Two necks, one guitar?

alitz · #1 06-29-2009, 06:34 PM

Ok guys, I'm new at this and bass guitar and I have a MIJ Fender Jazz Bass Special on the way that, if the seller was mostly truthful, is in mint condition and has only been play 15-20 times

in the past 20 years and has spent most of its life in his uncles closet. This is a fretless bass which I am quite intrigued with but I am getting ahead of myself.
I have wanted a bass to record with for years but am only an average guitarist and have only played bass in the music stores to try them out. I had decided from all my research that I wanted a bass with a P/J configuration to get the widest variety of sound potential. A couple of years ago I got a Yamaha that I can't remember the model but it was active and cost around $200. Yet the sounds from it was somewhat disapointing, so I sold it, kept my Ampeg bass amp that I also got at the same time and started researching again. I had decided that I wanted a Fender P/J but this time I tried them out in the music store and I was not so impressed with the MIM deluxe but I did really like the MIA Presision Deluxe but was not so impressed with the over $1000 price tag. Then I saw the MIJ P/J which just happened to be fretless, so I snapped it up. I do have a question in here and here it is.
What does anyone think of getting a regular fretted Jazz neck and swapping it out with the fretless neck and keeping the fretless neck to swap back out on special occasions? Does this sound viable, or will the swapping cause problem with the anchor screw holes in the necks, making it unable to tighten down suffieciantly after a few swaps. And if it does sound like a possibility, will any jazz neck do or do I need a specific jazz neck for this particular guitar? I know this is a lot to read and I am sure that some of you fretless guys will think I'm nuts for wanting to swap out in the first place but there it is. I am interested in any and all opinions on this.
Thanks.
P.S. Do I have to leave the fretless neck on to be in the fretless club?

Cyber Soda · #2 06-29-2009, 06:42 PM

lol, I just saw a post about someone making a bass with the ability to swap out the actual fretboard when you wanted to to have different woods or a fretted/fretless bass.

drden · #3 06-29-2009, 06:47 PM

go to ebay and type jazz bass neck. bam! one of those will fit.

alitz · #4 06-30-2009, 10:05 AM

Been reading up and it seems that the problem with stripping out the neck screw holes can be dealt with by either fixing the holes with matches and glue(a lot of other opinions concerning dowels on this method) or by installing machine screw inserts and thus using machine screw instead of wood screws for the neck(s). Therefore, this idea seems plausible to me as far as the repair logistics are concerned.
The main thing that I am thinking of is preserving the fretless neck without having to use flatwound strings.
By the way, how can I get more people to comment/read a post to get more opinions?

alitz · #5 07-02-2009, 09:27 PM

OK, If this turns out to be blog thread then so be it but I got to tell someone. I received this bass pictured above today and I am knocked out by its condition. It is Mint!!!!! I cannot even find the smallest of ding or scratch on this instrument. The guy's story of it only being used once for a gig in a Nashville Recording studio and otherwise being played just a few times, is the only way this instrument could look like this. He said 15-20 times and I think that might be overstating. Even the original hard case it came in only has a couple of small scuffs and the paperwork inside was the original manual, a paper selling fender labelled clothes, a warranty registration card(wonder if I should fill it out and send it in) and the inspection tag from the factory along with a free set of strings. In playing it, I know that it might take me a while to get use to the fretless neck, but I think my original idea of swapping out the necks might still be the best option to take care of this beautiful neck. Now this is where this forum can help me. I have been checking ebay since I won the auction for this bass a week ago and ideally, I would find a MIJ neck that is the same style/make of the original. I have decided that the best way to go is to find a precision neck since the body is a precision body and I already have a Jazz neck albeit fretless. I suppose I could go with 3 different necks but that might really be getting a little out there. Anyway, I did find two necks of the same style but they were both somewhat trashed out and unfortunately, the black painted headstock really shows the inperfections. Also the lower priced one had a starting bid of $200 and the the higher priced one that was just a little less trashed, started at $300. If I went by these as a price for mine, I would start it at $400 and I only paid $525 including shipping for the whole bass. Other necks on ebay are at least $300 for any neck that is American or Vintage and that is often without the hardware. The only ones that are in my target range of $200(plus hardward) are the MIM or Squires which are Mexico or Indonesia. The Warmouths, Allparts and WD are priced at least as much as MIMs and the only ones that are significantly cheaper are the Mighty Mikes or Edens. So does anyone have another opinion on this or is this thread lost in the twilight zone of MWAhhhh.

knigel · #6 07-02-2009, 09:46 PM

I just PMed you a way we could all be happy! Ah ha hahahaha (maniacal laugh) ha ha cough ha cough cough.

MNAirHead · #7 07-02-2009, 09:55 PM

I had a setup like this.. never changed the necks.

alitz · #8 07-05-2009, 10:48 AM

Well, I have gone the next step and purchased a MIM Maple Precision neck. I also got Black Hipshot tuners and a black string guide to go with the white/Black look of the MIJ body. Now, I need to decide if I want to go to the trouble of putting in the steel machine threads for machine screws to allow for quick, tight switch out that I can switch back without worrying about the necks loosening up. I plan on putting the threads in both necks. I have read in another thread about repairing stripped neck holes that I should stay away from brass but I can't recall the exact reason for this. I think it had something to do about the relative softness of brass compared to the steel inserts although I have found a place on ebay that sells both types of inserts for the purpose that I am suggesting. I don't plan on switching necks that often anyway and most likely, the fretless neck will end up in storage to preserve the relatively pristine condition. Any opinions or do just continue to bump this thread along until I have the finished product. I know some of you guys have to have an opinion on this and I welcome even those that say that I'm nuts for wanting to use steel threaded inserts in my necks. Are there any luthier opinions that might have the relative merits or problems with any of this and if so, what would you do other than have two seperate guitars.

grifff · #9 07-05-2009, 11:07 AM

You would probably get more responses if you used paragraphs, I cant focus on reading giant chunks of texts. I don't see a problem with swapping out necks.

Darkstrike · #10 07-05-2009, 11:09 AM

The steel inserts is what I'd do, be really cool to swap from fretted to fretless in about 10 mins.

blockinlay · #11 07-05-2009, 11:13 AM

Swapping out necks is viable, but I would only swap if I wanted a different neck to stay.
Just set up two basses, and your fretted and/or fretless will always be ready.

alitz · #12 07-05-2009, 01:43 PM

Thanks for the input guys. And I will remember to hit the return key a few times if I have a lot to say.

alitz · #13 07-05-2009, 01:47 PM

Oh, and I probably will keep the fretted Precision neck on for normal use with roundwounds and get a nice set of TIs flats for the fretless on special occasions or when I want to just really learn how to play a fretless.

Darkstrike · #14 07-05-2009, 01:54 PM

Might I suggest getting a quick loader bridge, like a Hipshot then, where the ball ends of the strings just hook on, rather than having to be pulled through a hole, makes it much quicker, easier and neater for swapping the strings over when changing the neck.

LCW · #15 07-05-2009, 03:14 PM

Duff mckagan plays a fretted version of that bass

Chunk-O-Funk · #16 07-05-2009, 03:31 PM

I have done the two necks for one bass thing before.

It can be done, but in my opinion it's a pain and really not worth it. Not only do you have to swap the neck you have to give the bass a proper setup each time you swap back and forth. It's a little time consuming and because of that I only swap the neck two times. Eventually I put together another bass with the new fretted neck.

alitz · #17 07-05-2009, 05:58 PM

Thanks again for the input. I'm not really thinking of swapping back and forth often. The fretless crowd might dislike this, but I will probably be putting the fretless neck away for most of the time and keeping the guitar in the fretted configuration.

I just wanted a way to switch back if I ever wanted to without mucking up the holes in the necks and apparently the guys who came up with the machine threaded inserts/machine screws to accomplish this task has been done.

Since a guy on ebay sells them for that purpose, has anyone had any experience with this and does it really change the sustain of the instrument as this particular seller claim?

alitz · #18 07-20-2009, 07:38 AM

Well, I guess I need to close out this thread or change the name to "Two necks, two basses." I have just won an auction on ebay for MIM FMT Jazz Bass body to install my fretless Jazz neck on. I figured that even though the neck is sweet, it doesn't make since to store it in a closet, so I am going to install in on the new Jazz body with some flats to protect it as much as I can and learn how to play the thing.