Being hardwood, it all takes more work than I would like. One of the side effects of planing is that the edges form really good sharp corners. Rubbing hands down the freshly planed surface to is not recommended, I managed to get an evil splinter from the wenge. It hasn't come out yet - it seems to have barbs on it! Be warned...
I chose the most suitable side for the front and set about cutting the head angle at one end. This was also planed smooth and allows me to easily tell which way round the neck is. I used a fairly modest angle of 8deg.
During this time I also offered to repair a bass with a snapped truss rod. My mate Chewie used to play bass back in the days of Head Cleaner and after several years the trusty old Ibanez 2354LB went "boink" and the neck turned into a banana. For some time the bass has been no more than an ornament, but now, if all goes to plan, can possibly enter a new phase of debananarisation. The repair work had to be carried out on a realistic budget as in good fettle the bass is probably not worth a great deal. The googleit approach gave a few different options to try: heat, acetone, water, powertools.
The acetone method was favoured as it loosened the nut successfully and promised the least amount of actual work. We stood the neck up and kept pouring acetone into the truss rod slot at the top, but after an hour there was still no sign of the fingerboard releasing. The paint finish was responding unfortunately...
A small amount of the adhesive was scraped off and soaked in water. Nothing. It was then dried out and put into an oven at 150degC. Nothing. The glue must be the same as the wallpaper paste
NASA used inside the shuttle!
Out came the Dremel with a mini circular saw cutting between the edge of the fingerboard and the neck. This was then finished off with a hacksaw and then I was in like Flynn.
Sure enough the truss rod had gone due to a combination of shearing and rust. I expect Newcastle Brown Ale was to blame for both.
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