How thin can a neck be? (or 'Oops, cut a bit much off')

[Jabba_the_gut]

I've just thinned the neck for a 5 string bass I'm building and I'm wondering if it is too thin. The router moved a little while I was doing this and I've taken about 2mm more than I wanted off the thickness of the neck. The neck is now uniformly 23mm thick across the length - I didn't really want it to be less than 25mm thick.

Does anyone know if 23mm is too thin and will cause me any problems? (It's made from quarter sawn maple with a wenge fretboard)

If it is, I'll fix a new bit of maple to the back and reshape, should be able to make it decorative to hid my mistake!!

Cheers

Jez

[RichardH]

My 4 string Fender Japan fretless neck is less than 20mm deep including fingerboard up at the headstock end - seems solid enough to me!!

EDIT - in fact the depth is only around 23mm at the octave point, too.

Edited September 28, 2012 by RichardH

[gjones]

Geddy Lee Jazz necks are very shallow. Certainly less than 23mm deep.

[Jabba_the_gut]

Thanks for the details. Might be safe then - I'll just carry on as (sort of) planned!!

Cheers