Guitar neck on bass body - can it be done?

[Andy123]

I've always liked the look of Yamaha and Ibanez basses and wondered how they'd go with a smaller neck on them.
Would it be feasible to use a bass body in a guitar build?
To my mind, in theory, its just another hunk of wood to which you can install a guitar neck so why not. Then again, I am inexperienced and naive in the extreme.

[fender3x]

It can certainly be done. The neck on a bass is considerably wider, whimsy be the biggest issue. If you got s blank with no routs, even for the neck pocket, I am guessing that would work best to have the option of staining. If you don't mind a sold color you might be able to patch and fill the gaps... But I think un-routed would be better.

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[wazkelly]

Just did some measurements.....bass neck width at last fret = 61 mm vs same on F scale guitar neck = 55 mm therefore 6 mm wider neck pocket.
Bass bodies are generally larger too which makes you wonder how it would balance hanging on a strap?

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[stan]

Also consider your scale lengths are very different, which means re positioning the bridge forwards. This will change positions of pickups etc. a scale drawing often saves costly mistakes. Should work fine, just plan it out carefully

[fender3x]

I put my Jazz bass up next to a strat body, and the neck terminates in just about the same place. The upper horn is longer which is the main difference in size. The Yamaha is similarly proportioned I think...maybe an ever longer horn. Stan's also right that nothing lines up the same, bridge or pickups, which is why I think this would be easier with an unrouted body. The other thing is that the neck will most likely need to go a little "south" of where it would otherwise be, because you want the neck to line up with the lower cutaway.

[wazkelly]

All good points there fender3x.

[Andy123]

If I went that way I assumed it would have to be unrouted, but hadn't figured on the neck pocket being wider - which should have been obvious. Thanks for mentioning that.

As for neck dive, I assume that happens with a weight imbalance between the head stock and the body of the instrument, exacerbated by the length of the neck adding leverage. I reckon a much shorter neck would actually reduce the likelihood of neck dive. However I suppose with the strap button's role as a pivot point changing in this context, it would take careful consideration.

[wazkelly]

Might not dive but could rise as front strap button could end up as a pivot point. Or it could just sit fine but look rather odd with the skinny bit looking shrunken in comparison to the rest.

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[Andy123]

Might not dive but could rise as front strap button could end up as a pivot point. Or it could just sit fine but look rather odd with the skinny bit looking shrunken in comparison to the rest.

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As I suspected might be the case, it looks like this is less a question of whether one could, but whether one should. Cue the Jurassic Park theme and Jeff Goldblum's smug face

[fender3x]

Guitars find a way? ;-)

I would not let the balance issue stop you. I am old enough to remember straps attached to headstocks. A long horn gives you a lot of places to put the strap button. It may be just fine on the end of the horn, but if not you can put it somewhere else.

On the upside you'll have a totally unique instrument that won't look like anyone elses. I think it could work pretty well with something like an un-routed IB-5 body, which has a rounder heel than the Yamaha. Degree of difficulty shouldn't be too much higher than any other un-routed body.

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