• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Can a headless adaptor be installed on a Jazz neck?

#21
SteveC said:
I'd go with the "chunk-o-bass" for your body.
Maybe do the same with the neck.
Click to expand...
Yea, that body is one of the top contenders in this project for certain. I'm not sure Warmoth offers a neck blank, but they offer a blank "paddle" head. However, best I can tell it isn't any less expensive nor does it seem to offer any more wood in areas that may be important.

The least expensive bass neck from Warmoth (that I have discovered) is a maple/maple neck with standard frets (not stainless steel, which I happen to actually prefer). A maple/maple neck with frets installed, and fretboard dots is $180. Add corian nut installed and it jumps to $205. Add a tusque nut and it's $210.

Hmmm .... so I wonder what a stock Squier replacement neck would run, y'know, as a prototyping piece? Perhaps it would be less expensive, y'know just to get the kinks worked out. I know Mighty Mite necks are around $129 with frets and nut installed. That sounds pretty good as a proto part too.

But if this proves itself as a viable thing, I'll probably have Warmoth make me a Padouk neck (no finish required on Padouk, and it feels WONDEROUS in the hand), not sure about the fretboard, and stainless frets. I have several Warmoth guitars (I've assembled eleven so far, the 1st one I ever did was a bass, ironically), and their stainless frets are so nice. They last forever once they are leveled, and on a guitar the more string bends you do the more ~slippery~ the frets become making string bends just that much easier to do.

And ... the Mac Daddy (if this headless thing all works out) will be the double neck headless. Warmoth offers a bass/guitar double neck body. I could easily order it to suit the creation of a double necked Steiny-type shape. It would be so light weight (relatively speaking) and easy to manuever. So I have high hopes for this DIY headless bass trip.

Creating a headless guitar with Warmoth parts is as simple as ordering a Floyd Rose locking nut installed on a stock Warmoth guitar neck, the locking plates work as the headpiece, and install a headless bridge. Headless guitar!

So there's that.
 
#22
Flux Jetson said:
Yea, that body is one of the top contenders in this project for certain. I'm not sure Warmoth offers a neck blank, but they offer a blank "paddle" head. However, best I can tell it isn't any less expensive nor does it seem to offer any more wood in areas that may be important.

The least expensive bass neck from Warmoth (that I have discovered) is a maple/maple neck with standard frets (not stainless steel, which I happen to actually prefer). A maple/maple neck with frets installed, and fretboard dots is $180. Add corian nut installed and it jumps to $205. Add a tusque nut and it's $210.

Hmmm .... so I wonder what a stock Squier replacement neck would run, y'know, as a prototyping piece? Perhaps it would be less expensive, y'know just to get the kinks worked out. I know Mighty Mite necks are around $129 with frets and nut installed. That sounds pretty good as a proto part too.

But if this proves itself as a viable thing, I'll probably have Warmoth make me a Padouk neck (no finish required on Padouk, and it feels WONDEROUS in the hand), not sure about the fretboard, and stainless frets. I have several Warmoth guitars (I've assembled eleven so far, the 1st one I ever did was a bass, ironically), and their stainless frets are so nice. They last forever once they are leveled, and on a guitar the more string bends you do the more ~slippery~ the frets become making string bends just that much easier to do.

And ... the Mac Daddy (if this headless thing all works out) will be the double neck headless. Warmoth offers a bass/guitar double neck body. I could easily order it to suit the creation of a double necked Steiny-type shape. It would be so light weight (relatively speaking) and easy to manuever. So I have high hopes for this DIY headless bass trip.

Creating a headless guitar with Warmoth parts is as simple as ordering a Floyd Rose locking nut installed on a stock Warmoth guitar neck, the locking plates work as the headpiece, and install a headless bridge. Headless guitar!

So there's that.
Click to expand...

You can get fretted, finished necks from Rondo music to experiment on, and they are pretty darn decent necks for the money to be honest, like...50 bucks. Link Removed
 
#26
hover said:
It's hit or miss, and I understand they can run a bit wide. Up to 1/16th at times...
Click to expand...
Well, I guess 1/16th wide is better than 1/16th narrow. At least if it's wide it can be shaped to fit.

I'll have to think about that. I don't like those ~maybe~ things ... it might be worth it to me to spend the additional money on more of a sure thing. I mean, I guess really nothing is a "sure fit" but I've posted a thread before about Mighty Mite necks and if I recall everyone that elected to respond said those necks fit just fine.

So like I said, I'll have to think it over. I have some time, the $$ I had set aside for the prototyping parts got dipped into last night on a once:blue moon deal on something I've needed for my modular rig that popped up on eBay. I found it last night with like 12 minutes before the auction closed, did a clever bid and won the damned thing. So now I'm $290 shorter than I was yesterday at dinner time.

So ... now ... I have some time. :)
 
#27
Understood, I echo your trepidation usually...that said, I recently bought a superb Warmoth Swamp Ash J body, and then a few weeks ago a Goncalo Alves neck, also from Warmoth, and....they're not a sure fit. I had to take a 1" scraper blade to "finesse" the pocket a bit. It happens...surely not the same as a full .060"+ but still.

Hell, the .060" could all be finish, lol
 
#28
hover said:
Understood, I echo your trepidation usually...that said, I recently bought a superb Warmoth Swamp Ash J body, and then a few weeks ago a Goncalo Alves neck, also from Warmoth, and....they're not a sure fit. I had to take a 1" scraper blade to "finesse" the pocket a bit. It happens...surely not the same as a full .060"+ but still.

Hell, the .060" could all be finish, lol
Click to expand...
Comes down to ~shite happens~.

I don't mean to insult your intelligence here, but I gotta ask ... you did attempt to fit the neck in the body by installing the neck "straight down" and not "straight in", right? I've seen more than one person try to fit a Warmoth neck in the pocket by trying to slide it in from headstock to bridge rather than aligning the neck with the pocket and pushing it straight down.

Again, forgive me if you know better than to do that. But there are many people who do not know how ot fit a Warmoth neck in a Warmoth neck pocket. It happens often enough that proper fitment method is actually published on their website (or ~was~ ... it may not be, currently).

In any case, I'm still a little uncertain about a $50 fretted/nutted neck.
 
#30
The main issue will be figuring out where the truss rod exits and making sure you can mount whatever headless system you choose without interfering with the rod. That is one advantage of the Strandberg bridges and string anchors; the anchors are low-profile and don't require much wood to mount. I'm not sure if he's come out with the bass versions yet, but the guitar ones are pretty slick.

Invalid Link Removed
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back