Building a Bass neck

[JJW]

I am in the middle of a bass build but this is the first time I am building a neck. I mainly need help with the fretboard. I have a few questions and any help would be appreciated.
1. How thick should the fretboard be, I am basing my neck of an American P bass.
2. How do you radius the fretboard?
3. Are frets secured with anything other than their own grip?

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post, i was not sure where else to post it.

Thanks!

[Manton Customs]

Here goes:

1, Typically 1/4" (6.35 mm) or 6 mm will do
2, I use a router jig, but a radius block is the cheap way if you aren't setup. You can find radius blocks at any of the luthiers supplies sites, or Ebay.
3, Some people glue, some do not, it can add a bit of extra insurance to do so, but if everything is done correctly it's not strictly necessary. Keep in mind you'll have to deal with squeeze out if you do glue.

[JJW]

Thanks!
On the block they have all different numbers like 12" and 9.5". How do I know what one to pick if I'm not sure on the difference.
Also my fret cutting skills probably won't be great so for security I will glue them, what glue should I use?

[Manton Customs]

The number refers to the radius of a fretboard, the higher the number the flatter the fingerboard so a 7.25" radius would be quite rounded and 20" would be very flat. A standard modern P basses has a 9.5" radius. Read this for more info on fingerboard radius http://www.ratcliffe.co.za/articles/radius.shtml.

You can use either CA (superglue) or PVA to glue the frets. PVA will not actually stick to the metal particularly well, but it'll fill any small voids in the fret slot, which will in turn secure the fret tang. CA will actually glue metal to wood, but you do not want or need to be reliant on the glue holding the fret down. PVA is a lot easier to clean up!

I would strongly recommend you buy and read Melvyn Hiscocks book "Make your own electric guitar" before progressing too much further. It's a great book and will help you no end . It mainly focuses on guitars, but the process is exactly the same for bass (just different measurements!).

[TheGreek]

One of my local luthiers runs a luthiery course - you may have something similar in your area.

[Norris]

I can recommend the Melvyn Hiscock book - it's available from his website - ignore the silly prices on Amazon! It's a good book to give you a decent understanding and then there are lots of guitar building websites out there with build diaries e.g. ProjectGuitar.com (where I'm documenting my first guitar build - not a bass though!)

Edit to say that funnily enough I was thumbing through Melvyn's book earlier this evening while waiting for my lad at his music lesson

Edited April 26, 2016 by Norris