Mismatched Neck and Body...

[bowthing]

Hi Folks,

I just did a re-fret on a mongrel Jazz bass, '69 neck and '74 body from what I can tell. The neck heel was shimmed up with a popsickle stick, and I was interested in eliminating that as well as a lot of other problems. When everything was finished though, the neck sits so low in the body (about 1/8" lower than another Fender I have around) that the only option other than putting the shim back in was to cut the bridge saddles way, way deep. It's a badass bridge, and the G string now has a very shallow angle and not much tension on the saddle.

It plays and sounds great, but the strings are angled down a little toward the bridge and pretty close to the body. The neck pocket has the original lacquer on it, so I have concluded that the original body that the neck was on wasn't routed as deep. So I'm wondering what you might recommend. I was thinking I could rout the neck pocket flat, glue in an ash shim, then rout it to the proper angle and depth. Any other experiences or recommendations on this problem?

Thanks!

 

[__HM__]

The ash shim sounds like your best option, if you absolutely couldn't live with a popsickle stick in your bass.

 

[Musiclogic]

A shim would be the easiest fix most likely, the proper fix would be to add 1/4" block in the neck pocket, then rerout the pocket for a similar 1/16" angle, then adjust if necessary. This would give you a proper foundation for neck to body contact and increase sustain.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Yep, JC has the right idea.....That's what I would do.

 

[barebones]

Which BadAss bridge is on there? The originals have a much thicker base than other bridges. Could you achieve your goals with a simple bridge change?

 

[bowthing]

Which BadAss bridge is on there? The originals have a much thicker base than other bridges. Could you achieve your goals with a simple bridge change?

I don't think so. The thickness at the thinnest point (saddle grooves) is maybe 1/16". None of my other bridges would be low enough either.

I think I'll steer for glueing in a shim block and routing it to fit properly. He's just going to play it for a while now, since the new frets are so exciting! Thanks for the input...