Squier(?) body not fit MIM neck???

etherealme · #1 08-01-2009, 11:35 AM

So I had considerable success mounting a warmoth jazz neck to my MIM fender P bass body.

With the original P neck left over, my search began for another P bass body. Ended up purchasing this P body on the bay.

Now I should have screwed my head on a bit tighter, instead of gassing over the color so much. Considering that the scale length isn't the same for all bass body's, that all neck pockets are not the same dimensions and that it might not necessarily match up to neck. The MIM P neck is a 20 fret neck.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370202008237

The neck pocket on this body is extremely flat at the base. There's hardly any curvature at the base of the route. When I insert the neck the holes on body line up much higher and the wood discoloration line on the neck (where the neck had been sitting inside the other body) is above the edge of neck pocket. I was thinking this was a squire body based on the similarity of pot design and general look of it based on others I've seen. The depth of the neck pocket is 3 1/2" and not 3 7/8". Also the distance from the bridge tail to the neck pocket base is longer than the other MIM body.

All this makes me think it's a bad routing job. If it's routed too flat and shallow, that can be remedied by making a jig and correcting with new route. But if there's some other input out there, it be greatly appreciated.

Is this possibly a newer squier body design issue? Has anyone else had an experience similar in nature? Are the squire's widely known for this same problem with incompatibility? Is this a squier body at all?

Yes, I did many a search... Yes, I tried to get information from the non-responsive seller...

THANKS for looking!

etherealme · #2 08-01-2009, 10:47 PM

bumpidy bump

Any advice or insight is greatly appreciated.

Is this flat a profile on the neck pocket standard on some bodies, or is it glaringly obvious that it's a mistake? Am I wasting my time attempting to route the pocket to fit the MIM neck base?

rumblethump · #3 08-03-2009, 09:42 AM

I don't think it is a real squier body. It does appear that with a little fitting, reshaping the bottom of the neck pocket you can get a good fit. The neck pocket looks like a Wilkenson type with a more square shape than a fender.

Delta_Petra · #4 08-03-2009, 09:55 AM

Rumble may be on to something. When I took the neck off my MIM jazz and put it on my Squier Affinity p-bass, there wasn't much of an issue making it fit. Maybe I forced it some, but I can't remember.

etherealme · #5 08-03-2009, 10:27 AM

Thanks for the input!

I'm worried that I won't be able to compensate for the distance loss by adjusting the bridge, when I route the 1/4" to round out the pocket. Will I have that much play in bridge adjustment? Who knows, since there's no solid way to tell the manufacturer and therefore no real way to know until I'm to the point of setting the intonation...

Guess it's worth a shot. This was my candidate for a bartonlini pup with BEAD tuning...

bassgod76 · #6 08-05-2009, 07:40 AM

Let me know how this goes. I just bought a MIM fretless neck and I want to get a Highway One body off of Ebay. Just the thought of having the same issue, gives me the willies.

ThaLowEndTheory · #7 08-05-2009, 07:53 AM

I don't think that's a squier body. I can't recall a transparent red finished squier other than the pro tone 5 string. Don't worry about it though. It's a great looking body. Now for the curve you can worry about it, but it's not really necessary. A new pickguard will cover the gaps. Similar to using a strat neck on a telecaster body. Not a big issue. If the depth is off though, you may need to route it to the proper depth. If you add the curve you will be changing the distance to the bridge and you may have a problem with intonation if there is not enough adjustment left. Personally I wouldn't worry about it. I'd just get a new pickguard.

etherealme · #8 08-05-2009, 01:11 PM

Thanks, all! I will definitely need to route it as the screw holes do not line up properly. They seem to be the same distance off as the lack of curve at the base. The bridge adjustment screws are pretty long so I don't think it'll be a problem. A bit more time invested, but I'm going to conquer this one.

Yeah, i really dig how transparent red this finish is. It's really dense alder too with ribboning in the body top.

I'll update with a new post once I find time to tackle this. Then I'll be off to the races changing the nut and action to BEAD and installing the active bart split pickup.