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Fixing up an old friend...(Jazz bass)

F

Fogoverla

May 19, 2013
84
0
Chicago, IL
#1
Did some searching and I did not find really enough information to give me the confidence to start buying pieces.

I have an old fernandes Jazz bass with a broken truss rod and I was thinking about selling it off for parts, but then I figured I might just be able to replace the neck with something better than the MIK/MII neck that was on their originally. The body is pretty beat up with large gouges in the paint going straight to the wood. The pickup poles are straight brown with corrosion and probably not worth keeping, neither is any of the hardware....

So the questions I have is shuold I even be considering replacing the neck, control plate (and electronics), bridge and pickups?

Would I be better off buying a loaded body and getting a neck?

How would I know if the neck would fit in the neck slot without needing to shim it?

I have done minor repairs on guitars and basses and I don't feel like this is too daunting of a task but I want to insure the maximum amount of sustain with the least amount of wasted parts/money.

Sorry for all of the questions, and thank you for reading!
 
#3
Well as far as I am aware a body is a body is a body if they are all made with the same wood, right?

It seems the neck is the most important part of the bass with the pickups/electronics next and the hardware third.

I am struggling with GAS as I have a MTD Kingston Artist 4 string but I hate the flat neck profile and near flat radius.

I miss my first long scale jazz bass and if I can revive it with just the body, even if I refinish it, I will still have it in spirit I guess.

Are most bolt on neck basses using the same spacing for the bolts?
 
#12
You'd better be sure you measure how far the 20th (or whatever) fret is the same distance from the nut or bridge.
In other words, it would matter HOW FAR the neck goes into the pocket. Otherwise, intonation and tuning would be a no-go.
 
#13
bumperbass said:
You'd better be sure you measure how far the 20th (or whatever) fret is the same distance from the nut or bridge.
In other words, it would matter HOW FAR the neck goes into the pocket. Otherwise, intonation and tuning would be a no-go.
Click to expand...

+1. I bought what I thought was a full size MIJ Jazz Bass body. It was a Fender and all the routes were correct but the neck pocket was designed for something other than a standard length Fender neck. It was a major PITA to get the pocket set up for the Geddy neck I put on it.

I finally got it to work, but lesson learned. Now everything is built to Fender standard for size/length. Mighty Mite, Allparts and Warmoth are made to be interchangeable with a MIA Fender neck.
 
#14
bassclef112 said:
+1. I bought what I thought was a full size MIJ Jazz Bass body. It was a Fender and all the routes were correct but the neck pocket was designed for something other than a standard length Fender neck. It was a major PITA to get the pocket set up for the Geddy neck I put on it.

I finally got it to work, but lesson learned. Now everything is built to Fender standard for size/length. Mighty Mite, Allparts and Warmoth are made to be interchangeable with a MIA Fender neck.
Click to expand...

You guys raise a good point I had not considered! I will do many many measurements and make sure I talk to warmoth before I order it. Is there a right and wrong way to shim?
 

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