neck plate too tight, some body damage, repair or not?

dfp · #1 07-02-2010, 08:53 AM

title pretty much sums it up... neck plate warped due to over tightening screws, neck plate dug into the wood slightly around the edges (no poly on this bass, just thin nitro and no clear coat). the neck seems very secure, no loss of tone or sustain, really no issues other than aesthetic as far as i know.

thought about taking off the neck, masking the body around the plate location and brushing some epoxy or something into the crushed-in spots and maybe sanding the epoxy to ensure it would be flush w/ rest of the body (while body still masked, of course).

OR just add a black plastic neck plate cushion AND 1) keep using warped neck plate OR 2) replace neck plate.

OR doing the attempted fix, AND using a neck plate cushion in the future w/ a new neck plate...

anyone ever dealt w/ similar?

FunkMetalBass · #2 07-02-2010, 10:09 AM

Or don't mess with it.

It's the back of the bass, and the more times you remove a neck, the weaker the joint becomes. Since there are no playability issues, it's kind of a pointless fix.

Caca de Kick · #3 07-02-2010, 10:15 AM

This is a common sight on old Fenders, just leave it alone.

dfp · #4 07-02-2010, 02:14 PM

thanks for the input, i figured it was probably not uncommon, especially on older basses.

but i'm curious, FunkMetalBass, why would the neck joint become weaker the more times you remove the neck? wearing out the threaded screw holes?

i'm very tempted to leave it alone, but the thought crossed my mind if i ever wanted to sell it the warped neck plate/body damage thing might be a drag to someone.