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Fenderbird Question

bmb73

bmb73

Aug 7, 2010
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#1
Looking to make a Fenderbird. After using the Search, I came across some great info. One question, If I purchase a neck will it fit without too much work being done? The luthier I talked to asked me if I knew if the neck(looking at a P Bass Neck) would fit.

I have an Epiphone Thunderbird IV, tried to look up specs but am coming up short. I thought I would post this question here to those who know alot more than I do. I just don't want to spend money on a neck and find out it does not work at all.
 
#2
Not sure if this is true for all of them, but the neck on my Epi had a squared off heel, and the Fender neck I used had a rounded heel. I had to do a little routing. I ended up with this guy:

IMGP0005-1-1.jpg


IMGP0002-1-1.jpg
 
#4
Well, It's not that hard, but you have to be careful. What I did was make a template of the heel, then transferred it to the body. I then traced the template and routed. You don't have to take out much, just round the corners. Also, the pocket was slightly narrower than the heel. I tried to take a little bit off the side.

I WOULD NEVER EVER DO THIS AGAIN! IT DID NOT TURN OUT THE WAY I WANTED!!!

Neckpocket1.jpg


Next time I would just sand it wider until the neck fit. The old router is an aggressive power tool!

But, consider I paid 40 for the Epi, 60 for the neck, it wasn't too much money to learn on. And, it's actually turned out to be a great player, and I get a lot of compliments on the look and sound (DiMarzios helped).
 
#6
I made one from an Epi body and a Mighty Mite Jazz neck, I found it easier to shave the sides and heel of the neck - No new paint work was needed.
 

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