Leave those necks on!

[howlin]

Should i go to therapy?

Yes, I vote for therapy. Besides, Leo pretty much started this whole "screwed up" neck design so blame him.

 

[songwriter21]

I was in the no-touch-the-neck-pocket crowd, too, for a while, especially after Gard (Roscoe Guitars) talked with me. He feels that a bass is never the same once the neck has been loosened/removed. However, there can be quite an upside. Recently, I improved contact in the neck joint. For a while, not only was some sustain lacking on my bass, but mainly, the top lip of the joint was not flush with the top side of the body. I was bugged by how my fingers would catch on this unevenness when I would pop the G, so I felt to tinker a bit. I kept pressure on the neck/body while unscrewing, so to not strip the holes from a sudden release of force. The neck got screwed back on, and now it's flush and the sustain has improved.

So, it's not a glass-half-empty measure to me anymore.

 

[Slevage]

Looking around on Reverb and other (local) used stuff sites, i see a lot of basses with the necks removed to show whats underneath.

I'm a technician and also a pretty curious guy... but this always rustles my jimmies. A lot of basses have what is called a "bolt-on" construction. In fact no bolt ever comes near it (wish they did). It is "screwed on" and everyone who ever used screws knows that it's in some way a destructive process. As a screw is turned in, the "thread" is being cut. This is not neat and nice thread like when a bolt is used, but crude and actually different for each screw. It's a very secure connection and solid and ridgid etc, but when you loosen the screws to remove the neck, you can, in some cases, see wood come out of the hole. meaning, the next time you reinstall it, the screws will have lost some power, tightening wise. worst thing that can happen is not the same screw in the same hole. No screw is exactly the same as an other one.

I know i'm a Nitpick right now, but i've been thinking about this for quite a while and find myself looking at awesome J-Basses that are and look great, but i hit the little cross as soon as i see a picture with the neck removed or a clearly damaged neck-joint.

Am i alone in this? am i going too far with it? Should i go to therapy?

10 times is ok.
I have a 1969 P bass that the neck has to come off to properly adjust the truss rod.

500 times I’ll probably need toothpicks or larger diameter screws.

 

[primusfan1989]

I don't see the issue, if the hole gets enlarged that can be easily fixed with glue and sawdust/toothpicks/dowels and then you re drill the hole.... am I missing something

 

[Nev375]

Mine's bolted. I have threaded inserts!

Might kill the value on a closet vintage classic though. I stay away from those. You shouldn't even touch them and you should leave the store tags on too. Don't even point! Fact is we should stop even talking about them. this post is over.

 

[EmuBass]

Ca. 50% of my basses have a shim underneath the neck. It's "trial & error" to get a nice string-height in accordance with the tiny screws in the bridge. So I needed to take off the neck several times. Never had a problem with loose fit. Maple necks are really hard. --> therapy!

 

[AboutSweetSue]

Screwing takes time and practice to perfect.

 

[dBChad]

Earlier this year I bought an Ebay special Peavey Millineum (not a vintage Fender, but a great project bass none the less) that only came with 1 factory bolt for the neck. I ordered a new set of neck bolts from Stewart MacDonald and they were too skinny to hold the neck. A 1/4" drill bit, a 1/4" dowel, and some Titebond wood glue fixed that. Neck is stable and the sustain is as good as any bolt neck I've played. This process might devalue a vintage instrument significantly, but works like a charm on a workhorse player.

 

[InhumanResource]

Looking around on Reverb and other (local) used stuff sites, i see a lot of basses with the necks removed to show whats underneath.

I'm a technician and also a pretty curious guy... but this always rustles my jimmies. A lot of basses have what is called a "bolt-on" construction. In fact no bolt ever comes near it (wish they did). It is "screwed on" and everyone who ever used screws knows that it's in some way a destructive process. As a screw is turned in, the "thread" is being cut. This is not neat and nice thread like when a bolt is used, but crude and actually different for each screw. It's a very secure connection and solid and ridgid etc, but when you loosen the screws to remove the neck, you can, in some cases, see wood come out of the hole. meaning, the next time you reinstall it, the screws will have lost some power, tightening wise. worst thing that can happen is not the same screw in the same hole. No screw is exactly the same as an other one.

I know i'm a Nitpick right now, but i've been thinking about this for quite a while and find myself looking at awesome J-Basses that are and look great, but i hit the little cross as soon as i see a picture with the neck removed or a clearly damaged neck-joint.

Am i alone in this? am i going too far with it? Should i go to therapy?

I don't know if you're alone but I'm not in the same room. Can't do a setup without occasionally removing the neck unless your stuff is graphite or there is no weather change.

 

[Joybass]

If you have psychological problems with a screw-on neck it's alway possible to make it into a 'set' neck. All you need is good quality wood glue. Most probably there's no way back though.

 

[Flashback Bass]

No screw is exactly the same as an other one.

Yeah, I would have to dispute this claim. Screws are not snowflakes! They are not made by hand. Matter of fact they are made on a screw machine which produces identical screws all day long! If you buy a box of wood screws, there might be a variance of a couple thousandths of an inch but not enough to effect their function in wood!

 

[Bass Viking]

Why not just use threaded metal inserts, and then get smaller screws? Imo, the "problem" is now solved.

I think Dingwall uses the metal inserts. I had them installed in a couple of my Warmoth necks so I can swap them to my heart's content!

 

[La Faro]

Looks like I'll ditch my plan to have one Jazz Body, and interchangeable to Maple, Rosewooed fretted and an ebony fretless neck then. With Flats, tapes and pressure string sets

 

[tpaul]

Everyone knows the mojo leaks out when a screw gets loosened. But where does it go? This is the part most people fail to understand. If you have all the windows and doors shut tight, the mojo will generally stay in the room. You can sort of feel it sometimes, circling around up near the ceiling, looking for something to attach itself to. Now, the worst thing that can happen at that point is that someone walks in on you and lets the mojo escape from the room. Say your wife comes in while you are working on your bass, to bring you a sandwich or tell you your buddy called from jail to borrow $200 for bail. The mojo will fly right out of the room! Then you have to chase it down the hall. If you're lucky you might still be able to find it, but there are so many ways it can escape from the house that it's unlikely you will ever get it back. This is why there are so many lifeless, lackluster used basses on Ebay all the time - someone loosened a neck screw, the mojo escaped, and the bass was never the same after that, so they sold it on and bought a new one. Of course a new bass only has the factory-installed mojo, not the additional mojo that has built up over time, so a new bass will never sound as good as an old one that has all its original screws intact. Many a bassist has switched to clarinet in despair upon realizing this.

Now the good news: if you have locked the door and windows while performing your truss rod adjustment, and can ignore the pounding from people trying to get your attention, you have a decent chance at being able to recapture the escaped mojo. The procedure is relatively simple: holding the removed screw in your right hand and the bass body in your left hand, stand in the center of the room and repeat this chant three times: "Mojo, mojo, where did you go? Back into your hole you must flow! Hoedown, flowdown, mojo go down!" When you have completed this chant three times, immediately replace the removed screw and tighten. You must do this for each removed screw in order to ensure that the mojo from each screw hole comes back.

That's all there is to it! But please remember that this only works for neck mounting screws. The procedure for calling back escaped mojo after loosening pickguard screws is much more complicated, and not for the faint of heart.

 

[La Faro]

Just opened Youtube after posting in this thread and the second suggested video is "Plugging stripped holes in bolt-on guitar neck" by Stew Mac. Damn these algorithms are scary.

 

[Cheez]

OP, you are not alone.

 

[two fingers]

Looking around on Reverb and other (local) used stuff sites, i see a lot of basses with the necks removed to show whats underneath.

I'm a technician and also a pretty curious guy... but this always rustles my jimmies. A lot of basses have what is called a "bolt-on" construction. In fact no bolt ever comes near it (wish they did). It is "screwed on" and everyone who ever used screws knows that it's in some way a destructive process. As a screw is turned in, the "thread" is being cut. This is not neat and nice thread like when a bolt is used, but crude and actually different for each screw. It's a very secure connection and solid and ridgid etc, but when you loosen the screws to remove the neck, you can, in some cases, see wood come out of the hole. meaning, the next time you reinstall it, the screws will have lost some power, tightening wise. worst thing that can happen is not the same screw in the same hole. No screw is exactly the same as an other one.

I know i'm a Nitpick right now, but i've been thinking about this for quite a while and find myself looking at awesome J-Basses that are and look great, but i hit the little cross as soon as i see a picture with the neck removed or a clearly damaged neck-joint.

Am i alone in this? am i going too far with it? Should i go to therapy?

Unless manufacturers come up with a way to display manufacturing details that DON'T require removing the neck, it'll keep happening. Pickup cavities should have been used DECADES ago. Heck, Specter and some others have it figured out in my view. Hand write it on the back of the head. It's there for all to see.

No way I'm paying vintage Fender prices without varification. I don't give a crap what Bonomassa says.

 

[LowRick]

the big issue for me in taking a neck off (or just loosening the screws) is if it's never been done before it destroys everything that bass has built up in decades of integrity, the 'mojo' dies. it may come back to some degree if re-screwed just right but it'll never be like it left the factory. this really hit home last year when I wanted to shim my Japan Fender Power Jazz Bass Special and the second I cracked back the first screw I knew I killed it, the bass just felt like the life went right out of it... it may be a head trip but playing felt meh after being way kick ass. I was never as happy with it again. it'll go into the shop for a complete overhaul of rewiring / new PUs / pro setup soon and the shim will be out so it has a chance to seat tight and naturally, in time I hope it'll be a happy camper again. on these the neck has to come off to access the truss rod (grrrr...) I won't risk marring the paint with a tool, and the tech better not, but that hassle will be his thing. but I agree, don't mess with it if possible.

^^^This is what i mean.

I know there are a lot of able people out there (and i also know a lot of people nodding their heads reading that statement are in fact not!) who know how to properly reassemble a bass. I presume that in the factory, a procedure is followed to attach the neck to the body. In all other manufacturing processes this is the case, so probably also here the screw sequence and torques are there and followed by the assembly personel. What i don't know is if some salesperson out there has the same discipline. What i do know about a lot of salespeople doesn't really put my mind at ease. For them, for example, it's more important to show the authenticity of the bass than to remain it to have that thing you call Mojo.

Bottomline, if a bass plays right, feels right and hasn't been messed with, i'd buy it. But it needs all those 3 points to even be concidered.

 

[ctmullins]

@tpaul wins the Internet today!

Congratulations tpaul, here’s a beaver!

 

[LowRick]

10 times is ok.
I have a 1969 P bass that the neck has to come off to properly adjust the truss rod.

500 times I’ll probably need toothpicks or larger diameter screws.

I hear you.

Still i resent the idea of a toothpick in my 1969 bass... imho it should have been prevented.