Maybe, but my 44-01 is very special to me! I would like to have a USA custom Lakie to my specs. Maybe someday. At least I want a custom new strap. Suggestions? I like a sliding pad.You know, next you will be changing your avatar
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I would not argue that. It sure worked well for this situation.
This may have been asked before and I guess I will also be able to confirm in the next couple days as I am picking up a 55-02 this AM. But does anyone know for sure if the neck pockets on the 55-02 and say the 55-60 are the same? My assumption is that they are because of the efficiences in mfg. My hope is to swap the fretless neck from my current J-Sonic bodied fretless to the incoming 55-02, and the 55-02 neck to the J-Sonic. This is also assuming that the J-Sonic body is indeed a 55-60 body. I have some overlay templates from the shimming job to use to test before I start disassembling anything.
I sure will success or fail. Pics, measures, etc.
I can tell you that I’ve never once been successful in trying to swap necks between any of my Lakland basses. I assume it’s just bad luck with the basses I have but I’ve tried swapping necks between my 55-64s (nope), 55-60s (nope), 55-60 and 55-64 (nope), 55-01 and 55-64 (nope) and the 55-01s (nope). Each neck seemed perfectly shaped for the bass it came with and did not work with any other one I’ve tried.
Again, this has been my experience so am genuinely curious how your attempted neck swap comes out for you. I know people buy new necks for their Laklands so there has to be some standard but I’ve yet to find success with it. I wish you the best of luck.
Hey, just curious. My 44-02 is a 2 piece body. I bought it used and the listing made a point to mention it. The original owner said he bought it direct from Lakland. How rare is a 2 piece body on a 44-02. My DJ-4 is 3 pieces and a previous 44-02 I owned was also 3 pieces. I've owned quite a few Fenders and they were all 3 piece bodies. I briefly owned a USA 44-94 and that was a 2 piece. Is that rare for a 44-02? Thanks.
Both my 44-01 and 44-02 are 3 pieces. I would say yes it’s rare. Nice grain in yours by the way.
This is my exact logic. Especially when it comes to swapping in a fretless option. A tad disheartening to hear your experience because that does not bode well for mine. But I shall forge ahead and report back ASAP. I have nothing to lose and it's probably more of a northeast mid winter distraction than anything else and if things end up back exactly where they are them there's no heartbreak in that.
Hey have any of you guys played/owned a 44-02 and a G&L Kiloton?
I'm curious about how the bridge pickups compare.
I may mod my kilo to add a jazz pickup in the neck spot, but that would just give me a passive 44-02.
I like the kilo but miss the warmth of a neck pickup.
I've watched plenny vids, but want to ask Lakers themselves: does that neck PU on a 44-02 have that warm traditional j-neck sound and feel?
I'm curious about how the bridge pickups compare.
I may mod my kilo to add a jazz pickup in the neck spot, but that would just give me a passive 44-02.
I like the kilo but miss the warmth of a neck pickup.
I've watched plenny vids, but want to ask Lakers themselves: does that neck PU on a 44-02 have that warm traditional j-neck sound and feel?
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I've never tried to swap a neck on a USA Lakland but I HAVE tried it a few times with Skylines and have always been unsuccessful. I would say that I think any of them could have been made to work by someone that had the tools and skills but it was not a 1:1 swap by any means. That was with both Korean and Indo Skylines. You would think with CNC machines everything would have tight tolerances but thats not the case. And some of them were drilled drastically different despite being the same model.
Great job JJ - I wish you lived closer, I would have you tweaking away at my gear!
I've been telling JJ to start doing it full time!
That would be great for you guys, and then I can see it expanding to "now accepting Canadian LOG basses", one can dream 
I’d imagine that action that low requires a shim in the neck pocket. How do you shim a neck with an asymmetrical neck pocket? I’ve only ever shimmed necks with rectangular neck pockets.
Well, the neck swap for the J-Sonic and the 55-02 went beautifully. The neck pocket sizes were nearly identical within a few thousandths of an inch. Each neck dropped easily into its respective opposite body and the screw holes aligned with zero issues. I was pleasantly surprised. The setup and string height for the fretless neck on the 55-02 body was actually significantly better and as it sits now with a quick set of tweaks it's 4/64" all strings across at the 12th fret. When mounted on the J-Sonic body I struggled with getting 6/64" on the B and best across the rest was 5/64". And that is with the same 1/32" full pocket maple shim. That leaves me with a nice bit of adjustability that the J-sonic did not.
The J-Sonic did not get strung yet because that will require my usual routine of fret checking, spot leveling where needed, crown and polish, and a variety of other minor things that I find routinely needed with these Skyline necks.
I will add another post with more pics and details, and I have a couple more measurements I want to take to confirm what the differences might be, but for now here are the two with their necks swapped:
The J-Sonic did not get strung yet because that will require my usual routine of fret checking, spot leveling where needed, crown and polish, and a variety of other minor things that I find routinely needed with these Skyline necks.
I will add another post with more pics and details, and I have a couple more measurements I want to take to confirm what the differences might be, but for now here are the two with their necks swapped:
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Thin skinny shim in the neck pocket, same as a F style neck. I don’t over tighten neck bolts, so the shape of the heel and bolt pattern should not cause any distortion of the neck shape, unless the maple is super soft, which I don’t think it is.
Great job! Those basses look fantastic too!
Those look great and just proves how unlucky I’ve been! Nice job!
I’ve always been hesitant to buy a bass with an asymmetrical neck pocket because of that. I typically have to shim everything because I prefer pretty low action. Lākland actually shimmed my 44-60 for me upon my request. I typically use brass shims that install with the heel side neck screws holding them in place. Lākland used a plastic shim of the same design. I’d imagine something like that would also work on an asymmetrical neck pocket bass, as long as you don’t over tighten like you said. I like the shims that install with the neck screws because they’re a little more forgiving with screw tightness.
