I'm working on a cherry neck and my neck blank is almost 7/8 and my fretboard blank thickness is exactly 1/4". I saw that the stewmac neck blanks have 13/16" thickness, and mine is 14/16" Should I plane it down a bit before I proceed?
Neck blank thickness - should I plane it down?
- Thread starter newuser1
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Clinchriver
Tele-Meister
You want 1" total
I get mine down to about 1/32 oversize. ( 25/32" neck blank +1/4" fretboard). My logic is you'll sand some off the fretboard to true it up before fretting, and you'll sand some off the neck wood when you are done working on it and sanding through the grits.
The Fender specs have tolerances, and this little extra should be able to be compensated for in your saddles and or neck cavity depth. Given all that I'd rather be oversized than undersized.
Your wood can move a bit too as you remove material and I like the insurance of a little there in case I need to flatten it out before the fretboard gets glued on.
The Fender specs have tolerances, and this little extra should be able to be compensated for in your saddles and or neck cavity depth. Given all that I'd rather be oversized than undersized.
Your wood can move a bit too as you remove material and I like the insurance of a little there in case I need to flatten it out before the fretboard gets glued on.
crisscrosscrash
Tele-Meister
I would keep the extra actually, assuming you are routing the body (not buying one pre-routed for the neck pocket).
You can just deepen the pocket to match and you have the advantage of being able to have a slightly steeper drop down for the headstock, so you can avoid string trees (maybe)...
You can just deepen the pocket to match and you have the advantage of being able to have a slightly steeper drop down for the headstock, so you can avoid string trees (maybe)...
The problem with that is now you have a non standard body that will not take a standardized Fender neck. That is one of Leo's genius - everything is interchangeable. I leave my necks slightly oversize but I like to bring the back of the neck down at the final taper - it is much easier to carve when you have a flat surface there. I use a safe-t-planer and put a little shim under the nut end to get the taper. This is an acoustic neck but the principal is the same.
No, don't do this. If you are building a neck from scratch build it properly. The question is not IF you should make the cherry part of the neck the right size, but WHEN.
How long has the cherry been in your shop? If you are confident that it is fully acclimated to your shop and environment, I would carefully plane it and check for (and eliminate) any wind/twist that might have developed, then take it down to, as Marty suggested, maybe 1/32" max over the 3/4" target. Then let it sit a while longer after the glue-up of the fretboard. Check again for wind/twist. Fine tune it from there but make it end up exactly 1.0." There's no reason not to make it right if you're making it from the beginning.
Keep us posted on the build and best of luck.
Cheers,
Rex
