planning neck width checklist

[Meegs666]

i have planned the width of my neck and i am very sure it is right. what do i need to know before i cut the wood? how much should i add for a margin of error during sanding? should i add a little bit of space on the edges, if so how will i get the edge straight and lined back up when im done?

[Dr. Jabsco]

well, that really depends on how handy you are with a bandsaw. And you can always use a template and a flush mount router bit to get the neck sides perfect, but you can get them straight again, so dont worrie about that.

You can also use a drum sander (also called a robo sander) with a bering on it that can follow a template, lex luither goes into it in the tourtial section of main site, on his bass.

before you do any cutting, its always good to make templates, full scale templates. you can use plywood, luuan, MDF borad and all sorts of things.

also think about your headstock angle, and how your going to cut that, using a scarf cutting method or cutting the angle from a large enough block.

And remember that is is much eayser to route the cavity for the truss rod before you cut the edges of the board, so you have a straight line that the router (or router table) can go against.

[Meegs666]

the biggest step i guess is knowing when i have planned enough. i cant really draw a line between planning and cutting. so i guess this is what i have so far. i have my rough template made from thick cardboard and im going to trace that onto the neck wood, then i guess cut the sides of the neck out, then im going to measure and mark the thickness of the neck, route for the rod, cut out the chunk of wood along the back of the neck between the heel and back of the headstock, then im going to laminate the headstock ears, then ill start sanding down the sides of the neck through body portion and start carving at the back of the neck with my rasps and wood scrapers.