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cello neck on an electric bass body???

G

gnarlyopossum

Feb 4, 2008
227
1
Mason City, IA
#1
I have a Fender Jazz Bass, with a defretted neck. I would like to replace the neck and a friend of mine said, "Hey. Why don't you put a cello neck on that thing?" I have no idea if that's possible or effective, but I think it's an awesome idea. If there is anybody out there who has experience in this, has seen it, or could offer suggestions about this, please post. I think it would be a great DIY project.

Help.
 
#2
gnarlyopossum said:
I have a Fender Jazz Bass, with a defretted neck. I would like to replace the neck and a friend of mine said, "Hey. Why don't you put a cello neck on that thing?" I have no idea if that's possible or effective, but I think it's an awesome idea. If there is anybody out there who has experience in this, has seen it, or could offer suggestions about this, please post. I think it would be a great DIY project.

Help.
Click to expand...

What are you going to use as a bridge to match the profile of the neck?
 
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#5
Where does one get a cello neck? :)

My two cents:

If you have cello neck, and you want to go electric, maybe the best best is to mount the bridge Right on the neck. In the form of bridges that are really those separate saddles for each string.
Then you'll match the profile of the neck perfectly.

Then there's just the little detail of figuring out a pickup scheme.
:)
 
#6
What about using a cello bridge with a tailpiece? You're right, SBassman. The pickups should be interesting. Aside from custom making a pup with a curve to match the curve of the strings, what are the other options?

Would it work to do a single string pickup under each string? Maybe it would be possible to adjust and hotwire the pickups individually???
 
#11
gnarlyopossum said:
What about an upright bass neck? 1/2 scale or 3/4 scale? As far as putting it on, wouldn't it be possible to get an unshaped one with the full block on the back instead of the already done attachment you see on done instruments? (Does that question make sense?)
Click to expand...

The upright neck would be a better length, but you'd have to saw off about 8" of the fingerboard that overhangs the body, or else it would cover the pickups completely. And the heel of the neck is pretty big, especially front-to-back, so getting it to fit in the Fender neck pocket would require major surgery on both parts.
 
#13
First time posting, I'm more of a 'lurker' than a poster, and I'm a bit of a 'noob' so sorry if this is 'noobish'. :)

Anyway have any of you seen a movie called 'hackers' with Angelina Jolie in it? Not my most favourite of movies but in one of the scenes they're in this underground club thingy and there's this band playing. But the bass player is playing a bass with an upright bass neck on it. So it has been done, not sure if it was practical but I knew I'd seen it. Thought I'd add that just in case it was helpful, sorry if it wasn't. :)
 
#15
I have a fretless bass with a cello fingerboard grafted onto an old P-bass neck, had it made back in the late 80's early 90's time frame. It works great. The bridge had to be raised (as did the pups) and the bridge string height was adjusted individually to match the curvature of the fingerboard. Originally I did it because I wanted to be able to bow, that didn't really happen too well, but the bass itself sounds great. I rarely gig with it though as it's pretty heavy with a high string tension. In my hands the neck feels very thick like an upright, I doubt most electric players would like it. Mwah for days though. I've got '78 P pups on it as well as a Bartolini soapbar all wired passive. A very unique sound.
 
#17
gnarlyopossum said:
I have a Fender Jazz Bass, with a defretted neck. I would like to replace the neck and a friend of mine said, "Hey. Why don't you put a cello neck on that thing?" I have no idea if that's possible or effective, but I think it's an awesome idea. If there is anybody out there who has experience in this, has seen it, or could offer suggestions about this, please post. I think it would be a great DIY project.

Help.
Click to expand...

I'm missing the point. What do you think you would achieve?
 
#18
I guess I don't get what the goal would be (OP). Would be a lot of work, may not end well, and I don't imagine that small a fb radius would be a lot of fun to play horizontally. And it would likely neckdive like crazy. But given all that, you could certainly make it happen. Go for it in that case.
 
#20
Another concern is the neck pocket. Often when one next from one bass is attached to the body of a different bass, the pocket doesn't line up and sustain is not ideal.

Also, cello next do not have truss rods and won't have the support to handle the tension caused by steel bass strings.

How will you find a cello next? You would basically by the neck from the cello that got damaged and had its body destroyed. Unless something like this happens to be available, getting a real cello neck will probably be very expensive.

It's a cool idea, and if you go ahead and proceed with this power to you. But I would not invest any money into it. Also, if you have any interest in this bass, well you probably would be better off with the existing fret-removed neck.

Good luck.
 

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