Set neck blanks for basses

[sniper]

This weekend I am going into communication and what I hope will become the delvelopement stage with a fellow who makes set neck blanks. He could be doing the same with a Honduran blank for short to medium scale basses. The price would be what I think is reasonable based on what he is already selling; set neck blanks for LP type guitars that are in a roughed out state with a truss rod grove and angled paddle head presently offered in Maple and both African and Honduran Mahogany as well as laminated offerings.

I will keep you posted.

[drbassman]

I'd be interested.

[Dave W]

SoulMate Guitars, by any chance?

[sniper]

penta guitar works Barberton Ohio

rickpenta@sbcglobal.net  

one of his auctions (and the particular model i am trying to get him to lengthen a bit for a bass offering):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330536058082&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

shoot him an email to let him know if you are interested in one or more.

[sniper]

i think we are making progress, i have been sending him emails most of the day and now he has posted measurements for this flat sawn neck and it would be perfect for a short to medium scale bass as is.

[drbassman]

i think we are making progress, i have been sending him emails most of the day and now he has posted measurements for this flat sawn neck and it would be perfect for a short to medium scale bass as is.

I might try one just to see.

[Dave W]

Looking at his other auctions, the prices seem very reasonable.

[sniper]

over the hopefully next few days i will try to write a small article, and post it here, of the conversation i had with Rick Penta. very interesting.

[sniper]

Let me start by saying the conversation with Rick Penta today was very interesting. We identified each t the other and took it from there. He thanked me for the plug here in the post and I told him about the Dr. purchasing one of his blanks to evaluate it for a build. Rick shares some attributes with Carlo in the fact that he builds furniture; he has been doing it for almost 30 years and loves guitars.

The model 223 blank he is presently selling should work for a short scale bass build as is without any changes. The scale measurements and the full contact surface for the fret board are great. There is a problem with making longer blanks and that is hopefully soon to be resolved. He has ordered parts to extend his machine that he makes the blanks on and those parts should be in next week. He can then offer a 34" scale blank or slightly longer if need be. Currently he is limited to a 14 degree head angle as this is the limit of his machines capabilities.

The conversation turned to wood and types of neck construction. Maple is a standard offering and lamination type blanks are presently being offered. Rick feels this one upgrade is the most important change he can make as it offers so much more strength and stability to the blank. I agreed with him on the laminated blanks increased stability.

The next bit of information he told me was how the graining affects the neck strength at the nut area. He does make volutes in his blanks like Gibson used to do but the interesting thing was the affect graining has on the blank. Without giving away any of his trade information I will tell you the graining and the way he cuts the wood before setting it up on his shaping machine increases the wood strength by not only having the wood end grain hold the shape but the cell to cell side contact of the wood in relation to the bend of the wood, and increases the strength many times over verses not cutting it in this particular manner.

Wood types are very important so I asked about Maple, Honduran Mahogany and African Mahogany. He asked me if I knew what a radial tangent is. I said no and then he explained it to me using the African vs. Honduran examples.

It turns out Honduran has a closer radial tangent than the African type. The radial tangent of wood is related to growth rings and expansion characteristics of the wood after it is harvested. Length vs. width vs. thickness. Length changes very little according to temperature and humidity. The width vs. thickness changes a lot more than length. How the width and thickness change in relationship to one another is the key, or how evenly they change in measurement. Honduras Mahogany and Maple are kings with maintaining this evenness of expansion hands down, particularly the Honduras.

Rick and I are going to chat next Thursday about the offering of a neck blank specifically for bass guitars. I will keep you posted.

[sniper]

if anybody would have some suggestions for me to tell him about, feel free to post any.

[drbassman]

if anybody would have some suggestions for me to tell him about, feel free to post any.

If he can make a 30 and a 32" scale blank, that would be my only request.

[sniper]

He has ordered parts to extend his machines capabilities that he makes the blanks on. Those parts should be in next week. He can then offer a 34" scale blank, slightly longer or shorter if need be. (edited quote)

That is already being addressed. What I forsee happening is optional woods, optional laminated blanks, larger paddle heads and maybe optional neck routings on the blanks simalar to the NOS neck tenon joints presently being offered by GreatDealz. I hope these options can come to pass.

[drbassman]

That is already being addressed. What I forsee happening is optional woods, optional laminated blanks, larger paddle heads and maybe optional neck routings on the blanks simalar to the NOS neck tenon joints presently being offerd by GreatDealz. I hope these options can come to pass.

That will work for me!

[sniper]

I had an interesting talk with Rick Penta this afternoon. Some changes are in the works for bass neck blanks. Not all the changes I wrote about before but some that will offer builders some options. Rick's wife handles all the computer work and she also does all the selling on ebay and that is where the changes will be presented for awhile. Eventually there will be a new site for bass/guitar parts.

If one wishes to order a blank, there soon should be a note to send an email (via ebay) prior to ordering, requesting a bass blank instead of a guitar blank on the 223 model. You will have to request a longer blank for bass. A one inch longer blank will cover a short scale easy enough. A 24.25" length should cover a 34" scale. The stock length is 21.75" for guitar offerings. This is the measurement for the fretboard surface. Each upgrade will of course call for a apropo increase in cost, but Rick promised to try to keep it at a minimum charge for each upgrade. We did not discuss upgrade charges, it would depend on what kind of upgrade one orders and finished necks are not being offered.

Rick told me is was okay to mention how he cuts his neck wood (s). He simply cuts wood that has graining that bends with the neck he is cutting in order to have more than just end wood grain holding the neck angle. It is a trick he learned from years of building furniture and said it was common with furniture builders to do this.

I ordered a new bass angled neck blank 1" longer than a 223 model on the heel end (see earlier link for the ebay site), laminated out of three pieces of Honduran Mahogany.

[drbassman]

The only other change needed is the heel (back of the neck) should be adjusted for a bass neck.  For typical tapering, the tapered heel on the back of the neck should be around the 16th. fret.  Did you happen to kick that around with him?