First build planning: Neck Questions?

[Mr-Jemhead93]

So I'm trying to plan out my first build (I bought some explorer templates) and I realized I have no idea about how thick to make a neck? I know I can just measure the guitars I have at home to get an idea but I was wondering if there were any standard/recommended measurements. I like thinner flatter necks in general but I'm clueless when it comes to neck thickness and profiles ( C,D, U, etc.) I've looked around and watched videos on neck profiles so I understand the basics of it to some extent but applying it is where I'm picturing myself having trouble. The template is for a set-neck like traditional explorers have. So I'm assuming I'd have to add a heel where the neck meets the body? or could I avoid using a heel by doing something like neck joint in the picture below? Any advice is much appreciated!

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

So I'm trying to plan out my first build (I bought some explorer templates) and I realized I have no idea about how thick to make a neck? I know I can just measure the guitars I have at home to get an idea but I was wondering if there were any standard/recommended measurements. I like thinner flatter necks in general but I'm clueless when it comes to neck thickness and profiles ( C,D, U, etc.) I've looked around and watched videos on neck profiles so I understand the basics of it to some extent but applying it is where I'm picturing myself having trouble. The template is for a set-neck like traditional explorers have. So I'm assuming I'd have to add a heel where the neck meets the body? or could I avoid using a heel by doing something like neck joint in the picture below? Any advice is much appreciated!

This page is very helpful.
https://ibanez.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_neck_types

And yeah you can do a neck joint like that. Shouldn't be a problem at all. I think the main reason Gibson did them with a heel like that is because they came from traditional acoustic luthiery.

 

[Rattlehead83]

A neck 25 mm thick is a good start, keep in mind that you have to get that thickness from the neck blank+fretboard; so if you want a thin neck aim for a 5.5-6 mm fretboard, do the math and you'll see the thickness for your neck too.
You want a thinner fretboard because the truss-rod channel could get pretty deep, and in consequence you wouldn't be able to obtain your preferred dimensions.

 

[Albake21]

Just what ever you do, plan out with the truss rod in mind! If you carve too deep and hit the truss rod, your guitar neck is now fire wood. Plan out the thickness of the fretboard, truss rod, and add 3mm after the truss rod and that's how thin you can go. I made the mistake of making my fretboard not thin enough so I can only make my guitar neck as thin as 21.5mm. Pay attention to the truss rod depth when purchasing. I bought one that was 11.1mm which was a bit too thick to my liking.

 

[KR250]

Easy way to visualize is to draw the depth of the truss rod on the side of the neck before you start to carve it out. Good calipers or ways of measuring everything will take a lot of the guess work out at that point so you'll know exactly how much wood you have left. Do some test runs on cheap pine first, then you can use those as a bit of a template for the real neck. Someone once told me you'll learn the fastest by doing and making some mistakes along the way. I like to start with a blank roughly 1" thick which gives a nice amount for a heel.

 

[Mr-Jemhead93]

Thanks for all of the advice so far! I’m definitely going to get a pine 2x4 and get some practice! Looks like I’ll have to do some research on truss rods, any recommendations?