Fender neck on a Gibson set neck body

[fender3x]

I recently acquired a Gibson-style set neck body. Sort of like the one in an ESB-4 kit. I want to put a fender jazz style neck on it. I know that people have been putting Fender necks on t-birds at least since John Entwistle did it in the early 1970s.

Has anyone here ever modded a body that was designed for a set neck to accept a bolt on? If there is a build diary somewhere or a link to a page about how to do it, I'd be grateful for the guidance. I have a few ideas about how to do it, but it would be nice to see how someone actually has done it!

Thanks in advance!

[pablopepper]

Scale length will probably be out of whack. If you can deal with moving the bridge, you might be able to swing it. It might look a bit off though. You'll have to build up the neck pocket to get the right height too.

[FrankenWashie]

You’d need to figure out if the G body has been built for a neck angle, then compensate for that to suit the flat deck F neck.

either way you’d need to fill the tenon slot, and incorporate the required deck height for the Fneck into your plug, to present the fingerboard at the right height and angle for the bridge.
photos?

[wazkelly]

Being a fairly thin bodied semi hollow it will probably require a bit of packing in the neck pocket floor. If double bound (top & bottom) the lower binding may end up looking a bit strange around where new neck heel arrangement has been done. Solid colours can hide these sorts of things to some degree.

[Simon Barden]

Would you still plan to screw the neck in place, or would you plan on gluing it, or even both?

[fender3x]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I haven't purchased the neck yet. I am thinking about a Kmise jazz neck since I have had good luck with other Kmise products... I can send a pic or two of the body. Still in the thinking phase. I really love the weight of my ESB-4, but am not sure I love the neck...which is the genesis of this project. Plus the body was inexpensively available w/o hardware or neck.

The scale length of should be 34" for either way. Eye-balling it next to my frankenfender it looks like it should fit OK length wise, but I won't know until I get a neck and can really do some measurements. This body is drilled for a three point bridge, but I won't know if it's placed properly until I take some measurements with a neck.

No question that I will need to fill the tenon slot. Not sure about the neck angle. I'll need to do some experimenting with the bridge to figure that out.

It is double bound, but the lower binding is a flat, straight piece that passes under the neck pocket. That said, wood used to fill may still look a bit odd... Of course I'd like to use a clear finish, but we'll see how it goes. I think I have found just about every way there is to botch a clear finish on my previous project ;-)

At the moment I am thinking that I will try to make a plug to fit in the neck tenon to be glued in place. Once it is in and solid, I would plan to bolt on the Fender neck, but using screw bushings/washers rather than a neck plate because there is a bit of arch on the bottom that would make it difficult to fit a conventional plate. I am not completely opposed to gluing in the fender neck, but I'd rather not if I can make the joint strong enough. What do you think?

Also, I would love any advice you folks have about how to make the plug to fill the neck pocket. Any thoughts on how to make a router template for the plug? I am thinking that if I have a decent template I can cut and laminate pieces of maple to get to the right height.

That's what I am thinking at the moment. Would welcome additional advice! So far I have not been able to find a link to anyone who has every done this. I see lots of Fenderbirds which should be similar, but nothing resembling a build diary to look at.

[FrankenWashie]

I have used overlaid masking tape to create a pattern for shaping wooden cover plates. You lay it over the void, run a fingernail or a skewer around the edges to mark them and then remove and trim to those marked edges. Lay that over your plug blank and cut to rough size, then test fit and sand to final size.

[fender3x]

Thats a great idea! thanks!

[dave.king1]

I have used overlaid masking tape to create a pattern for shaping wooden cover plates. You lay it over the void, run a fingernail or a skewer around the edges to mark them and then remove and trim to those marked edges. Lay that over your plug blank and cut to rough size, then test fit and sand to final size.

That's how we used to make gaskets back in the day, and still do on occasion

[FrankenWashie]

That's how we used to make gaskets back in the day, and still do on occasion

My older workshop tech still uses that method for odd size pump flange gaskets. Lay the sheet over the flange and gentle taps with the ball end of a ball peen hammer.