Fender American Original Jazz Replacement Necks

[PleyswethSqwerl]

Hi,

Are there any players who have experience buying the Fender American Original Jazz Bass Replacement Necks.

I’d like to give my personal opinion and get other user’s thoughts.

A. In my personal opinion, you should not buy this replacement neck if you think you’re just going to slap it on there and go to town playing. These things need massive Luthier modifications in order to make them great which makes its $699 price tag very questionable, and or one of sheer nostalgia because a fender logo is on it. However, it may increase the resale value because it has that fender logo or name attached to it.

However, from my experience, you are going to need to replace the frets unless you like small 6105 Frets. You will probably have to change out the bone nut. The nitrocellulose lacquer on it is horrible. You will probably have to strip that and put polyurethane lacquer over it or extra nitrocellulose lacquer over it. You will have to lacquer the logo as it will not stay in place and or rub off.

B. Other than that the feel is good. If you do replace the frets to Evo gold 6150s, the feel is excellent. However these upgrades if you cannot do them yourself will run you another $500 to $600 which makes the question is it worth buying the thing in the first place?

You don’t get normal truss rod access it is true to spec as far as 60s and it has a 9.5 radius rather than a 7.25 radius as the 60s had. That’s not a big deal, but taking off the neck to adjust the truss rod can be very frustrating. Furthermore you don’t get graphite reinforcement rods for extra stability.


All of us should send out an SOS to Fender and inform them to just sell the American vintage ii necks as opposed to scamming us on these American originals. They are just not worth $700.

 

[Lownote38]

The one I had was $499 new. Everything you felt was wrong with it are features of vintage necks, which this is a reissue of. Other than the radius, that's how the old necks were. Buy a modern replacement neck if you want graphite rods, bigger frets, a buried decal, etc. Vintage necks don't have those features.
My own experience is that these necks need minor fret work, and the nut needs the slots finished out. Other than that, they're ready to go.

 

[PleyswethSqwerl]

The one I had was $499 new. Everything you felt was wrong with it are features of vintage necks, which this is a reissue of. Other than the radius, that's how the old necks were. Buy a modern replacement neck if you want graphite rods, bigger frets, a buried decal, etc. Vintage necks don't have those features.
My own experience is that these necks need minor fret work, and the nut needs the slots finished out. Other than that, they're ready to go.

Interesting take. P.S. i haven’t seen (American) modern necks with authentic rosewood for sale (new). I see the Mexican stuff from Pau Ferro for sale which I’m not a huge fan off.

 

[Gib82]

I recently purchased and installed this exact neck. I am very familiar with Fender USA and Custom Shop quality control issues. However, I got very lucky. It feels amazing, seems to be stable, the rosewood on the fingerboard is absolutely gorgeous and there was no fretwork required. I cut the nut to my personal preference, a quick setup and I was good to go. I hope this helps.

 

[PleyswethSqwerl]

Do you have a picture

 

[joel the bass player]

Sounds like you bought the wrong neck. Why in the world would you buy a neck that expensive only to change everything about it?

 

[Gib82]

This is the only pic I have at the moment.

 

[Dave Leighton]

Sounds like you bought the wrong neck for your liking

 

[Stewie]

I bought a new Chevy. Couldn’t find the distributor, let alone the points and condenser. The hi lo button is on the blinker arm instead of the floor. I’m really disappointed

 

[bdplaid]

For $699, I'm buying a Warmoth neck with fancy woods and other fanciness. It'll be less money, too.

 

[moreblues]

LOL.. You are joking right?
I never bought a replacement neck but I recently traded my 2021 Fender American Original 60's Jazz bass for a Custom shop Precision.
The only reason I traded it was because I am only playing basses with a 1.75 and 1.625 nut.
Otherwise that neck was one of the Best necks I ever played!!
No issues, played with low action and no buzzing anywhere, fret work was perfect!
If you do not like the fret size...you bought the wrong neck in the first place...

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Are you serious??? Why did you buy this neck if you don't like the fret size, nitro finish or neck heel access to the truss rod and also want graphite rods?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with these necks. Personally I think they're one of the best necks Fender has made in recent years but this will of course depend on personal taste. Why did you buy it if you don't like a single thing about the specs???

As for the logo, yes it's a water slide decals that rubs off. That's how Fender made them in the 60s and that's how they still make them in all their American "vintage series" instruments. This is supposed to be a vintage style neck after all. The same goes for the lack of graphite rods. There were no graphite rods in Jazz Basses in the 60s.

If you want a neck with bigger frets, poly finish, headstock access to the truss rod, graphite rods and a logo that doesn't rub off there are LOTS of other options out there, including several from Fender. Why do you buy a vintage-style neck if you don't want vintage specs?

The only part of your criticism that makes any sense whatsoever is concerning the fretboard radius. I agree it should have been 7.25" in a vintage reissue neck but the Originals were never marketed as 100% exact reissues. They were meant to have a kinda 60s vibe without being 100% true to a specific year. The neck radius is clearly specified. If you choose to buy it anyway you can't really complain.

Btw, what was the problem with the bone nut? I can't remember seeing any issues with the nut on the Originals? If anything it should be far superior to the various plastic and composite materials used in most basses, provided that it's filed correctly of course.

About the American Vintage II necks that you regard as superior to the Originals: I hope you realize they share a lot of the "vintage" specs with the Originals like neck heel truss rod access, bone nut and no graphite rods. It sounds to me like you would be much happier with an American Pro neck or get one made to your preferred specs from Warmoth (or somewhere else).

 

[facetsquared]

I am looking over at my two American Original 60s basses right now, and can't say I have had any problems with the necks whatsoever. They are a little varnish heavy on the back, but that's purely in comparison to my other Fender basses. I'll have to dull the varnish down a bit by just playing them.

 

[fourstringburn]

I have 2 of them and love them both. The only complaint and many others agree is the fake clay fretboard dots are kind of hard to see especially for us older geezers!

Mine are used on my own custom Jazz Basses to get the best of what I like in Fender Basses without the exuberant cost and time of a true Fender Custom shop Bass.

Here are sime pics.

This is my 1965 (my birth year) inspired Fender Jazz using as many genuine Fender parts as possible right down to using screws sold in Fender packaging!

The neck is a '60s American original but I had a local Luthier replace the finger board with ebony and m.o.p. inlay dots along with painting the headstock.

This is my 1961 inspired custom Jazz Bass using the same neck and also using as many genuine Fender parts as possible.

The only mods to the neck is the m.o.p. dots and a replica '60s first generation Fender decal.

 

[Grinderman]

The one I had was $499 new. Everything you felt was wrong with it are features of vintage necks, which this is a reissue of. Other than the radius, that's how the old necks were. Buy a modern replacement neck if you want graphite rods, bigger frets, a buried decal, etc. Vintage necks don't have those features.
My own experience is that these necks need minor fret work, and the nut needs the slots finished out. Other than that, they're ready to go.

Similarly, I got mine for $499 and I had to do some fret and nut slot work. However, I've never bought a Fender, Warmoth or Musikraft neck that didn't need some fret dress work, not one. The neck itself, physically, including stability and profile, is as good as it gets.

Other than that, the Fender water-slide decal on mine got screwed up very easily, like none other I've had but I don't care. I actually prefer no decal.

The amount of amber in the lacquer is a bit heavy/dark; knocking it down to satin on the back with Scotch-Brite was no big deal. The marker dots came too dark. I eventually replaced those with much nice clay dots from Musikraft. It was a fun, fairly brief project.

It is what it is, a bit of a journey.

----

With that being said, full price/$699 is too much. Furthermore, if I were to do again, I'd get a made-to-order neck from Musikraft. In fact, since building my J bass with the Fender AO '60s neck, I've built myself two P basses with made-to-order necks from Musikraft.

I could get the same specs as the Fender AO '60s neck, but with nicer details, from Musikraft for $450, let alone $500 or $700.

Musikraft would make a Jazz vintage spec neck with a slab Brazilian rosewood board and real aged clay dots for $800!

They could make that neck with roasted quarter sawn maple shaft wood for $1,000.

Want all that plus with graphite rods? $1,140. What more might anyone want?

 

[bobyoung53]

I bought a new Chevy. Couldn’t find the distributor, let alone the points and condenser. The hi lo button is on the blinker arm instead of the floor. I’m really disappointed

OT rant: I STILL miss those blinker buttons on the floor , much more convenient and you don't need to take your hand off the steering wheel. Seriously though, bad idea to copy other continent's bad ideas.

 

[J Wilson]

If Fender, Warmoth, or anyone else sold a replacement neck that you could simply screw back on to your bass like changing a light bulb and it worked perfectly with zero fine-tuning . . . . it would cost way more than $700 bucks.

THIS JUST IN: There aren't any plug and play necks.

 

[J Wilson]

OT rant: I STILL miss those blinker buttons on the floor , much more convenient and you don't need to take your hand off the steering wheel. Seriously though, bad idea to copy other continent's bad ideas.

WHY did they do away with the little crank-out vent windows in the front doors, and the pull-open vents in the kick panel alongside the pedals? Who decided to do away with the AC Crotch Vent GM used to put under the steering wheel?

Sometimes, progress is too smart for its own good.

 

[gln1955]

This sounds like a 1-star Amazon review from someone with no clue what they were buying.

 

[bobyoung53]

WHY did they do away with the little crank-out vent windows in the front doors, and the pull-open vents in the kick panel alongside the pedals? Who decided to do away with the AC Crotch Vent GM used to put under the steering wheel?

Sometimes, progress is too smart for its own good.

Don't get me going now!