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Changing out a guitars neck with a bass neck?

#61
Beej said:
In my experience, you can reduce the thickness of the heel on the neck to get the required height over the bridge, but it's faster, cleaner and more reliable to rerout the neck pocket deeper. Especially if you are not changing any dimensions of the neck pocket except the depth.

I agree with @wiscoaster above regarding considerations for the pocket/joint. We really want joinery on an instrument to be top notch for functionality and looks. :) The easiest way to do that here is with a router and a trim router is probably good enough for something like this (although I'd recommend getting a used regular router).

You can easily make a quick template for the existing neck pocket with a 3/4" thick MDF board (or any material that is dimensionally stable and consistent). You trace the neck on the edge of the board, cut it out on the inside of the line pretty close to the line. Clamp the template down over the neck pocket and run around the inside of the pocket with a bottom bearing pattern bit like this:
View attachment 5016924

That will cut a perfect copy of the neck pocket into your template. Then without removing the template from the body, change the router bit over to a top bearing pattern bit like this:
View attachment 5016926

And use that to deepen the pocket to your desired new depth in the precise shape of your existing pocket.

Boom, done. Easy-peasy. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

But the new bass neck might have a different heel than the existing guitar neck so it may be necessary to modify the pocket. Making the template with a bottom bearing bit would only work if the new neck fits perfectly inside the pocket.
 
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#63
You can trace the heel of the new neck, make a one-off custom template from that trace that fits the heel, and here's where some minor filing and sanding can be done on the template, then use your perfect template to guide the router on the existing pocket. All great advice and instructions above. And yes, if you haven't used a router before, you do need to learn what the different bits do and when and where and how they're used. ;)
 
#64
My only issue is I'm severely under funded lol. All my money is tied up in my not very successful business.

It might be easier for my to cut the neck heel to fit the neck pocket. Plus the pocket is already nice and flat. I could even just leave the neck heel flat, and cut the sides to fit. To be totally honest, it might be sorta neat to Shim the bridge. One reason I would rather adjust the heel is it's pretty much an unfinished neck, while the body I am transforming is actually somewhat finished. If I'm wrong on this, I'll accept that and listen to advice, but I feel like an unfinished neck might be easier to make fit, as I can sand it, rasp it, and make it fit the pocket better, while the neck pocket I need to buy a new piece of equipment to make it work (on top of I'm not sure if there is enough wood in the pocket to keep it intact as a pocket to fit the heel). But my biggest worry is if this is an issue of structural integrity. I wouldn't wanna do that only to find out I weakened the joint badly or something.

I plan to eventually drill out the holes in the neck and body, fill with dowels, and glue it all together someday and make it a set neck. I dunno if that's smart of me to do either tho

I'll look around for a router. Maybe I can find somethjng affordable
 
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#66
Seth DuSith said:
I might give this a try :

Click to expand...


But that is only possible if the neck heel is the right size and shape but just a tad too tight. Fender guitar necks are ussually 56 mm wide at the heel, while bass heels are 63 mm wide. And you can't really make your neck heel that much narrower because your strings would run out of the fretboard (unless your bridge has a very narrow spacing).
Check the exact dimmensions of your neck when it arrives, but it's likely you will have to make your guitar pocket quite a bit larger.

Any friends with a router you can borrow?
 
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#67
What I meant is I could cut away the excess if the heel, and use this method to sand it flat, moving up in grit to get it there.

I can't really route it bigger without removing a lot of the side support, which is what primarily worries me.

I only wish I knew someone with a router as well. Purchasing one is outta the question for me too lol.
 
#68
Apologies if I seem stubborn, guys. But this project is intended to cost me next to nothing, rather than me spending big bucks to make something special, which I should probably be doing instead. It's my impoverished way of obtaining a bass for next to nothing
 
#69
KidAmnesia said:
But that is only possible if the neck heel is the right size and shape but just a tad too tight. Fender guitar necks are ussually 56 mm wide at the heel, while bass heels are 63 mm wide. And you can't really make your neck heel that much narrower because your strings would run out of the fretboard (unless your bridge has a very narrow spacing).
Check the exact dimmensions of your neck when it arrives, but it's likely you will have to make your guitar pocket quite a bit larger.

Any friends with a router you can borrow?
Click to expand...
This is my plans to deal with the issue you are referring to. I don't mind if the fretboard hangs a bit over the neck pocket
 

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#70
It won't be easy to make those cuts and sanding them flat with the fretboard glued in place and end up with a surface that is perfectly paralel to the wals of your pocket. Keep in mind that if you shift that cut by just 1° the neck won't be aligned with the centerline of the body ad you will have to move the bridge maybe 1/2" to the side to compensate.

If I had to do that without a router, I'd do it with a sharp chiesel and a flat file. But I 'd rather use them to enlarge the neck pocket; it's the same amount of work, but in a softer wood (in most cases) and with a more manageable shape as it is easier to clamp down than the finished neck. As for the side support, I wouldn't worry too much; neck pocket sides are there to ensure a propper neck alignment, but are not really supporting much force.

I've built my first guitar from scratch without a router and on a very tight budget. I made the neck pocket with a drill (not even a drill press), a chiesel, some xacto blades and a flat file. The result is far from perfect, but I've seen Fenders with worse neck joints. Getting the bottom flat and paralel to the top was by far the most difficult part, but you already got that solved, making it wider should be that difficult.

Sorry if I sound stubborn too, just telling you how I'd do it. Choose the way that seems better to you.
 
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#71
@Seth DuSith I hear you, none of us really can understand your particular set of circumstances. :) This discussion process will probably still help create a workflow for successfully undertaking this work. Either approach you've outlined would be easiest to get perfect results using a router, but if it's going to be undertaken without a router, then I'd agree with @KidAmnesia that working the neck pocket will probably be easier overall than working the neck. :thumbsup:
 
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#74
KidAmnesia said:
Chiesel sets are ussually either bad or quite espensive. One good quality medium size chiesel (maybe 3/4") should be enough for this job.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'll write that down. It will be easier to afford than an entire set too haha.

Edit: I ordered a chisel, it should be in before the neck is. I will carve out the neck pocket like suggested thanks for continuing to convince me to do so, guys. I'll just work really hard to make sure it's exactly the right shape
 
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#75
Seth DuSith said:
... But this project is intended to cost me next to nothing, .... It's my impoverished way of obtaining a bass for next to nothing
Click to expand...
Well, yes, understood, been there done that, and nine chances out of ten you end up with something that just gets tossed into the garbage bin, disassembled for parts, or stashed way back in a dark corner of a closet anyway. But, good luck with the project. Most of all, have fun with it. Consider it a learning experience. Or maybe just a way to waste time if you have time to waste. But don't be too put out if you end up with something you're not going to actually play. I've got multiple discarded "project" basses that suffered one or more of the fates mentioned. I suppose I could consider them wasted money. Or wasted time. But each one I learned something, and I have no regrets.
 
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#76
wiscoaster said:
Well, yes, understood, been there done that, and nine chances out of ten you end up with something that just gets tossed into the garbage bin, disassembled for parts, or stashed way back in a dark corner of a closet anyway. But, good luck with the project. Most of all, have fun with it. Consider it a learning experience. Or maybe just a way to waste time if you have time to waste. But don't be too put out if you end up with something you're not going to actually play. I've got multiple discarded "project" basses that suffered one or more of the fates mentioned. I suppose I could consider them wasted money. Or wasted time. But each one I learned something, and I have no regrets.
Click to expand...
I played the original guitar as my main guitar for many years lol. I'm not a picky musician. Heck, some people play shovels with strings on it. I'm sure this will be better than any cigar box bass, and even those have a lot of fans

In the end, I'm a song writer. If it makes noise, I will enjoy playing it. So many famous musicians have played craptastic instruments and made em sound the way they wanted them to sound. Not everyone needs a perfect, high cost, instrument to be happy
 
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#77
Turns out the neck I got on amazon was trynna scam me somehow, by disappearing after they got their money. I'm in the process of getting my money back.

Decided to just buy a bass instead lol. Sorry for wasting your guys time
 
#80
It's weird, the day I went to search for necks they all seemed to have disappeared. Also, when I search stuff on Amazon on my cell, I get different search results than when I use my tablet.

Does anyone know what this is? It feels like the internet equivalent of when scammers put a fake card reader on an atm
 

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