TheRavenOfDiscord

On 3/9/2020 at 11:08 AM, Polymaker said:

In the beginning I wanted to make this software cross-platform (for Linux and OSX) but I had trouble finding a cross-platform UI library that could do what I 

I'm going to take a wild leap and say this program is written in C# based on the file extensions? If so I think you'll be hard pressed to find a PIGUI, as most programs and utilities (at least in linux) are written in C or C++. That said, this is a neat tool! I'll definitely be using it for a future build

On 1/3/2020 at 4:06 AM, Andyjr1515 said:

Personally, I physically get hold of the bridge first and check the ACTUAL adjustment ranges and then draw the nut/fretboard/bridge lines full size to work out the angle I need to build into the neck blank.

I was looking at bridges last night and 1) holy cow are the hotshots I looked at surprisingly expensive for what looks like a simple piece of metalwork, and 2) the angle of the neck is largely dependent on the bridge height and the kind of action I want on the fretboard, yes? My ideal would be to have the action such that it quite easily facilitates a good clean slapp without taking too much effort to fret. Yet another fun hurdle to tackle, I suppose. 

16 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

If you want to reduce the thickness of the neck, you can always make the fretboard slightly thinner to allow you to keep more wood under the truss rod.

It's funny you mention it, I was thinking about having a (near) infinite radius on the fretboard, so I could easily take some thickness out of the board for that, I think.

14 hours ago, mistermikev said:

I would think your big hurdle is going to be 30" scale + low b string - she is going to be very low tension.

I'm aware they make bass strings for short scale lengths to compensate, presumably by requiring more tension than standard strings. That said, if they dont make a B string that way it'll be a fun hurdle to jump over 

I'd have to agree with you on thin necks on a bass. My budget bass I got as a child is probably no thicker than my father's Martin acoustic guitar! That said, with this bass project I hope to have a similarly thin neck, or at least less of a curvature at the back.

The graphic you posted is interesting. Though I'm sure the short scale length (only 4" longer than the aforementioned Martin guitar, funny enough) will mitigate the risk of twisting, it's good information to have!

11 minutes ago, curtisa said:

There is no standard to speak of. You're left with whatever room is available after you subtract the remainder of distance from the last fret on the fretboard, minus any excess fret board extension past the last fret.Say you have a 24 fret neck on a 30" scale length. The remaining scale length between 24th fret and bridge will be approximately (30/2) - (30/4) = 7.5". There will be an extension of the fret board of say 0.4" so that the last fret has some meat in the fret board to attach to, so your total remaining length between the neck and bridge will be around about 7.5 - 0.4 = 7.1" for you to position pickups at your leisure.

Ah, wonderful! Some math for a left brainer! Joking aside, that makes a lot of sense. That basically means I need a final length of 22.9" thereabouts in the fretboard.

1 hour ago, curtisa said:

All modern necks will at the very least have an adjustable truss rod installed to help counterract the pull of the strings. Necks prone to twisting or warping (eg, long scale lengths, high string tension, made from materials not known for their lateral strength, super-thin profiles etc) will sometimes also have carbon fibre rods or beams installed to help stiffen the neck further and provide more rigidity. Dual truss rods are sometimes used to not only allow for backbow/forward bow adjustment, but also twist correction.

I didnt even consider the neck twisting. I'll have to look into either a dual truss system or adding carbon fiber rods, or both if I want a bit of overkill.

Hello lovely fellow builders! Been lurking here reading for a while, and finally created an account for a couple questions I dont believe I've seen an answer to. If there are threads answering these questions I'm open to being directed to those and having this thread closed.

As the thread title implies, I am in the planning and acquisition stages for a from-scratch 5-string bass guitar. I plan on having a through-neck, 24 fret design in a relatively rare 30" short scale length.

My questions both have to do with the neck and fretboard. The first is, is there any standard measurement for the length of the fretboard and neck itself relative to the desired scale length? I assume it depends on the number of frets already, but my thought was more specifically for the distance from the end of the fretboard to the bridge, as I assume there is some unspoken "standard" to make room for any and all pickups.

My second question has more to do with the neck. I understand there would have to be a point where the neck would just snap from the string tension without some kind of reinforcement,  but past that how much does the depth and curvature of the neck matter when building? I want a neck that is as thin and flat as possible without serious risk of snapping in half from regular use.

Thank you in advance for any and all advice you can offer!