Neck Pocket question

[chinjazz]

Hi,

I've got an interesting question. I'm working on a franken jazz bass w/SX bass parts, all of which are decent to good. I had a fretless and ordered a fretted and started the install, and left the pick guard on (the mistake). All seemed ok, and when it came time to replace the pick ups (barts), off came the pick guard and the surprize.. There's space in the bottom of the pocket (see pics). It's about 2/8ths to a 1/4 inch.
Is it highly recommended to remove the neck fill the holes and re-drill, etc..?

Tuning seems ok.. I've been waiting a few days for neck settle to check on staying in tune. Any feedback will be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Bass Below]

As long as your bridge is adjustable enough for intonation, your only issue should be cosmetic, and judging by the pics, the gap doesn't seem to be enough of an eyesore to go through the trouble. Only thing I would do would be to put a shim in the gap, not necessarily visible when assembled, but just so there is some support in there, ya know?

[chinjazz]

Originally Posted by Bass Below

As long as your bridge is adjustable enough for intonation, your only issue should be cosmetic, and judging by the pics, the gap doesn't seem to be enough of an eyesore to go through the trouble. Only thing I would do would be to put a shim in the gap, not necessarily visible when assembled, but just so there is some support in there, ya know?

Hi Bass Below, thanks for the speedy reply! Yes, the bridge has enough to intonate. I can shim no problem. I've seen it done in various ways and depending on the gaps would determine materials used. For example, I saw a guy put in a shim with a piece of cardboard (match book) for a really thin space. Any suggestions as far as materials?

Thanks!

[Bass Below]

I myself would use a piece of hardwood, since it's not being used for angling purposes (like you would put in the neck pocket under the heel of the neck to adjust string height) but the purpose of this would be to help distribute the force of the string tension between the bottom edge of the neck and the body. It probably wouldn't be an issue, but the way it is now, all linear force (in the direction from the nut towards the bridge) is being placed on the actual screws (and walls of the screw holes) that are holding the neck in place.

Like I said, maybe it's overkill, but I'm a nut when it comes to structural integrity. I'd take my time and carve a nice shim to fill that gap to distribute force. Make it a little big and then sand it until you can almost slide it into the gap. Some might say that it will increase sustain, tone, blah blah blah. Maybe. Probably. who knows, but it can't hurt. You would think that more surface contact area between neck and body would help in that department, hence the reason why people like tight neck pockets and neck-thru designs.

[chinjazz]

Cool, I think I might have the perfect pieces of maple that I had left over from a truss rod cover job I had done.

Thanks again for your info!