Solid Body Bass Neck Through

[Charles Bloss]

I am diving head first into my first build and need some help with the neck of my project. I am building a 30" scale neck through bass for my wife and I am stuck on how I need to go about making the neck blank. I chose hard maple for the wood and finally found a mint 1x6 with little flaws in it. I want to keep it all one piece from the head to the tail piece but I am unsure if I should glue two 3/4 thick boards face to face then plane down or cut out side profiles and glue them together.

Is there a benefit to cutting out the side profiles and gluing them together? Or could I cut the top profile from the 6 inch face of the board(s)?

Does turning the grain sideways increase strength?

If it matters, I am doing a Fender style flat head similar to the Tele.

[Ben Fleenor]

"Is there a benefit to cutting out the side profiles and gluing them together? Or could I cut the top profile from the 6 inch face of the board(s)?"

Depends on which way the grain is running through the board. Is it quarter-sawn, flat-sawn, or is it diagonally oriented to the end? One benefit of cutting the side profile and standing the pieces up is the opportunity to sandwich some contrasting wood strips in between (even if just a thin veneer) for extra visual interest.

"Does turning the grain sideways increase strength?"

Maple is pretty strong and stable regardless of how the grain is oriented so you should be fine whatever you choose. Plenty of one piece maple necks are flatsawn (with the grain laying flat when looking at the end). That being said, if you cut the side profiles arrange them so that the grain mirrors itself (if it's running diagonally through the wood).

[Charles Bloss]

Thank you for the help. I am away from my stock but I am pretty sure it is flat sawn. If I wanted a strat/tele style neck and head, would I be okay leaving it the thickness of .75" or should I glue two together and plane down to the desired size? I noticed a lot of necks run over .80".

One concern is leaving enough thickness in the truss rod channel.

[Ben Fleenor]

Are you adding a separate fingerboard? Or are you planning on a one piece neck with truss rod installed from the back? Also, what kind of truss rod do you want to use?
.75" is just right if you are adding a 1/4" fingerboard to the top. If you want the all maple look, you could make a fingerboard out of your maple and glue it to the top of your neck blank. That would allow you to install the truss rod under the fingerboard instead of from the back of the neck. But you may have been planning that already.

[Charles Bloss]

Yeah I am either going to do a maple or rosewood fretboard on top with the truss rod installed under it. I like the look of the back installed rod with the skunk stripe but this one is going to be painted.

I'll give it a go with one board's thickness first. If I have to make any passes over the jointer to level the face I may have to add the second board and plane down anyway unless you think I can go even thinner. Not sure on the truss rod yet. I have only been worried about the sizes of them so far.