0.2in/5mm neck difference

[Radana]

Hi folks,

I've recently come into possession of a 2in wide piece of billet aluminum. After seeing the aluminum tele built for the TDPRI build challenge and always fancying Travis Bean's, I was wondering if building an aluminum neck was a possibility for a summer project. the piece is 2" (50.8mm) wide, which is a bit narrow for a standard 6 string neck. I've seen most standard 6-string guitars are about 2.25" (57mm) at their widest point, so I'm wondering if .2in/5mm would be that significant to render the project moot.

[guitarbuilder]

Make a guitar with a narrower neck. They used to make tenor necks on guitars for 4 strings. Make a 5 string neck?

The bridge would have to be custom made and obviously the string spacing will feel a bit different.

[LocustPlague]

If you make the neck only 2" wide, the bridge will have to be custom made so that the strings don't fan out as far. This really might make a great slide guitar type neck, though, if you could get around making a bridge for it. Better for chords than for fingering individual notes.

[Scantron08]

FWIW, Rickenbackers have necks that are 1.63 inches at the nut, and 1.931 inches at the 12th fret.

[Radana]

My main concern is the high and low E strings sliding off the board. As far as nut and bridge, I plan on cutting a nut and as for the bridge I'm things of a fender style bridge a la strat or tele. I'd really like a six string but have been looking at the Warren Ellis tenor and Keith Richards 5 string, I just don't know much about tunings outside of six and twelve.

[PHawley]

Somebody did make an aluminum neck for the 2011 build challenge. That series of threads isn't up right now, but it should be in a few weeks. As I recall his only complaint was how neck-heavy the guitar was.