Neck Pocket Too Deep

[thewho443]

I just finished assembling a new bass I had been working on and I took it in to get it set up because the string action is really high. The tech at the shop said that it looks like the guy who built the body cut the neck pocket about a 1/4 of an inch deeper than normal. I had a badass III bridge on there and he said to try another bridge and see if that helps. I bought a Hipshot A series and that seemed to help a little, but not enough. The tech said he could send the guitar to their repair guy and see if he could rout a cavity for the bridge to sit in to bring it down some more. The body is ash with zebrawood on the top and I'd hate to put any more holes in it than would be neccessary. Does anybody have any other ideas on how I could fix this without cutting up the bass more?

[DopplerShift]

You could file down the string saddles.

You could also shim the neck so it angles back. That would change the angle of the strings.

[mikeyswood]

...add a 1/4" to the neck

[Dirk Diggler]

Or you could just glue in a nice 1/4" patch inlay in the bottom of the neck pocket.
But yes you could always rout around the bridge too, easy to do either way, your choice add or subtract.
Besta Luck on that.
Dirk

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

Or you could just glue in a nice 1/4" patch inlay in the bottom of the neck pocket.

+1, that's what I'd do. Fix the body instead of everything else.

[jordan_frerichs]

set neck or bolt on? if its a bolt on, remove the neck, sand the finish off of the bottom of the pocket area of the neck, and glue a piece of wood in, then take a flush cut saw, and cut and sand it flush with the neck. Make sure to not let it scratch the visible finish. Why not inlay the bridge? I like inlayed bridges. Just looks right.

[Foamy]

Originally Posted by mikeyswood

...add a 1/4" to the neck

Yep, my first thought too.

[robert43]

Either 1/4 plate in body ie plywood or same piece installed on the neck will do the same thing.
I did this for a kid that build a plywood body for a bass he use 2 3/4 plywood pieces cut the neck & cavity in top 1/2 . Glued the 2 parts together cut them out . The picku & neck cavity too deep so I stuck a 1/4 plyinto the body for neck pickup etc. Easily done