4 String conversion?

[Andy Speghetti]

Hey Talkbass. I'm fairly new to bass repair and I wanted to know if I could put a 5 string new on a 4 string body.

The body is a Jay Turser 400-C and I want to put on a warmoth 4+1 neck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[eukatheude]

You'll probably have to rout the neck cavity to fit the new neck.

 

[Ric5]

I have been converting 4 string basses into 5 string basses for years.

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/425.htm

 

[J Posega]

The neck heel on the Warmoth will be wider than that of your body. You'd have to either reshape the heel on the neck by taking some wood off either side until it fits your bodies neck pocket; or have the neck pocket routed to accommodate the new neck.

You could go Jeff's route and convert your current neck to 5 strings, or try to find the Wilkinson 4-to-5 conversion kit (discontinued, hard to find), but you'll have very narrow string spacing, much like an Ibanez.

For the price of the Warmoth neck and paying someone to do the routing, you're better off getting a used Ibanez 5 string bass.

 

[Ric5]

Hey Talkbass. I'm fairly new to bass repair and I wanted to know if I could put a 5 string new on a 4 string body.

The body is a Jay Turser 400-C and I want to put on a warmoth 4+1 neck.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

That bass can be made into a 5 string many ways: Use the existing neck and put in a new nut, add a 5th tuner and put in a 5 string bridge with a 2 1/2" string spacing. Or replace the neck with a 4 or 5 string neck. Then you may have to route wood from the neck pocket. I like Mighty mite necks on my parts basses, but Warmoth will also work.

Here's a pair of basses that I built 4-2-5 basses from parts.

The jazz bass body is a MIA Fender. The p-bass body is a SX. Both necks are Mighty mite 4 string p-bass necks. The I got the nut, tuners, bridges, pickups, electronics, pickguards, ctraploks, and other parts from the internet and ebay.

 

[Ric5]

Here's one where I put a 5 sting neck on a 4 string body and I had to route out the neck pocket.

 

[FunkRenegade]

You can cram another string in there, but the G string looks like it's almost hanging off the fretboard. Not everybody will be comfortable playing that. Heck, why not turn it into a 6er. More strings= better right?

Even if you install a 5 string neck, you still have 4 string pickups.

 

[Ric5]

Here's a 5 string bass with 4 string pickups and a 4 string neck ... It plays and sounds fine.