Fender neck on a Gibson set neck body

[Sonic Mountain]

Same, that's how I was shown to do it as a mechanics apprentice back when dinosaurs still roamed.

[fender3x]

There is a slight slope in the pocket of about 1 degree. Seems to rise about a mm per inch. Ordered a neck...

[fender3x]

I got a jazz style fender neck, and I have the body. Still thinking through how to get the neck onto the body.

Initially, I thought I would make a block go glue into the neck pocket, and then bolt the fender neck to that. An oversimplification, but basically the idea. I have generally had bolt on necks and like them fine, so felt no great need to have a glue in. But now I am wondering...

To get the neck to line up with where the bridge should be, I'll need to do a little routing to the body. Not much, just about 5-6mm. Also the pocket is about 2mm narrower than the neck heel. So it looks doable from that standpoint. On the other hand... the neck pocket is only 79mm long. Maybe Add the rout and say 85 mm. a normal fender pocket is closer to 95 mm. I am guessing that the 1 cm difference is not all that important to having a stable platform for the neck, but wanted to find out what folks here think.

I am also wonder if it might be easier to modify the neck to be glued in, rather than modifying the body to have the neck bolted on?

For both, I will need to cut and shape a block that will fill most of the neck pocket so that the neck will be at the right height. I'll need to do a little routing at the bridge side of the neck pocket to get the neck to fit regardless of the approach. And I will need to sand each side of the neck down about 1mm so that it fits.

By the time I have done that, I will need to have decided whether makes better sense to glue the block to the neck, and then glue in the neck+block assembly to the body. OR I could glue the block into the body, then bolt the neck to that. Because of the curves in the body.

In my searches of the web, I see a lot more references to doing something like the latter than the former.

I don't really care that much whether it is ultimately a set neck or a bolt on. I like the idea of a bolt on because you can change the neck if you like, but I have actually never had to do that, so maybe it doesn't matter much. I am mostly interested in what folks think is going to be the simplest and most effective way of getting this done?

[Simon Barden]

It's easy enough to glue more wood onto the neck so that it will fit into the pocket - it is after all what you'll get on any set neck PBG kit. But both methods should work. Bolt-on gives you more chance to adjust the neck angle via shims after the initial assembly, though it's not difficult to check the neck angle and get that right before gluing either. A glued-on neck could be given the smoother heel profile where the neck joins, if that end of the fretboard interests you.

If gluing, remember that on the RC4 basses there's only about 50mm of contact area on the bottom of the neck, and less than that on the sides, and they stay on OK. So 79mm (or 85mm), plus the same amount of side area should be plenty. It's really all about making sure that the scale length is OK for the bridge position (if that's all pre-drilled).

[wazkelly]

Simon is spot on in that scale length should determine what happens in and around the neck pocket.

If wanting to keep options open gluing large shim to base of neck heel is one way to go. Personally i tend to think building up floor of neck pocket would provide a better base for 2 similar thicknesses being bolted together rather than one section less than 10 mm thick.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[fender3x]

Good to know that either way will work. I may just need to shape the piece that will attach either to the body or to the neck, and see what looks like it makes the best sense when I get there. The joint on my ESB-4 is definitely smoother than the ones on my bolt-ons, but it protrudes out about a half fret farther. I may have to experiment a bit to see what looks and feels right.

The body is drilled for a three point bridge, and it seems to be in the right place, so I am going to try to use it with the string through option. If I can get the neck in right, great. If not and I have to move the bridge, that's OK too.

The cap on the top is nice looking but has some flaws up around the horns and a dent or two. I'd love to use a clear finish with it, but am reconciled that it may not work. If it ends up with a solid color top, I may change things around a bit.

I'd like to get it pretty much assembled and playing right before putting pickups in. That's partly because I have no idea what to put in it. My natural proclivity, if i buy now, would be to find something cheap that fits and will do the job. I'll be inclined to spring for a bit more if it plays great, though...what to put in I am not sure.

It's routed for standard humbuckers. Looks basically the same as in the ESB-4, but with both pickups about 2cm closer to the neck. That puts the bridge pickup about where a p-bass pickup would be, and the neck pickup about where a mudbucker would be. I have not really found much for bass in that size. Hard to find any pickup of that size that will accommodate 52mm+ string spacing. So I am thinking I may need to do a little routing.... So again, how much I am willing to do, may relate to how well I can get it to play ;-)

[Simon Barden]

When I was looking around for humbucker sized bass pickups, there wasn't a lot of choice (unless you went down the custom pickup route) apart from the Duesenberg bass buckers https://www.rockinger.com/index.php/...ickups/l-WG105 and some active pickups. But active pickups need a battery compartment somewhere, and messing about with finding somewhere suitable for that, plus the extra wiring involved to make it work and still have to pre-wire everything to fit it all through the F-holes makes for a lot of extra work.

[fender3x]

That's what I am finding. Duesenbergs. Old (discontinued yet expensive) Dimarzio X2N-B's. Active EMGs. As you said, not a lot to choose from.

I am not putting anything active in this beast, for all the reasons you said, plus I just don't like leaving a battery in a musical instrument.

Well, I guess I'd better get this right. If it's not going to be cheap it had better be good ;-)

[Simon Barden]

Or you use something a bit smaller and make your own pickup surround for it. Or a soapbar style, widen the pockets if necessary, and again, add a surround to cover the side gaps.

[fender3x]

My least favorite part of my previous ESB-4 build was making the pickup surrounds. Endless sanding... But if I have to.... The problem with the small pickups is similar to that of the large ones. They are hard to find for string spacing wider than 50mm. I *think* I am going to use the three-point bridge I which would give 52-54. If I used a bridge with F spacing that's more like 57mm. Some bar style humbuckers are that wide, but most are not. So soapbars with some sort of custom surround are looking more and more like where this is going... Unless, of course, it plays like a dream, and I think I can get custom pups past my wife/accountant ;-)