remember in another thread that with mahogany its advisable to leave about 1/4" minimum between the back of the neck and bottom of truss rod route. For peace of mind, perhaps i will have a look for a slimmer alternative to the hot rod....