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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on October 17, 2014 at 10:52pm

that's a very wide neck for a 4 string , mine are 1.5" x 3/4"  with a 7mm fretboard and they don't bend, you have the right wood for it should be nice and strong :-) 

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Permalink Reply by Michael Fred Johnson on October 17, 2014 at 11:48pm

Your neck should be rigid enough when glued up.If you want to go the belt and braces route add a piece of steel flat bar on edge epoxied into the neck like this 6 string.Never done it on a 3 or 4 string though

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on October 18, 2014 at 3:43am

It'll be fine once you glue on the fretboard.

Poplar is good wood for necks, easy to work and light weight. I have an 87 year old Stella that has a poplar neck with no truss rod with steel strings and it's not bent.

Don't put a back bend in the neck before glue up. You do not want it to be dead level when strung. There should be a slight relief.

Glue creep shouldn't be an issue either if you are using a good glue.

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Permalink Reply by grondon oconnor on October 18, 2014 at 7:11am

Thanks for comments. I`m overthinking again. I`ll just glue fretboard straight, string light and see what happens. What glue would be suggested. Don`t really want to thrash with Hide glue and pot. Using Titebond two for everything. Search finds someone always hates something. Tried Tbond three and don`t like clean up. Have Old Brown not tried and have not found Fish.

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Permalink Reply by robert jones on October 19, 2014 at 2:25am

I use 11's on my personal builds and 10's on commercial builds, haven't had any problem with neck bending on poplar necks.

The only time I use hide glue is on restorations. I use either Titebond II or Elmer's MAX for my wood working, whichever is on sale when I run low.

I don't plan on taking anything I've glued apart. If it is a piece that needs to be removable it gets screwed on.

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