Very nice job Jeff. Sanding a radius in the fretboard is such a PITA. I’ve started using a fretboard radius jig with my router and just finish off with the radius sanding block. Finished in 30 minutes - I’ll never go back.
Great job on the build. As a musician, and I'm sure your friend would agree, you can make the neck feel a bit better by sanding a gradual change from a 12" radius to a 14" radius starting around the 15th or 16th fret.
Hey my friend. Here's something i do when i radius my fingerboard. Once i get the radius to near zero tolerance. I use a 4 inch radius tester to see where i need to sand more. I darken the room some, and use a LED light to backlash the radius tester. I run this 4 inch tester along the fretboard to see where it may need more sanding. I use a pencil to highlight the area where light is showing through. The LED light from the back of the tester will illuminate any area that may need more shaping. It works great for me!! Here's something else you may consider down the road. Some bass players like myself, like a more wider neck to fit a 3/4" spacing at the bridge. Some bass necks are more narrow at the bridge - to - nut width spacing. I even make my six string bass necks; that i use for myself, at 3/4" spacing at the bridge. I hope this makes sense to ya..lol. But, if i am making one for another person, i normally ask them what spacing they prefer, what style of music they play the most: rock, jazz, funk, etc. Different fingerboard wood changes the sound too. their position when they play the most: setting, standing, etc. Even the thickness of the neck itself. Because of the pressure each position bares on the tension of the neck. Also, if you're making a 5 or 6 string bass, you may want to use support rods on each side of the truss rod. This will help tremendously in keeping the neck very stable against the higher tension of the added strings. Great work though bro.. Please keep up the amazing work you do. God bless you and your family my friend.
Wow nice work on that neck! That maple is beautiful. I've made one tele style guitar neck so far. The neck shaping and the cutting the fret slots in the right locations were the iffy parts for me...the rest is just regular woodworking operations.
Thanks Steve. A tele neck is next for me. I agree the frets are the most critical part for me. Lots of careful marking. I think my least favorite part is all the sanding involved to get it real nice. 👍
I'm just getting into building. Mainly cigar box guitars & I have 3 great art deco chocolate tins that will make great resonators. I have all the wood for the necks that came out of my kitchen cupboard & all the right tools. Just gotta do it now. Cheers man from the UK. Liverpool, home to a lil known beat combo you may have heard of? Lol.
great video Jeff, i'm currently making a tele, haven't started the body yet, just the template, but overall trying to get all my parts and pre-assembly done and your vids definitely give me the motivation! thanks again!
Great job, Jeff. You make it look easy! I know I deliberate a LOT over those finesse cuts such as paring down the thickness of the headstock. I like your slot cutter fixture, too. How did you get the slot centered on the neck and aligned properly?
I was worried about thinning the headstock the first couple times too. I just mark it out and cut. It's either going to work or it wont. If it's too thin, you could always add a veneer to fix it. For the nut, I just measured from the end of the neck and marked it out. Since this is fretless, I don't have to worry about intonation at the 12th fret. It will just basically intonate to itself.
Using the rule of 18 or Fretfind, you can find your fret positions beforehand. Also, your neck should be around .800 thick at the front of the nut and .925 just before the heel
Great Job! One question: DO you use just a normal lacquer for the fretboard? With round wound strings the laquer will wear of quite quickly, won‘t it? Don‘t they use epoxy or boat laquers for maple fretboards,, normally?
shrinck wrap serve to avoid trussrod noise, not to protect from glue, a double action truss rod will not work well with glue on it, it's true for single but for an other reason! he goos idea that warwick had ( now they make double action single rod trussrod ) is to put some grease on the truss rod, it avoid noise and glue to stick at the rods! Anyway glue never make good things in trussrod channel
Very nice job Jeff. Sanding a radius in the fretboard is such a PITA. I’ve started using a fretboard radius jig with my router and just finish off with the radius sanding block. Finished in 30 minutes - I’ll never go back.
Good job Man!
That is some nice maple
Brilliant video, Jeff. Very helpful, and great to see all of your neat jigs and techniques.
Thanks so much. Jigs really help make things easier.
It is an improvement! Looks great. Good job well done.
Thank You.
I think it looks great. Cool custom truss rod tool! This is the first video on this subject I have watched, and I learned a few things!
Awesome, I'm glad you found it helpful. Thanks for tuning in.
You have great insight thanks sooo much .
I have a massive problem paying 400 for a bass neck .
Great job on the build. As a musician, and I'm sure your friend would agree, you can make the neck feel a bit better by sanding a gradual change from a 12" radius to a 14" radius starting around the 15th or 16th fret.
Hey my friend. Here's something i do when i radius my fingerboard. Once i get the radius to near zero tolerance. I use a 4 inch radius tester to see where i need to sand more. I darken the room some, and use a LED light to backlash the radius tester. I run this 4 inch tester along the fretboard to see where it may need more sanding. I use a pencil to highlight the area where light is showing through. The LED light from the back of the tester will illuminate any area that may need more shaping. It works great for me!! Here's something else you may consider down the road. Some bass players like myself, like a more wider neck to fit a 3/4" spacing at the bridge. Some bass necks are more narrow at the bridge - to - nut width spacing. I even make my six string bass necks; that i use for myself, at 3/4" spacing at the bridge. I hope this makes sense to ya..lol. But, if i am making one for another person, i normally ask them what spacing they prefer, what style of music they play the most: rock, jazz, funk, etc. Different fingerboard wood changes the sound too. their position when they play the most: setting, standing, etc. Even the thickness of the neck itself. Because of the pressure each position bares on the tension of the neck. Also, if you're making a 5 or 6 string bass, you may want to use support rods on each side of the truss rod. This will help tremendously in keeping the neck very stable against the higher tension of the added strings. Great work though bro.. Please keep up the amazing work you do. God bless you and your family my friend.
Cool neck build Jeff. You've helped inspire me to get into some woodworking, and guitar/bass building!
Awesome. You can do it. It's so satisfying to play on an instrument you created.
Good stuff lad. Keep at it. ;) Enjoy the rest of the weekend. A+ to Greg too. What a cool guy. Nice one.
Thanks. Greg is awesome! Good luck with the guitars. I also have a chocolate tin I'm saving that will become a CBG. 👍
thank you for your precious video!
looks awesome. thanks for the tips.
Thank You!
GREAT JOB JEFF !
Wow nice work on that neck! That maple is beautiful. I've made one tele style guitar neck so far. The neck shaping and the cutting the fret slots in the right locations were the iffy parts for me...the rest is just regular woodworking operations.
Thanks Steve. A tele neck is next for me. I agree the frets are the most critical part for me. Lots of careful marking. I think my least favorite part is all the sanding involved to get it real nice. 👍
Very nicely done I need a Fender P- bass neck and I’ve thought about making it myself, that’s kind of how I found your channel.
You can do it!
THANK YOU SIR.
Hey man, awesome vid! It was super helpful for my first bass project. Thanks a million✌
I'm just getting into building. Mainly cigar box guitars & I have 3 great art deco chocolate tins that will make great resonators. I have all the wood for the necks that came out of my kitchen cupboard & all the right tools. Just gotta do it now. Cheers man from the UK. Liverpool, home to a lil known beat combo you may have heard of? Lol.
AWESOME!!!
great video Jeff, i'm currently making a tele, haven't started the body yet, just the template, but overall trying to get all my parts and pre-assembly done and your vids definitely give me the motivation! thanks again!
Thanks. You can do it!
Nice Job...I like....
Great vid and neck blank. How does the truss assembly stay in it's groove? Glue on the bottom or is it wedged in there? Thanks!
Great job, Jeff. You make it look easy! I know I deliberate a LOT over those finesse cuts such as paring down the thickness of the headstock. I like your slot cutter fixture, too. How did you get the slot centered on the neck and aligned properly?
I was worried about thinning the headstock the first couple times too. I just mark it out and cut. It's either going to work or it wont. If it's too thin, you could always add a veneer to fix it. For the nut, I just measured from the end of the neck and marked it out. Since this is fretless, I don't have to worry about intonation at the 12th fret. It will just basically intonate to itself.
Using the rule of 18 or Fretfind, you can find your fret positions beforehand. Also, your neck should be around .800 thick at the front of the nut and .925 just before the heel
Awesome I prefer instal freets first on fretboard
Great Job! One question: DO you use just a normal lacquer for the fretboard? With round wound strings the laquer will wear of quite quickly, won‘t it? Don‘t they use epoxy or boat laquers for maple fretboards,, normally?
I use regular lacquer on the fret board. Nitrocellulose lacquer is popular for this as well. I haven't tried any kind of epoxy.
Where did you get that truss rod drill bit? That thing is awesome
Its a Stew Mac thing. It works pretty good. Its on their site.
very cool Jeff, also lefty players unite!!
Yeah! Go lefties. 🤘👍
Hey, Jeff! Did you radius the fretboard at all? :) This is a great video and I love your stuff on here. Consider yourself up another subscriber!
Thanks man. I did radius it. Used a radius sanding block. I believe it was 14".
Have some serious questions for you re measurements for centre line and scale calculations etc. Would love to pick the brain ha
If that old neck is still around, I'd like to buy it off you if you'd let me.
Sorry, I don't have it. It was returned to its owner.
good video and nice neck. but strings will damage the fretboard.
I thought about that. I think without frets, it will be pretty simple to repair that though. 👍
most fretless bass players use flatwound strings and aren't as harsh on the neck look it up
What would be cool is repairing the other neck so there is always the option to switch back
That's an idea. Hmmm.
Jeff Baker when life gives you a neck bass, make bassmonade... i think
shrinck wrap serve to avoid trussrod noise, not to protect from glue, a double action truss rod will not work well with glue on it, it's true for single but for an other reason!
he goos idea that warwick had ( now they make double action single rod trussrod ) is to put some grease on the truss rod, it avoid noise and glue to stick at the rods!
Anyway glue never make good things in trussrod channel
Thank you for the clarification.
@@homebuiltshop the only type of trussrod I have seen made to avoid being glued are single action with teflon coat on
So before I watched your video , I had to watch a video "How to remove the fret board".
Who the fuck puts the truss rod adjustment at the bridge side of the neck? Seems real whack to me
This is a popular location for the truss rod adjustment. Fender as well as many other manufacturers use this exact same design.