Bless God. He is worthy!
Step 3 Neck Template.
DANGER!There is no slacking in this area. A bad neck can happen fast. Worse than that; you won't know how bad your neck is until you are done! Trust me...been there...lost sleep.
I would strongly advise that you read this from Stew-Mac
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Neck_relief,_building_and_repair/i-5200.html because it's easy and concise.
OK. Let's plan the neck.
"Empowered" is a 34" scale bass. It's a 4 string. Let's use some Fender specs: Standard 20 frets, Width at nut 1-5/8" (41.28mm), Width at 20th fret 2-1/2" (63.50mm).
Now, we need to calculate how the neck shape relates to the body. This is done by using a fret calculator. You can use this one:
http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator/ just put in 20 frets at 34" scale and calculate.
OK. The calculator says
35" from the nut to the last row of screws. That means my template has to be long enough to accomodate the length from the nut to the heel. This is a neck through so we can use a single template that will deal with that too.
Finally. Very importantly we have to make sure that the bass will balance. We don't want that uncomfortable neck dive.
Draw it out. Notice that I have a strong
center line-CL.
Materials:Pencil, Yardstick and Sharpie.
1. Measure in about 4" from the edge. Do this 3 times. Mark the CL with the Sharpie.
2. Measure 1/2" from the top of your board. Mark that as the NUT.
3. Measure 35" mark that as BRIDGE SCREWS.
4. Measure 17" from NUT mark this as BOTTOM 12th FRET
5. Measure 23 5/16" from NUT mark that as 20th FRET
6. Measure
DOWN 1" from 20th FRET mark as HEEL
Draw in the widths of the neck measurments across the CL. Be sure to be as accurate as possible. Measure 3 Times!!!
Width at nut 1-5/8" (41.28mm) or 13/16" each side
Width at 20th fret 2-1/2" (63.50mm) or 1 1/4 each side
Heel 3 1/4" or 1 3/8" each side
At the HEEL mark make the line 3 1/4 wide. Make another mark lower so that you can make an even shape. This template will help us determine the width of the neck/body laminate.
Connect the dots.
Now do the Headstock. Using the Standard Fender proportions again...
1. Make a box 9" by 5"
2. Make a CL (of course)
3. Mark the bottom line NUT
4. Now take the
exact same measurment from the NUT measurment off the NECK TEMPLATE mark that exactly off the CL.
5. Measure up 2" from the nut make a mark.
6. Measure 1 1/4" to the LEFT of the CL. Mark a mark called "E". This is for the E string.
7. From the E mark measure 3/4" to the LEFT. This is how much wood you HAVE to have to support the tuners.
NOTE: Some builders may use less. But This is probably your first build..."crawl then walk".
8. Measure closer to the CL for each tuner above E. For example my A string is about 1 1/8" CLOSER to the CL. This will leave plenty of room for string clearance.
Now you get creative. Just be sure to leave at least 2 1/4" between tuners. Follow mine, create your own or copy your bass. Just make sure that you don't cross the CL!
Now let's cut.