Fretless Replacement Neck For My '66 Pbass

[66pbass]

I'm looking to replace my stock (crappy) fretted maple/rosewood neck on my 1966 Pbass with a lined fretless, maple/maple neck.

Warmoth comes highly recommended but man are they expensive.

Any recommendations from those who have been down this road would be appreciated.

Also...bridge recommendations? I would prefer not to drill extra holes. One of the reasons for replacment is that the wrap on my E string rides up onto the threaded barrel when I set the intonation correctly.

Thanks

[Buskman]

Just my .02 -

Neck: It's a '66 P-Bass, for pete's sake! For a bass that (presumably) nice, I think it'd be worth the extra coin for a worthy replacement neck. There are other good options besides Warmoth.

http://www.usacustomguitars.com/neckspecials.asp#

A lot of TB'ers highly recommend Michael Dolan for building replacement necks, too.

http://www.dolanguitars.com/

You can always have the neck de-fretted, also (not recommended from a personal standpoint, but hey - it worked for Jaco, right?)

Bridge: You can cut the string's wrap down by lightly scoring it with a razor balde. A much cheaper solution than buying a new bridge, IMO. Plus, you'd be keeping the bass as stock as possible (except for the neck, of course! ).

BTW - If you don't want that "crappy" fretted neck anymore, I'll gladly take it off your hands...

[66pbass]

Thanks for the reply Buskman.

My neck is really goofy; from the 7th fret on the E string on up I cannot play most of the notes and the thing is curved slightly on the treble, G string, side so that if I am not careful I can pull the G string off the side of the neck.

I had it re-fretted about '74-75 and the frets are still in pretty good shape, but I really want a lined fretless bass so I have to decide if I want to buy a used lined fretless or change my old friend into a fretless.

Point about the inventment is well taken. I have had this since '69, and it is modified and refinished by me, and has a 'late 60s underground comic style ink drawing on the back done by an artist friend of mine.

The bridge saddles move sideways if one is not careful, and that has always bothered me.
That and the fact that the E string wrap has always rested on the saddle are the reason I would like to install a new bridge.

[Relic]

For a '66, I would seriously pay the extra $ for a Warmoth or Allparts neck...that baby's worth it, it's gorgeous!
Check your intonation afterwards, you might not even need a new bridge.