Converting set neck to bolt on (from SGB-34 kit)

[Chuck]

Question for the brain's trust: I've got a hankering to build a short scale bass and I was looking at the SGB-34 kit. Thing is, I'm in scratchie body building mode so would really just want the neck. Looking at it, there's the tongue at the end. What I'm thinking is I could simply cut that off, and then bolt the neck into a scratchie body. Would it be that simple? Am I missing anything?

[wokkaboy]

Hi Chuck, it should work. A set neck has a much deeper heel so you may have to lose the whole tongue piece. That way the body neck pocket will have enough meat to have the strength for a bolt on neck. The heel will be a bit shorter than a traditional bolt on heel but if the scratch pocket is fairly tight should be ok. Really need to make sure the length of the heel is long enough for a standard neck plate which I think it should be

[Chuck]

Thanks Wok, I figured there would be a bit of fiddling about but that's not too bad. You can tell I'm getting a bit toey with one guitar in painting mode, and another other not far off - and more wet weather due to hit Sydney. I need something to build!!

[wokkaboy]

hahah thats it Chuck. Think the first thing I would do is get Ads to check the length of the heel above the tongue piece and compare to the size of a standard neck plate.
With any luck that tongue piece looks glued on so with some steam you maybe able to remove the tongue piece that way rather than cutting it. It's important the heel face is flat and parallel to the neck