Narrowing neck width and taper to body, even advisable?

Doug Parent · #1 08-26-2009, 10:45 AM

Appreciate the comments especially from luthiers.....I have a finished Fender bass neck, (American Deluxe) and wish to reduce the nut width overall by 1/8", and gradually taper the narrowing up the neck to the most logical place...12th or 15th fret, before the heel meets the body.

My main concern would be finding a qualified repair/tech in my area that could do the job to my expectations. I would want the work done to a result that made it visually undetectable maintaining straight lines along the edge of the neck, and restoring the rolled edges of the fretboard and re-polishing the fret edges.

Is this kind of modification difficult, and require special tools? I can't imagine doing this by hand and maintaining a straight edge from the nut to the heel area on the neck.

How would you do this in your shop, belt sander?

Grissle · #2 08-26-2009, 02:21 PM

I've had the same idea for about 2 yrs, I love everything about my Jag and Jazz basses but ever since I played a Padulla Rapture I found that really small necks really suit my hands. I'm guessing that the nut and frets would have to be removed first to do this. Maybe a Moderator here can move this thread to the Luthiers area for us to get more info.

Doug Parent · #3 08-26-2009, 02:55 PM

I brought it in to a local guy who has been doing this for 25 years, I'll post the results.

mongo2 · #4 08-26-2009, 05:23 PM

I've done this several times with the frets and nut installed, it's basically no different than profiling a neck, dressing the fret ends and cutting a nut.

Darkstrike · #5 08-26-2009, 05:39 PM

How would a guy go about doing this, I have at least three basses that I'd like to re shape the necks of.

mongo2 · #6 08-27-2009, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

How would a guy go about doing this, I have at least three basses that I'd like to re shape the necks of.

Start with reading up on instrument construction, neck profiling, neck shaving, etc.

I just remove everything that doesn't feel like the neck I want.

However, if binding is involved it's a lot more complicated. I avoid bound necks.