Leave those necks on!

[MultiScaleMale]

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 think neck through or set neck is the construction technique choice for you. To me, the necks were meant to be removed. It's not going to kill the instrument, at one time you had to loosen the screws to adjust the truss rod.

 

[J_Bass]

Well okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

First of all, the best way to prevent pickguard mojo leaks is to never, ever loosen a pickguard screw for any reason. However, what if your adopted daughter sneaks into your music room at night with a jeweler’s screwdriver that she stole from your brother-in-law who sells fake Rolex watches on the side, and unscrews the pickguard screws on your 1969 Precision bass? What do you do then?

The first thing to understand is that the mojo released by unscrewing pickguard screws will be much more diffuse than the mojo released by unscrewing neck screws. Obviously, this is because it’s distributed over so many different screws. Think of it – thirteen screws for a standard Precision pickguard, as opposed to only four for the neck mounting plate! If you also have the tug bar and the pickup cover screws, you might as well just shoot yourself in the head. Let’s not think about such things. We’ll just pretend, for the sake of sanity, that there was no tug bar and your pickguard only had thirteen screws, or fewer.

Still, your adopted daughter, who let’s face it isn’t really related to you and shouldn’t have free run of the house, at least until she reaches the age of reason, which might be never, has now released thirteen separate portions of mojo, which means each discrete piece of mojo is much smaller than if you had only released four separate portions. Are you following this? And being so small, there’s no way you’re going to keep them in the house. They’ll get out. They can slip through the smallest cracks and crevices. And once they’re out, they might go in different directions. Imagine, there are now thirteen little clouds of mojo wandering lost through the world, instead of just four (or five, if you’re one of those people who favor unbalanced neck plates which lead to neck dive and bald spots but that’s another story altogether). How to get them back?

To put it bluntly – you’re going to need supernatural assistance. Which means you’re going to need a chicken.

Not one of those $4.99 Costco rotisserie chickens. Don’t be a putz. You need a real, live chicken (well, it won’t be live for long, but it has to start out that way). And it should be a stolen chicken. The best thing is to steal a chicken from a bad man. The worse, the better, if you get my meaning. If you can arrange to steal a chicken from a horse thief, that’s ideal. Or a grave robber. Stealing a live chicken from a grave robber will practically guarantee the return of all your lost pickguard mojo. If you can’t find a horse thief or a grave robber, then someone in advertising. Try to be creative.

Now, take the chicken and your pickguard and one of the strings off your bass – I recommend the G string – and go out to the graveyard. You do this at night, of course. About 1:00 a.m. You’re going to kill the chicken (the easiest way to do this is just grab it by the neck and crank it around over your head a couple or three times) and send its spirit to recover your lost pickguard mojo. But first, you need to build a fire. Find a flat gravestone under a tree, and make a small pile of plastic shavings from the edge of your pickguard (you’ll need a knife or a vegetable peeler for this). Light the plastic shavings on fire. Now, while the fire is burning, quickly kill the chicken and hang it from a branch of the tree using the G string. Hang it by the feet, and then slice open its neck so the chicken’s blood drips down onto the plastic fire. The smoke from the burning plastic pickguard shavings will mingle with the steam from the chicken’s blood, and this is when you have to forcefully say these words: “Spirit of this bad man’s chick, go get my pickguard mojo, quick!” Say it thirteen times (or however many pickguard screws have been removed) and then throw graveyard dirt on the fire to extinguish it. Go home and eat the chicken.

The next day, reinstall your pickguard screws, making sure to put each screw back into the same hole it was removed from (God help you if you don’t know which one was in which hole). You should also use a new pickguard, the old one is no longer any good and should be disposed of. Actually you should have buried it in the graveyard, but you didn’t, and it's too late now. But not to worry, you can always leave it on the doorstep of the bad man you stole the chicken from.

I hope this is helpful. By no means will this work twice for the same bass, so make sure you kick your no-good brother-in-law’s butt and inform your adopted daughter that if she keeps playing with screwdrivers, her ears will fall off.

Ahah! poopie, I never knew MOJO was so elusive, gotta be careful, or else,

 

[buldog5151bass]

Leo designed the basses so you had to loosen or remove the screw to adjust the truss rod. The key is just to make sure the threads go into the old slots.

 

[okcrum]

People with a propensity to cross thread screws should not disassemble anything.

As for the rest of you, carry on!

 

[Copperhead]

Having removed and replaced dozens over the years, no concern for me. No different than changing or rotating tires on your pet vehicle. Fasteners come unfastened for repair and maintenance. No more worry than the sky is falling.

 

[SactoBass]

you’re going to need supernatural assistance. Which means you’re going to need a chicken.

Sig worthy!

 

[coyote1]

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?

No, you are very sane. I also would not purchase an instrument that has been disassembled that way.

 

[gln1955]

It’s absolutely necessary to remove the neck on a vintage Fender bass or guitar to verify the neck date stamp and also the “paint stick” mark in the neck pocket (of mid 1960s thru 1970s Fenders) to help verify an original finish. The finish can affect the value sometimes by thousands of dollars. If the OP would rather take a chance on paying full value for a refinished vintage bass, than risk widening a screw hole which can be repaired/filled in quickly and easily (and still function perfectly afterwards), then that’s up to him, but that’s silly when there is a good amount of money at stake. As a guy who has been buying/selling/collecting vintage Fenders for decades, I can tell you I’d have a much harder time selling basses if I did not take the necks off to photograph and verify for my potential buyers... and I would never spend big money on a vintage bass that I could not fully verify by seeing the neck removed (unless the seller guarantees it to be original with a return policy AND is a trusted seller with experience).

Precisely this. It is an absolute requirement for buying and selling vintage basses. You would be foolish not to. People have been doing this forever without destroying these rare high dollar instruments.

 

[Kukulkan61]

Well I sure wish you could of been around to inform Leo Fender of this, maybe he wouldn't of put the trust rod adjustment at the Butt end of the neck..

 

[BakedMaple]

I hear you.

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

You need to buy the correct vintage toothpicks, there is a seller on eBay that I use, I’ll post a link when I find it....

 

[Thumpin6string]

I built my 6 string with threaded inserts and machine screws so they would not damage the graphite neck. Seems like it would be a good practice with all guitars, but it would add $2 to the price and we know we can't afford that.

 

[Erik Asma]

Hmmm and there I am trying to get my guitarist to remove the neck of his p bass. He sanded the numbers off back in the day.

Probably should take it of his hands. 73 or 74 p bass that now lives in his attic is better off with me.

Although I do horrible things to my basses. Not one is 100% original.
I feel it don't even mine if I haven't fiddled with it.
Just put new shaller tuners on my ray. A little pickguard on my Toby. It doesn't have one in the wild, but mine now does, just over the knobs.
Best one was my vintage clone bass. Took it out. Tried it...

And took the strings and tuners off , removed the neck and tortured it into the desired shape with a jigsaw and a file straight away.
Also ripped out its guts to be replaced and put a bunch of metal on. And I keep swapping out the pickguard as I can't make up my mind which I prefer. The smoke or the clear one.
Nothing like getting a new bass and break out the toolbox straight away. Or better powertools.
For me it is bonding. With instruments that is.
Cars, dogs, girlfriends and household appliances I bond with differently.

 

[Iridescentone]

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

Because they're unnecessary. If threaded metal inserts made a meaningful difference, every major builder would use them.

 

[birminghambass]

Well okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

First of all, the best way to prevent pickguard mojo leaks is to never, ever loosen a pickguard screw for any reason. However, what if your adopted daughter sneaks into your music room at night with a jeweler’s screwdriver that she stole from your brother-in-law who sells fake Rolex watches on the side, and unscrews the pickguard screws on your 1969 Precision bass? What do you do then?

The first thing to understand is that the mojo released by unscrewing pickguard screws will be much more diffuse than the mojo released by unscrewing neck screws. Obviously, this is because it’s distributed over so many different screws. Think of it – thirteen screws for a standard Precision pickguard, as opposed to only four for the neck mounting plate! If you also have the tug bar and the pickup cover screws, you might as well just shoot yourself in the head. Let’s not think about such things. We’ll just pretend, for the sake of sanity, that there was no tug bar and your pickguard only had thirteen screws, or fewer.

Still, your adopted daughter, who let’s face it isn’t really related to you and shouldn’t have free run of the house, at least until she reaches the age of reason, which might be never, has now released thirteen separate portions of mojo, which means each discrete piece of mojo is much smaller than if you had only released four separate portions. Are you following this? And being so small, there’s no way you’re going to keep them in the house. They’ll get out. They can slip through the smallest cracks and crevices. And once they’re out, they might go in different directions. Imagine, there are now thirteen little clouds of mojo wandering lost through the world, instead of just four (or five, if you’re one of those people who favor unbalanced neck plates which lead to neck dive and bald spots but that’s another story altogether). How to get them back?

To put it bluntly – you’re going to need supernatural assistance. Which means you’re going to need a chicken.

Not one of those $4.99 Costco rotisserie chickens. Don’t be a putz. You need a real, live chicken (well, it won’t be live for long, but it has to start out that way). And it should be a stolen chicken. The best thing is to steal a chicken from a bad man. The worse, the better, if you get my meaning. If you can arrange to steal a chicken from a horse thief, that’s ideal. Or a grave robber. Stealing a live chicken from a grave robber will practically guarantee the return of all your lost pickguard mojo. If you can’t find a horse thief or a grave robber, then someone in advertising. Try to be creative.

Now, take the chicken and your pickguard and one of the strings off your bass – I recommend the G string – and go out to the graveyard. You do this at night, of course. About 1:00 a.m. You’re going to kill the chicken (the easiest way to do this is just grab it by the neck and crank it around over your head a couple or three times) and send its spirit to recover your lost pickguard mojo. But first, you need to build a fire. Find a flat gravestone under a tree, and make a small pile of plastic shavings from the edge of your pickguard (you’ll need a knife or a vegetable peeler for this). Light the plastic shavings on fire. Now, while the fire is burning, quickly kill the chicken and hang it from a branch of the tree using the G string. Hang it by the feet, and then slice open its neck so the chicken’s blood drips down onto the plastic fire. The smoke from the burning plastic pickguard shavings will mingle with the steam from the chicken’s blood, and this is when you have to forcefully say these words: “Spirit of this bad man’s chick, go get my pickguard mojo, quick!” Say it thirteen times (or however many pickguard screws have been removed) and then throw graveyard dirt on the fire to extinguish it. Go home and eat the chicken.

The next day, reinstall your pickguard screws, making sure to put each screw back into the same hole it was removed from (God help you if you don’t know which one was in which hole). You should also use a new pickguard, the old one is no longer any good and should be disposed of. Actually you should have buried it in the graveyard, but you didn’t, and it's too late now. But not to worry, you can always leave it on the doorstep of the bad man you stole the chicken from.

I hope this is helpful. By no means will this work twice for the same bass, so make sure you kick your no-good brother-in-law’s butt and inform your adopted daughter that if she keeps playing with screwdrivers, her ears will fall off.

This is unhelpful, irresponsible, and just plain wrong. TB really needs less of these type posts. Any luthier worth his salt knows that hanging the chicken using any string other than a 105 E will be a complete waste of time.

 

[P. Aaron]

I had a 2002 Precision for over 14 years and never removed the neck. Same with my 2010 Precision and 2014 Dimension. I have the receipts, tags, etc.

I have a ‘99 Stratocaster and I’ve not taken that apart. Did replace a faulty selector switch.

IF an instrument needs attention that requires removal, I’ll remove it for that reason.

 

[Chasarms]

As long as you know how to put it back on, it’s no big deal to take it off. We’re not flying the thing into space.

 

[Iridescentone]

I was wondering - the two necks I unscrewed in my life, I was surprised the screws were not very tightly screwed. Is that normal? I would think that the more I tighten the screw, the better contact. No?

Soundwise, when I put the necks back, there was no difference I could hear.

Only up to a point. Beyond that, there is no appreciable clamping force applied, so why stress the wood or break the screws. Just check them once in a while, keep 'em "hand tight".

You didn't notice any difference in sound by tightening them because it isn't that critical.

 

[JimmyM]

I don't go out of my way to do it, but I have taken necks on and off before. And when it becomes impossible to reattach a neck without filling and re-drilling, then I'll worry about it. So far in 45 years, the amount of times that's happened is 0. And the amount of times I've taken a neck off and was unable to reattach it without killing the "mojo" is also 0.

 

[Chasarms]

I don't go out of my way to do it, but I have taken necks on and off before. And when it becomes impossible to reattach a neck without filling and re-drilling, then I'll worry about it. So far in 45 years, the amount of times that's happened is 0. And the amount of times I've taken a neck off and was unable to reattach it without killing the "mojo" is also 0.

You are the mojo jimmy.

 

[JimmyM]

You are the mojo jimmy.

I agree and thank you very much