new neck, new board?

[poomwah]

the "biggest mistake" thread has really got me thinking about my ripper and its current state of disrepair. I really miss that bass, but it has no fretboard. I destroyed it a long time ago, being stupid, experimenting when I shouldn't have. If it was a bolt on neck, I would have put another neck on it a long time ago and would have spent a LOT of time playing it. But its a set neck.
I have a chance to pick up an epi t-bird neck SUPER cheap. I'm THINKING of steaming the fretboard off of it, and gluing it onto the ripper neck. If the body on the ripper was thicker, I would consider routing it for a bolt on neck.. Another idea I had was to make a new center section to bolt the neck to, then cut the "wings" off of the ripper and glue them to the new center section.
Are any of these ideas at all sound? I know the best option would be to junk the bass. The second best option would be to send it somewhere to have it done. But I can't afford that. And junking it is out because I'm too sentimentally attatched to this bass, and I really want to play it again.

[Jools4001]

What is the condition of the ripper neck underneath the fretboard likely to be? Is there enough of the old fretboard left to steam it off? If not can it be planed off?

As long as the neck has got a decent gluing surface left after the fretboard removal, then you should just be able to get a suitable piece of wood for a fretboard and make a new one, you shouldn't need to steam one off an existing bass.

Or if you can't do that, a decent luthier could

Edit: Oops just read you couldn't afford to send it away, these guys might be in your price range

http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/Secondpr...e=Fingerboards

[poomwah]

Originally Posted by Jools4001

What is the condition of the ripper neck underneath the fretboard likely to be? Is there enough of the old fretboard left to steam it off? If not can it be planed off?

As long as the neck has got a decent gluing surface left after the fretboard removal, then you should just be able to get a suitable piece of wood for a fretboard and make a new one, you shouldn't need to steam one off an existing bass.

Or if you can't do that, a decent luthier could

the old board is already off, the only thing left is a little bit of stray glue.
I can't afford to send it to a luthier to have a new one put on it :[