Last week I started fretting the neck. I practised on a piece of scrap first, but nonetheless the first few frets made me very nervous..

After putting in some frets just fine, it became a rather relaxing job and I worked my way down the fretboard. Checking depth, cutting the slot if necessary, hammering the fret into its slot and finally, cutting the excess of.

Before the fretting was done, the neck had a slight relief. I knew the frets would bow the neck somewhat and I hoped the result would be perfectly straight, but the frets overdid their job and the neck now as a very slight back bow. But so little that it doesn’t worry me right now. However, the strings will pull it back again. I only wonder how the neck will act when I start shaping it…

Currently I am cleaning up the ends of the frets, first with my Dremel and after that I will file the edges flush with the neck.

Update: I filed the frets flush with the fingerboard and sanded the edges smooth. I added a picture of the result.

This weekend I did a lot of work. I started out planing the fingerboard again, because I wasn’t happy with the result. Then I marked the fret positions with a knife and checked and corrected them afterwards. I think my tolerance was about 0,07 mm on average, so that’s good enough for a start.

Having marked the fret positions it was time to cut the fret slots using the jig I made. So far everything went fine, but after a first cut they weren’t deep enough. I did a second ‘run’, measuring the depth with a caliper. It was very hard to cut the slots nice and clean, because the saw tends to get stuck in the very narrow slot. I scratched the board by accident a few times, but nothing that couldn’t be solved with some sandpaper.

Getting this far I immediately jumped into the glueing part. I took less preparation time for this then I’m used to, but it seemed to go well. Afterwards I routed the fingerboard flush with the neck and sanded the whole neck and fingerboard with different grades of sanding paper.

I am more or less happy with the result, although I am sure I could do better. So I’ll call it a day and let it rest before I move on to shaping the back of the neck.

Tonight I spent some time shaping the transition from the neck to the headstock. It came out really sweet and the width of the nut is exactly 38,5 mm as I planned it to be. I can’t wait to play this baby and I really want to finish it..

At the moment I am thinking about re-planing the fingerboard, as I’m not satisfied with the result I achieved last time. By the time of my next post I’ll hope to show a nice and evenly flatted fingerboard.

This weekend I made a lot of progress again. I cleaned up the glued in truss rod and started laying out the nut and fingerboard position. I made a hard rock maple nut, at least for lining things up, but I think I will go for a graphite one in the end.

Then I made the rough cut for the neck with my jigsaw, followed by routing the edges flush with the template I made earlier. Finally, I made the transition from the neck to the headstock. It needs some sanding, but I want to do that when shaping the neck. So for now, it’s ready; and I can go on with the fingerboard!

I planned to clean up the edges of the headstock with my router, using a plywood template. But when I actually got to this point, I realized it was a silly idea. First of all, the router is that large and heavy compared to the headstock, that I doubt if the result would be okay. And secondly, it is a handbuilt instrument after all, so I shouldn’t attack it with powertools exclusively. That being said, I took a rasp, a file and some sanding paper and started shaping the headstock. I really enjoyed working this way and it came out better than I thought it would.

Then I went on with the truss rod. I finally found some blue masking tape and used it to cover up the open side of the U-channel. For glueing I used a slow setting epoxy (usable for 2 hours, setting time up to 6 hours), so I could position it well and clamp it without rushing.

At the moment, I’m busy building a jig to cut the fret slots accurately.

I am going to speed the build up again! Last week I was ill and the more difficult part of the neck had slowed things down. But I want to see some more progress, so let’s get this neck finished!

Today I made a new headstock template, because I wasn’t satisfied with the one I made earlier. I cut it really slowly and spent more time getting the edges smooth. Also, I left some piece on as a handle and to prevent cutting too far and damaging the neck.

Then, I made a ramp to hold the neck, which makes it easier to work on the headstock. I carefully transfered the headstock outlines onto the veneer and started cutting with my jigsaw: so far so good! I only have to clean it up with the router, before moving on to the neck shape…

Last night I made the truss rod access cavity. I used a round file of the same diameter as the truss rod adjustment nut and it came out nicely. Then, I glued on the headstock veneer and copied the access cavity onto the veneer. It’s not much, but it took me quite a while to get it right.

The next step will be cutting out the headstock shape.

By the way: I ordered the pickups! A DiMarzio Ultra Jazz Set (DP149). According to bestbassgear.com and some other sites, this is exactly what I’m looking for. A traditional Jazz Bass® sound, but more: fat, funky and hum-cancelling!

This week I finally glued the headstock piece to neck. This is a somewhat scary step, because this type of joint is difficult to clamp (if you put pressure on two slanted surfaces, they’ll slide away) and because the result should be strong enough to hold the tension of four bass strings. Before glueing I first sanded the surface again, but this time with an orbital sander to get it as smooth and flat as I could.

Then I clamped it on the table without glue, just to test my setup. I used seven clamps and two blocks of wood, screwed to the table. I also used two pieces of plywood, wrapped in tape, to divide the pressure of the clamps evenly over the joint. The last step was to glue it and wait… 24 hours later I removed the clamps, cleaned it up and got to see the result. It’s not bad for a first time scarf joint, but I think, with the experience I have right now, that the next one could be even better.

I spent the rest of the evening to create a saddle for my router to route the truss rod channel. It has a larger base plate than the original, supporting two guides to hold the router in place. Since the channel has to be 10 mm wide and I only have got a 6 mm and a 12 mm router bit, I had to use the 6 mm bit. I made the saddle in a way, that the bit was exactly 2 mm off center. If I’d centered the bit, it would route 3 mm on each side of the center line, but using this offset, it routed 1 mm on the left and 5 mm on the right. And when you turn it over, it’s the other way around, resulting in an 10 mm wide channel. This took me quite a while and I messed up two times, but I got there.

The next day I routed the channel, which was very easy, using the saddle I made. As you can see on the pictures, it fits quite nice. But it’s not finished, I still have to route a channel or drill a hole for the adjustment nut. Today I also ordered some slow setting epoxy to glue it in.

Ps. I discovered a new little helper this week: double sided tape. If you look at the pictures, it looks like the neck blank is just lying on the table, but it’s not! It’s secured with only three small pieces of tape and if you try to lift it, you’ll lift the whole table! And it doesn’t get in your way alot like clamps do!

After succesfully squaring the neck blank and building a jig, I started cutting for the scarf joint. The result has to be very accurate, because a sloppy cut would result in a slanted headstock or, even worse, a weak joint. I cut the blank by hand in an angle of 13 degrees.

Then I made another jig to plane the glueing surface flat with my router, followed by sanding it smooth by hand. After this step, I planed the headstock part down to somewhat over 13 mm. Together with the veneer, the headstock will be 16,5 mm thick.

The result seems to be perfect, but it isn’t. The glueing surface of the headstock piece still is a little convex, so it needs some sanding before I can get to the glueing part…

Last week, the neck wood arrived, together with a truss rod and a 0,5 mm saw for cutting the fret slots. The rosewood fingerboard looks gorgeous, although I have to plane it down from 9 to 6 mm. And then the saw: it’s second hand, I’m sure of that. It looks like it has served for a few years already and I couldn’t even cut my finger with it! (That’s safe, I know, but rosewood is rather tough…) So it will go back and I have to look for another one.

I also had a problem with the neck blank I ordered. It wasn’t straight. If I put it on the table, the ends of the blank hovered almost 2 mm above the table. Since I don’t have a jointer or planer, I couldn’t do it myself (or maybe with a block plane, but I doubt the result would be any better), so I Googled a bit and found a very nice local furniture / cabinet maker (Huub de Krom Meubelmakerij) who was willing to plane the blank for me. Now it’s perfectly flat and about the right thickness. Many thanks to Huub de Krom!

So it’s time to start working on the neck. First of all, I set up a jig to plane the fingerboard with my router and routed it to a thickness of almost 7 mm. It wasn’t flat and without a flat surface to start with, I can’t get the fret slots right. Then, I sanded it by hand for over an hour and it came out beautiful. I like the grain very much!

Then, I started working on the neck blank, since I couldn’t start cutting the fret slots. I routed the sides perfectly perpendicular to the top and bottom of the blank and also parallel to each other. This will help getting the scarf joint nice and straight. Having this done, I made a jig for the scarf joint. I am going to cut it by hand and the jig will assure the cut is straight and exactly 13 degrees (that’s where I am aiming for). While the glue of the jig is drying, I will look if I can make a figured maple veneer for the headstock out of the left overs from the body top.

[Some time later that day…]

I found I nice piece of figured maple that matches the body top perfectly! So I reused the jig from the fingerboard and planed it down to 2 mm thick. Then I cut it with the fretsaw (the one with the frame, not the one to cut fret slots) and sanded it smooth. I now have a wonderful piece of veneer! Can’t wait to see it on the headstock!