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Hello. I've been working on a project for a few years now. I don't have much to show for it, only the neck and the faceplate with electronics.
My problem is, I bought a body blank. It's 2"x13-3/4"x20". I want to make a custom body, but I have no clue what depth to set the neck at. I had an older body, but the measurements were so off that when I put it all together, there was a half inch of action at the 12th fret.
What do I do? The neck is a 24 fret Ibanez. I have a basic style saddle bridge.

To sum it all up, at what depth to I set the neck in relation to the rest of it all?
I am willing to provide any info you may need. Just ask.

In advance, thank you for your time and posts.

Your best bet is to measure your neck thickness, at the part that the screws go into,
and measure everything else that is relevant,
like bridge height, and draw it out on a big piece of paper.
That will tell you how deep to make the pocket.
Sounds like it needs to be deeper.
You've got some leeway on the bridge height,
as it is probably adjustable.
Hope that helps,
and good luck!

If the neck at the heel is 1 inch thick, and you are using a fender style bridge or similar hardtail bridge (like this one: http://www.allparts.com/Chrome-Non-Trem ... 00-010.htm ) then you would route the neck pocket to a depth of 5/8th's of an inch.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Well, doesn't the final routing depend on fretboard and fret height?

without getting complicated: the line at which the rosewood fingerboard is glued to the maple neck, is the plane that the guitar body should be at, more or less.
so at the neck's heel, measure the thickness of the maple only. that is the depth of your neck pocket.
if you end up with high action at the 12th fret and higher, try a thin shim in the neck pocket, it usually works wonders

...if you're worried about it, rout on a piece of 2x4 first, screw the neck onto that, screw the bridge onto the 2x4(guitar body simulator), and mock it up that way. if the wood that the neck screws onto is too thin, ie, the pocket, you risk driving the screws right through the rosewood fingerboard and destroying the neck, so keep an eye on that too

Thank you to all who posted! You have helped me greatly. Especially nyazzip.

I will try what you all have suggested, and if wanted, I will post a picture when done.

Thank you all again.

If the guitar has a pickguard and you put the neck like that, there won't be room for the pickguard, and if there is no pickguard, going by that line will make the neck too low unless the neck pocket is angled, if the fretboard is not thick enough, with a Fender style hardtail bridge.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

The mention of the pickguard is an excellent point. I have had more than one Strat that had the fretboard
pressed down to hard on the pickguard- enough to bend the fretboard.

you must be referring to the necks with an overhanging fretboard? if so then yes my advice could be bad, otherwise, the pickguard should be of no consequence with standard bolt on necks/standard thickness fretboards/standard pickguard material/bridge mounted directly to the body(not on the pickguard)....

Just as a little bit of info, the neck does have a fretboard overhang of about 1/4".

Should I just cut the pickguard so it will fit? You will have to bear with me, I'm a major newbie at all of this.

Again, if anyone needs any info or pictures of materials, I am more than happy to provide such.

I referred specifically to Strats that I have had the issue with as stated. I mentioned due to the problem one may
encounter with the fretboard overhanging the pickguard design- not in reflection of any advice given.