Greetings

Hello. I have started on a Jazz bass 5 string fretless. Received last month and after a cursory check noticed the neck, or the join on the body would need some work. After watching the introductory video and hearing there is very rarely anything wrong with neck I have continued under the impression all will become clear so I have been working on carving the guitar before I start the sanding and staining process.
Got onto the website today and realised I haven't had a test build, all good but now neck is concerning me. The neck will not fit into the body. I will include pictures to illustrate. I am presuming I will remove wood from the body not the neck, or is it a combination of both.
Any advice?

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The neck pocket is keyed, so it's never going to slide in from the front, but it should drop in from the top. It looks like the body end of the neck flares out significantly, so a picture of the complete neck would be nice. I'd have expected a more constant widening of the neck. If you continue the lines of the neck in the first picture, they'd taper into a point within a short distance (guessing 300-400mm) so the flaring must only be right at that end of the neck in order to make a more secure neck joint.

If that end is flared (and not just an optical illusion in the photo), then the neck is wider than it needs to be at that end, so it's probably a lot easier to sand down the neck than try and widen the pocket. However if the neck has a constant taper, then I'd try widening the pocket instead. But remember that it needs to drop in from the top to help keep the neck nice and snug. I'd lay the neck fully over the pocket and draw around it with a sharp pencil to give you an idea of how muck wood needs to be removed.

Also remember that any finish you put on the neck or within the neck pocket will make the joint a bit tighter, so try and minimise any finish within the pocket. You'll need to go over the edges by a couple of mm to help the finish stick to the top and not be exposed at the edges, but you won't need to finish all of the pocket (though some wax on the wood should help protect it without adding any thickness).

Hi Snug, welcome to the forum. Can you please post a pic from above the pocket with the bottom of the neck heel facing up adjacent ?
Also can you please measure the width of the neck pocket at the heel end and also the width of the neck heel at the heel end. To me the photo's something isn't right. In the photo it looks like the neck heel is about 5mm wider than the pocket !
As Simon says it could be the shape of the pocket is too narrow or the neck heel is too wide.
It is quite a new kit so maybe the factory need to tweak the neck pocket to suit the 5 string neck heel. It could be the neck pocket is suited to a 4 string neck heel which will be narrower.
Best sort this issue out before you start any carving or sanding

Cheers Simon.

Hey Snug how did you go with the neck heel in the pocket ?

Hi Wokkaboy. Lining up the neck above the pocket it seems like there is only a mm or two in it. Measuring the base of the pocket I get 72mm, the base of the neck 73mm. It seems that like Simon pointed out I had not taken into account keying. The neck is wider but not by much. I've included photo, hope this is what you were after.

Cheers
Snug

no worries Snug you should be able to sand the neck pocket about 1mm wider so the neck heel fits. I am puzzled why the neck screw holes are off centre, so I'm interested to see how the neck plate looks from the bottom of the body being off centre.

When you are testing the neck heel fit, remember to drop it in from above and not slide it in front to rear as the heel is slightly tapered

Welcome Snug - overcoming challenges is what we do, enjoy

Thank you wokkaboy. I noticed the screw holes were a bit off, this shouldn't be a concern structurally should it? Aesthetically I am not too concerned. I was also wondering in regard to the rosewood neck what is the best way to treat it, there are some minor superficial marks, can I lightly sand then oil the neck?

Hi Snug, structurally the off centre neck screws shouldn't be a problem.
Yes that's the best treatment for the rosewood fingerboard, give it a light sand and use some natural oil or rub some Dingowax on it.

Actually it's a fretless fingerboard so you really need to seal it with some thin CA glue or clear epoxy resin, then sand it back with a radius block