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Hi Folks,

The last bass I built was a neck through with a top plate that covered the entire top. To do this I glued the body wings to the side of the neck
then I used a router to mill a flat surface on to which I glued the top plate. A router was necessary to do this job as opposed to a jointer or planer because the part of the neck to which the finger board was glued was left sticking up like a little penisula of wood above the flat plane of the body/neck that I had routed flat. The top plate was cut to fit around the fingerboard and the bit of neck sticking up.

To do this milling I used a router table. to the edges of the wings I temporarily glued skids, pieces of plywood, to hold the body above the router bit, peaking under this contraption while I pulled and pushed the thing over the spinning bit I got the job done, but, it was a less than satisfactory arrangement. It was very difficult to get my router table level and flat enough so that the guitar did not rock at all. and also it felt like disaster was looming over me the whole time.

Can anyone recommend a different router set up, or a better way to mill a surface flat whilst still leaving some pieces of wood sticking up in the plane?

Thanks for any advice

Stefan

Am I missing something or can't you just use biscuits or a spline to register the assembly as you glue it up so it stays planer to begin with?

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Build a sled for the router, plop down two parallel blocks of wood at equal height, clamp the workpiece, and move the router over the workpiece. Google 'router thicknessing jig' and/or look for discussions and pictures on the topic at the Project Guitar forums. I jury rig these things fairly frequently, very handy, very quick and easy.

What Mattia said. I was gonna post earlier but got busy. I've seen in furniture making using this idea to flatten curved/warped boards and such. 2 parallel beams over the workpiece with an attachment on the router base to span the span so to speak. If the initial beams are parallel with each other, it is an acceptable way to flatten stock, especially when a jointer is too small. I would secure the guitar/bass/whatever with its top level, place 2 level straight beams on either side, above the instrument. Then, with a setup attached to the router base to span those beams, route away until my heart was content.

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Brad Tucker

thanks for the advice,

I'm going to try this method

Stefan

Stefan,

I do something similar with each bass that I build. I use a 4 - 6 in tenon, not a neck through, but it still applies...Basically, I glue up my back woods and middle woods to construct my "lower" laminate - IN your case it would be wings and neck...Then, I route a pocket for my tenon and get a tight joint...Then, I route/cut a matching pocket into the top plate that joins against the neck...This all assumes that the neck tenon is level with the lower laminates, if it is not, then you have to cut a matching pocket in the top plate.

Hope it remotely helps...
Stephen

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