Fretless P neck w/an epoxied rosewood fingerboard!

[Kael]

I just swapped out fretless necks on my J. So I have a neck from a '97 MIA fretless P bass that I am not using. The neck is lined. It also has had the rosewood board epoxied using mirror coat. The epoxy job was done by yours truly and I am rather proud of this one. I spent a long time on this one getting it to feeling right. This neck includes the stock tuners, string tree and nut.

The bad. Truss rod is maxed. With light gauge D'Addarios on I was getting some relief. When I tried some higher tension strings (DR Low Riders) the relief became unacceptable.It is perfectly playable as is. I've been gigging this neck pretty routinely (at least twice a week) for the past couple years in this state. I've even had other bassists comment on how easily it plays despite the relief, but I want to be clear that there are issues there. I've done the washer trick once and that got me some play in it for about 6 months. Never got around to trying it again as the neck was playing fine as is for me. Washer trick might work again, it might not. If you are into low tension strings like Sunbeams then you might even get some play back in the truss rod. Neck is sold AS IS for this reason.

Considering this includes the tuners/string tree/epoxied fingerboard and taking into account the issues I mentioned, I am looking for $150 shipped to CONUS. Willing to talk to international buyers, but you will have to eat shipping. Any cheaper than this and I'll just grab an el'cheapo P bass body and slap the two together.

Willing to listen to trade offers, but there isn't really anything I am GAS'ing for at the moment in this price range. Run your trade offers by me though. Who knows? I might bite.

[Kael]

I'll see about getting pics up soon.

[Kael]

An "I really need to get some pics up soon" bump.

[RedsFan75]

Have you tried some DR's or other low tension strings with it? I found that the light gauge D'Addario's are still pretty high tension...

[4Mal]

the other thing you might consider is loosening the truss, and clamping the neck into a slight 'back bow' - then heat the neck with a hair drier 15 minutes at a time (work in the 5 to 14 fret area), several time a day over a few day period. Take it out of the clamps and often you will have trained the wood to do what you want ... and of course as it is a fretless and you still want low tension - TI jazz flats would be a real good choice.

[Kael]

Nope, I haven't tried any fixes like heating or clamping the neck. If it doesn't move soon, I probably will take it off the market and see what I can do with it. I am pretty ambivalent about selling it. It is a nice neck.

I have come to realize that TI flats aren't my thing. They really sound great, but I can't swing that low of tension. Had them on a different fretless J for about 6 months. DR sunbeams might be do'able though.

By the way, this question came up via PM earlier. Yes this is a MIA neck.

[Kael]

Bump

[P_bass]

PM'd

[Kael]

Bump from the dead just in time for tonight's rapture! Couple updates. Plus I finally got some pics.

1. I took off the truss rod nut. Was thinking about adding another couple washers to get some more play. Since moving to a new house, I am not sure where the hell I put it. Now comes sans truss rod nut. Um, that's an extra feature... New truss rod nuts shouldn't be too pricey. Honestly, the old truss rod nut was geting worn from me futzing with it anyway.


2. I can't check the truss rod now without a nut. It was pretty close to maxed as it is now without another round of washers on it. More washers might help, and they might not. Neck is sold AS IS.

3. During moving the neck got a nick on the back near the 3rd or 4th "fret". If I was using this neck still, I'd probably just sand it a tad and maybe tru-oil it to repair it. I included a pic where you can see the ding.

4. Still comes with nut, string tree and tuners installed.

[Kael]

I tried to get a shot of the roundwound string wear in the darker shot, but it wasn't showing up. In the interest of disclosure, there is roundwound wear on the fingerboard. It is epoxied so it can be buffed out if it bothers you.

[Kael]

Shot of head stock plus the ding on the back of neck. Ding is more noticeable in person and up close. Sunlight makes it less conspicuous.

[Kael]

Bump.

[Kael]

PM's returned. Please note, this price is as low as I am going with this neck.

[joeyl]

weird, I have a 97 Jazz and the rod is also maxed out, must be a bad year for MIA necks

[Kael]

Don't know about the year. I do know that this neck had been wearing heavy gauge flats before I got it. I'd imagine that would, over time, cause the wood to compress underneath where the truss rod pushes against it. Then again, that's pure speculation.

Bump

[paulrider]

Just a quick heads up. I had a neck that I thought was maxed out and I was going to have to toss it, but I went to a local ACE hardware and found an aluminum washer that was about 3/8" long and the inside diameter fit over the threads perfectly with enough room not to hurt the threads and the OD was perfect to put in the hole. I put the nut back on and it was enough to get the neck straight again. You have no idea how happy I was as the neck was a Fender 60s Reissue that I spent a ton of time painting and relicing in Nitro. I bought it on Ebay and didn't need it right away, so I didn't check it out when it arrived. By the time I got around to using it, 6 months had passed, so I was S**t out of luck with getting a refund etc. I certainly learned my lesson to ALWAYS check new gear as soon as it arrives, but that little .75 washer saved that neck!

[joeyl]

well I need a fretless will put it on my MIA Jazz and see how it goes.

[Kael]

Neck has sold!