Hi Guys,

Im a bass player attempting to put his first bass together from parts. I have a "off brand" jazz bass body, and a mighty might neck I got off of ebay, and the neck is about an 1/8th inch or so too wide for the pocket. My question is do i route the neck or the body? or should i get a different neck, or say to hell with it and take it to my luthier.. ??? I have woodworking skills and can route pretty well. I dont want to do something stupid and ruin either or. thanks.

The easiest way to do this is to take a piece of scrap 3/4" MDF, and make a tracing of the neck's heel. Rout this out, and make sure of the fit before routing the body. Once you have that template, you can make the cut for the mighty mite neck, making sure to keep it on center when trimming out the pocket.

Best of luck

Thanks very much for the reply. When you say "Make sure of the fit" what exactly should i be looking for?

tight...not moving but not impossible to get out or too hard to get in.

Actually you want a good fit, but not too snug, as you need to leave room for finish. It should be snug if you lay a piece of masking tape around the heel. If you are finishing it, if not, the template should be snug.

Thanks For the help !!!

I'm working on my first parts project bass and I'm running into the opposite problem--the neck I want to use (an Allparts fretless j-bass neck is a touch too small for the bass body's pocket. The neck's exactly 2.49 inches wide at the widest part of the heel. The pocket is 2.53-2.54 (it's a Fender aerodyne j-bass body). I have a Mighty Mite fretless neck, too--but it's for a p-bass and it's also not as nice as the Allparts one. The Mighty Mite fits very snugly.

anyone?

truly i have no idea im assuming youd have to glue in more wood and re-route it but that could be a retarded idea.

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that this was that hard a problem. :( I'll have to look around some more.

you could just shim the neck pocket to the right size. Try to keep it even though so the neck stays centered.

yeah, I'll have to try something like that.