Jazz Bass Project - Neck Not Fitting - Angle Off

[Antisyzygy]

I have a Classic Vibe Jazz Bass 60s body, and a Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz Neck (yeah it's got a synthetic fretboard but whatever). I tried adding the neck today but it was an extremely tight fit. I checked the string position and I can tell it's also going to install slightly angled so that the G string is nearly going off the fretboard with maybe 1/16th of an inch of space between the string and edge of fretboard. The E string would be angled towards the center of the fretboard.

Below is an image showing approximately how the E string looks. What I am thinking is I need to angle the neck left.

Anyway, clearly I have to sand something here to get this neck to fit and also angled the right way. Which item should I sand? The neck pocket or the neck? I am thinking I could sand the left side in the image above on the body, or the left side of the neck. Also, what sort of sand paper should I buy?

One other bad fit is the round base of the neck where it meets the pickguard. The pickguard and body are cut to a greater radius if that makes sense. The neck and neck heel don't match exactly in "roundness". The scale length was nearly dead on though, it will be able to be fixed by adjusting the bridge screws.

I am not sure what Fender specs are aside from width of neck/neck-pocket, though I've read that people say to check which is out of spec and fix it. I just am not sure if that's the best thing to do.

Thank you!

 

[96tbird]

If you just remove say half the thickness of laquer from both sides of the neck heel it should fit well. Even when it's fairly snug you can shift the neck over to align it. It doesn't take much shift because the pivot is past mid string in relation to the nut and a tiny shift at the pocket moves the nut end quite dramatically.

I would go with at least 400 grit and keep testing the fit as you go. Use a sanding block. Removing the same amount from both sides counting the strokes of the sandpaper.

As for the rounded end, as long as it is in contact with the body pocket at one point, it will be fine. The only way to get a guard that fits a VM neck is to have one made or use a VM guard.

 

[Antisyzygy]

If you just remove say half the thickness of laquer from both sides of the neck heel it should fit well. Even when it's fairly snug you can shift the neck over to align it. It doesn't take much shift because the pivot is past mid string in relation to the nut and a tiny shift at the pocket moves the nut end quite dramatically.

I would go with at least 400 grit and keep testing the fit as you go. Use a sanding block. Removing the same amount from both sides counting the strokes of the sandpaper.

As for the rounded end, as long as it is in contact with the body pocket at one point, it will be fine. The only way to get a guard that fits a VM neck is to have one made or use a VM guard.

Hey thanks for your reply.

It sounds like I might need to plug and redrill the neck too then, is that correct? I've done it once on a strat project and it turned out ok.

 

[96tbird]

Yes if the bolt holes don't line up, plug and drill. You may want to consider putting threaded inserts in the neck if you are plugging it anyway.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Yes if the bolt holes don't line up, plug and drill. You may want to consider putting threaded inserts in the neck if you are plugging it anyway.

Hey thanks! I appreciate your help. I ended up finishing the bass this morning after a trip to home depot. I had to sand the pocket quite a bit, but eventually it fit. I didn't have to redrill the neck which was surprising. I think the tight fit before was torquing the neck sideways a bit and bending the neck screws.

The neck still isn't perfectly dead on with the bridge but I was able to adjust the bridge saddles to get the strings to line up over the correct spot on both pickups. That also made the string run parallel with the sides of the neck. Here's a picture. It's at an angle so the strings look a bit off, but they are pretty much evenly spaced if you look at it dead on.

Thanks again!

 

[96tbird]

Hey looks good but if you angle the saddles like that they may rattle. Best to keep them level. MOAR SANDING. if you get rattle. If not, hey it's a bullseye.

 

[Lownote38]

Your bridge saddles aren't level, and that will only contribute to the strings not lining up.

 

[96tbird]

Your bridge saddles aren't level, and that will only contribute to the strings not lining up.

I just said he should level them and if you re-read his post you'd see that he is aware of that and did it to try to align the strings better which helped but is not advisable. More sanding required.

 

[Lownote38]

I just said he should level them and if you re-read his post you'd see that he is aware of that and did it to try to align the strings better which helped but is not advisable. More sanding required.

I missed that I guess. Definitely more sanding required.

 

[Bobster]

Devil's advocate question.... Are you sure the bridge is mounted squarely to the body? I've owned a couple of basses that hadn't had the bridge installed in the right location from the factory.

All the best,

Bob

 

[Bobster]

Any update on this?

 

[Antisyzygy]

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas! I was super busy with work lately so I haven't had time to revisit the bass or this thread.

Yes, the saddles are definitely not level. I've been playing it like this and it sounds OK, however there is definitely some buzz further up on the neck. I basically angled the saddles so that the strings would fall over the right spot on the pickups.

I have been debating on moving the bridge, but I am not sure if that's best. Should I sand the hell out of the neck pocket or just redrill the bridge? I got the body for 120 bucks without a neck, so it stands to reason that it was a B-stock and didn't pass inspection. Maybe the bridge is really off? I already sanded the neck pocket quite a lot to remove at least the width of the finish out of the wood.

I didn't have to redrill the neck for it to bolt together after sanding the neck route some, so would sanding the neck route more even work without redrilling the neck? For the record I've plugged and redrilled a neck before with decent results but if I can avoid it that's great.

The pickups are slightly off center with a gap on the right in the image above. I bet I could move them a little bit to alleviate the off-level saddles but I am unsure if it would be enough to fix the problem totally and then I still have to worry about where the strings fall on the neck.

The neck heel seems to be lining up in the neck cavity well, as in I can't tell if it's got an angle if I use the body as a reference. Basically if I run my hand over the gap where the neck meets the body the neck and body seems to be pretty parallel. Of course a small angle can lead to a large difference when you're dealing with a long object.

 

[96tbird]

Don't move the bridge. This is a neck fitment issue. You are mating a neck to a body that weren't made for each other.

Sand to fit. Shift the head. Align the strings to the neck.

Anyone that says the bridge needs moving needs to leave (and take a remedial geometry class). Factories use jigs to set bridges that are foolproof. your diagram up top is 100% correct.

You are fitting a neck to a body that wasn't made at the same factory or the same spec. Make it fit and align (strings are the guide) WHERE THE TWO PIECES MEET. Do not worry about the edge of the pocket and edge of the neck aligning. It is not a reliable reference. The strings are. THE NECK IS TAPERED AND THE EDGE OF THE POCKET HEEL LIKELY DOESNT FOLLOW THE SAME ANGLE Shifting the head of the bass until the strings are in perfect alignment down the neck will fix everything.

Sand. Sand until you can shift into perfect string alignment.

 

[96tbird]

Also, if the neck screws interfere with alignment, just enlarge the BODY HOLES to give more wiggle room. One drill bit size up. A little extra goes a long way.

Promise me you won't futz with the bridge?

 

[JustForSport]

Don't let the body as a reference. As 96tbird pointed out, just fit the pocket to align the neck.
As a secondary reference, run a string from the E saddle past the neck/pocket join where the E string would be, and stretch out to the E tuner peg length. that will show how far the headstock needs to move over. Now, look at the string line-up over the pickups- is everything aligned as it is supposed to be? Just a little more pocket sanding....a few thousandths goes a long way at the headstock.

 

[Turnaround]

If you want to confirm that the bridge is located laterally where it should be, do this. Remove the bridge, the pickups and the neck. Run a piece of masking tape up from the but end of the bass to the neck pocket roughly along the middle line. Cut the tape out from where it goes over the pickup routs. Find the centre screw hole for the bridge and with a ruler draw a pencil line on the tape from there up to the centre of the neck pocket (measure the pocket carefully for the centre line). Put a piece of tape across each pickup roughly at the centre of the pickup and draw the centre line up the sides of both pickups, then reinstall them. The centre lines should line up through the pickups. If not, mark the centre line of the pickups onto the tape on the body, remove the pickups and draw the centre line from the neck pocket through the new centre line of the pickups and extend that line right through the bridge position. You will then be able to locate the centre screw for the bridge.

If, however, the original lines line up nicely, your problem lies in the neck pocket. Sand as suggested by others until you can line up the neck so the E and G strings are at the same distance from the edges of the fingerboard at the butt end of the neck.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Hey thanks everyone, I'll try the suggestions. I promise I won't mess with the bridge unless I try Turnaround's method (for 96tbird ).

I never knew this community was so helpful, I'll be sticking around for sure. I've been a bass player for 13-14 years but this is my first real bass project. I previously did a strat project (I also play guitar but I am a far better bass player, something to do with my hands just not feeling right on a guitar) that didn't have these issues so based on that and what I read in some other forums I naively assumed that Fender/Squier parts all play together nicely.

It's appreciated. I'll post an update soon.

 

[Antisyzygy]

Hey! It worked.

I flattened the saddles, then sanded the hell out of the neck pocket sides some more. I over did it actually a little bit so there's a slight gap on the right-hand side above. No big deal, you can't see it too much unless you look close. The only other thing I did is loosen the pickups a bit, push them over to the side a little, then tightened them back down. That was just a minor adjustment since they weren't center in the route anyway.

I just have one more question, I had to torque the neck a bit to the left (left in pic above) in order to get it to line up right before I tightened it down. I was just using a rubber clamp to hold it in place. I didn't redrill the neck at all. Do I have to worry about this neck working it's way back? I didn't bother re-drilling the neck.

Thanks again for your help, all of you.

 

[202dy]

Good job!

Don't worry about the gap.

Friction should hold the neck in place. If for some reason it does not, a piece of window screen cut to fit the bottom of the pocket will do the trick.

 

[96tbird]

Great. Glad it worked out and now enjoy! Like 202 says, screen in the pocket later if needed.

Alignment is perfect, good play on resetting the pups.

I just never buy into misplaced bridge nonsense; to the point of annoyance at the thought. Maybe in 1970s Fenders but not on 21st century cnc milled bodies where a jig is used to set the bridge. Jigs don't stretch outta shape.