Building a neck through bass.

[JJW]

I am going to start building a neck through bass and I was just wondering if people on here have any tips of things I should remember as im building so I dont run into any trouble like when I built my other bass.

[ezbass]

Andyjr1515 is your man for this. Here's a quote on the subject from his latest build

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1448204455' post='2913632']
I'm probably 'pushing the envelope' as far as MrsAndyjr1515 is concerned with the reckless neglect of jobs around the house and in the garden, but when it's not raining, bass building is what has to be done!

It's now starting to look like a bass proper - I got the bandsawing of the neck done.

First of all, slimmed it down to body depth:


and then within a mm or so deeper than the final neck depth, got the basic side shape of the neck and headstock cut:



The fretboard shown is still the spare one and the headstock will have extra 'wings' and will also be ebony plated on the top.

For the slotted blank of the real fretboard, I've thinned that down by 1.5mm based on my calcs to get down to the slimness of FuNkShUi's favourite Warwick bass - a slim 23mm non-tapered depth. The reason is simple - with the blank ebony being a generous 8.5mm, once you'd added the depth of the truss-rod slot, there would only have been 1.5mm or so of depth left under the truss rod. Slimming down the ebony a tad has helped get that to a functional and safe thickness even when fully replicating FuNkShUi's slim profile. There [i]should [/i]be no reason why I can't fully replicate the dimensions and shape of the Warwick...

Now, for all of the reservations and downsides of my odd way of building, this is where is really comes into its own for me personally. Once I've finish sanded the top and sanded the straightness and radius on the fretboard, I can still final fit the neck depth and angle so that I know that the bridge is going to be in its optimum adjustment range for the correct action height of the finished bass. While you can calculate these things in advance and try to build exactly to plan, having glued the neck / top early, with hand tools and basic facilities, there are too many things that can be slightly different and which cumulatively can give you a problem. With a bolt-on neck, you just bung a shim in. But with a thru-neck that is already glued in, it can get a bit more complicated.

I'm still enjoying this build enormously Thanks for looking!

Andy
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[PlungerModerno]

Problems will arise during this project - The trick is overcoming them.
I'd consider a mockup with scrap wood to get the ergonomics right (bearing in mind the balance will change if you add hardware or use woods of different densities). A less laborious option would be to try different basses and try to copy one that feels excellent.
Remember it's easier to remove material than add material when it comes to wood. A multi-laminate neck will probably allow you more flexibility in carving a neck profile (it could be thinner and have less chance of warping on you).

[leftybassman392]

Not sure how you're going to set out the frets (most people use templates I believe), but I have a formula for working out fret positions if it's of any use. It's in the spoiler of the linked post, and can be as accurate as you need it to be...

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/272850-intonation-why-are-strings-different-lengths/page__view__findpost__p__2911133"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/272850-intonation-why-are-strings-different-lengths/page__view__findpost__p__2911133[/url]