Found a body, need everything else

[Carruj]

So I grabbed this bass body off CL. The guy I bought it from said that he was told it's a Washburn, but he wasn't sure. I'm eager to pick out a neck, hardware, and electronics and assemble it, but since this is my first time assembling a bass there are a couple things I'm wondering about.

The neck pocket isn't rectangular like the necks I've seen for sale online. Can I find a neck to fit this body somewhere, or would it have to be a custom job?

The holes for string-thru body aren't inline with each other. Are there any bridges that would work with these holes, or are individual string bridges my only option? If I go with individual string bridges, could I fill in the area around the holes so that it is even with the top of the body, or is there a reason it's cut out? I could see that being used for the ground wire, but there's no hole from the control cavity to the bridge for it.

Lastly, there's some damage around one of the holes for the ferrules. Should I just use some wood filler here, or is there a better way to fix that up?

Here's some pics. They're not the best quality, but you can see what I'm talking about.

[BassMan4Him]

I want to help, but to be honest I don't know.. So the least i can do is bump this to the top.. Surely someone will know.. There are some really helpful and smart people on here..Good luck! Nice looking body too, by the way!

[loinmute]

I am not a pro builder, but I ve done a couple parts basses.

1. You will not find an aftermarket neck from Warmoth/Allparts/Carvin that would fit. You could fill it via another wood similiar to the existing body wood. Too big for putty.

2. You could see if you could fit a neck anyways. Keep the diagonal gap, put some sorta pickup in said gap piezeo, soapdish,single coil???

3. You could just divert to a top loader bridge or go with the individual saddles, but string-thru is a remote chance of working.

4. IME/IMO Jazz/Precision bodies are easier to work with

[T-Bird]

Hi.

With a few decades of all sorts of builds and repairs under my belt, I have to say that You couldn't have chosen a more difficult BO body to work with.

The MM PU is the easiest, and probably the only HW You'll be able to source easily. Fitting any 34" aftermarket neck will most probably be either impossible or very hard.

What's the distance between the neck pocket and the bottom of the body, looks like it's a couple of inches shorter than a "normal" body.

One obvious option is to buy a NT "neck" and either fit that to the existing pocket, or to make wings out of the BO body and glue 'em to the NT stock.

Best of luck to You on this project.

Regards
Sam

[Carruj]

Well, those aren't the kind of answers I was hoping for. This body's not the best for a first build, but I got it for $25. I figured I might as well snag it. Worst case scenario I do nothing with it and I'm out 25 bucks.

I like the neck-thru neck idea, but I'm not too confident in my ability to pull off fitting it to the pocket or turning the body into wings without messing something up big time.

Here's what I'm thinking now. I think I'll try to cut a piece of wood to convert the neck pocket to the standard rounded rectangular shape like loinmute suggested and make a new hole for a fourth bolt. For the bridge, I'll use single string bridges and compensate for the nonlinear string-thru holes by adjusting the saddles. This is just hypothetical. I haven't checked any of the dimensions to see if this would even work yet.

Whatever I end up doing, it'll probably be a lot more work than it's worth. I really like the look of the body though and would like to do something with it. Thanks for the help, guys. I'll post updates if/when I make some progress.

[charlie monroe]

Can't Carruj just take a router and remove the material I have colored black, to neck pocket depth? He could fit a Fender style neck and then inlay a filler strip to square it back out to the pick up? Might look cool if he uses the same wood as the neck or the fingerboard.

He could take it all the way to the end of the body. (pic 2)
This would let him mount a top loading bridge, and ignore the string-thru holes.

Not sure what the current heel width (I think Washburn should be 2 1/2" before the angle) and pocket depth are. That probably would have been an OEM 24 fret neck. I think it looks like an XB. T Bird was concerned about scale length I think. He could have the bridge move closer to the edge of the body, if need be.

Carruj, do you have access to a Fender style neck that you could eyeball or dry fit?

...btw, i don't know if it is my primitive sketching or an illusion, but is that pickup route centered on the neck pocket?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Carruj

Here's what I'm thinking now. I think I'll try to cut a piece of wood to convert the neck pocket to the standard rounded rectangular shape like loinmute suggested and make a new hole for a fourth bolt. For the bridge, I'll use single string bridges and compensate for the nonlinear string-thru holes by adjusting the saddles. This is just hypothetical. I haven't checked any of the dimensions to see if this would even work yet.

Before You do any routing, do check the dimensions. I have a similarish Ibanez, and since the body is shorter (and smaller) than a Fender style body, theres no way to attach a standard neck.

Originally Posted by charlie monroe

Can't Carruj just take a router and remove the material I have colored black, to neck pocket depth? He could fit a Fender style neck and then inlay a filler strip to square it back out to the pick up? Might look cool if he uses the same wood as the neck or the fingerboard.

T Bird was concerned about scale length I think. He could have the bridge move closer to the edge of the body, if need be.

IMLE and from looking at the pics, it looks like the body isn't long enough, the bridge would end up hanging outside the body. The reason for the odd neck heel/pocket is usually to ensure acess to the upper frets. The FB does not extend to the end of the neck either, and usually 24 frets is the norm.

Here's my Ibby 24 fret with a "Fender" 20 fret neck next to it.



See what I mean?

Regards
Sam

[Carruj]

I get what you mean T-Bird. I've got a couple Ibanez basses myself and I've been looking at those while contemplating this build. I had noticed that their go past the 24th fret while the Fender necks (and all the replacement necks online) end at the 20th. I thought that that might cause problems getting the right distance from nut to bridge, so I was definitely going to do some measuring. After seeing those two necks side by side, I'm not sure I have to. You're right. Fitting any aftermarket 34 inch scale neck to this will be either impossible or very difficult.

I suppose the easiest thing would be to attach a Washburn neck. Finding one would be the hard part as I wouldn't want to pay for another body as well. I think this project's going on hold until I come a across a Washburn neck without a body attached or develop enough woodworking skills to make a neck-thru neck work. It's a shame since it's a nice looking body.

Thanks for all the help. While somewhat disappointing, this has been a great learning experience. Hypothetically, could a short-scale neck work? I'm not really interested in having a short-scale bass, just wondering.

[Pilgrim]

I was just thinking that a short-scale might be the only option. However, making sure that you get the neck located so that the scale is correct is critical, and you need decent woodworking skills to achieve it.

You're also on a path to put 40 hours of work and a couple hundred bucks into a $25 body, when you could buy a complete bass for the same amount.

If it were me, I'd re-sell the body (start it on Ebay at 9.99) and get a body that you can fit with a standard neck. You'll end up spending more, but the result will be worth more and won't be a hack job.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

You're also on a path to put 40 hours of work and a couple hundred bucks into a $25 body, when you could buy a complete bass for the same amount.

While the feasible thing to do would be to discard this idea, and to put the effort towards an easier build, the DIYaholic in me sees this as an opportunity to make the neck from scratch.

With the aid of a few CF rods and a double acting TR, almost any knot-free wood will do, it doesn't have to be any fancy-pansy "luthier grade".
If the FB scares You, back in the 80's when I, among others, were starting the wonderful hobby of making instruments, we bought a cheap(ish) pre-made FBs.

Be warned though, making a neck, and discovering it wasn't all that hard, will result a vicious circle of trying to make better and better necks . In no time You're making a whole instrument, and Your soul is lost forever so to speak .

Regards
Sam

[Carruj]

The first part of this update is long overdue, but I've been pretty busy lately.

This July I picked up a Washburn from the classifieds that matches (for the most part) the body I have.






I was planning on using the neck and hardware, but ultimately decided against it as that would still leave me with a body left over. Having a full bass to inspect did help though. Between that and a little research on Washburn's site, I was able to find a bridge that would work with the odd layout of the string-thru holes at WD Music. With that mystery solved, I turned my attention to the neck.

I put it off for a long time partly because I hadn't decided on what to do about the neck, but I finally did a test fit of the neck from the black bass with the natural body last week. Here are the two bodies side by side.


The neck in the new body:


And a closeup:


For a while I was thinking about buying a neck-thru neck from Carvin and cutting what would be the body to fit the neck pocket as Sam suggested. After looking into it more, I got the impression (and please, correct me if I'm wrong) that the neck profile on the Carvin NT necks was similar to Ibanez SR's. I have an Ibanez and prefer a neck that's a little beefier (which the Washburn is), so I decided to scrap that idea. Just wouldn't make sense to put the time and money into that just to come out with a bass that didn't feel the way I want. So, it looks like the neck will have to be from scratch, but at least I have a completed neck as a template/guide. One option I see is to find a luthier to make a custom neck based on the one I have. Alternatively, I could wait until I get a chance to visit my girlfriend's dad. He's got woodworking tools and expertise and could help me through all but the fretting. This wouldn't be for a while though since he's in New York and I'm in Texas and my schedule wouldn't allow for that trip until maybe the Spring. I'm going to start looking into getting a custom neck made. In the meantime, I plan on getting all of the hardware/electronics for the body. If I have two fully-loaded bodies, I could swap the neck every now and then until I get a neck.

For the electronics, I picked up an EMG MM style pickup from Bass Emporium for cheap towards the end of their anniversary sale. I've decided on black hardware and will probably start ordering that this week. My semester ends on Friday, so I can begin piecing it together next week/whenever stuff arrives.

One last pic. The body with neck and EMG in place: