So, this has been a long time coming. I was disappointed with my 5 string Schecter bass. It was a nice bass, but I really wanted more of a Jazz bass tone, and even with a set of Nordstrand Jazz bar pickups, it just wasn’t quite there. And, while it was pretty light weight (about 8 pounds even), it didn’t balance great, had a bit of neck dive.
A few years ago, I spent a while trying a bunch of different bass necks in search of the profile I most liked. This past year I tried to isolate each variable to the best of my ability. Radius, nut width, thickness, fret size. I tried to compare necks that were as similar as possible except for one particular spec. I finally started narrowing it down. 5 strings too wide. Jazz basses too narrow. P bass pretty much perfect. Rounder fretboards yes, flatter boards no. Tiny frets yes, big frets no. Profile on the skinny side.
I did want a 5 string, since I do use the lower notes a lot, but I was also considering a 4 string tuned DGCF, since I pretty rarely go below D and it’s much easier to find a 4 string neck with the specs I like.
My Schecter was 35” and I was pretty sure I wanted to stay with the longer scale length to keep the low notes tight. But, on one of my many guitar shop visits over the past year, I picked up a Spector Bantam that was short scale and really, really liked how easy that was to play. So then I considered a medium scale bass.
Everything came together when I found that Best Bass Gear/Sound Guitar Works offered a medium scale conversion neck. I ordered that together with a Warmoth dinky j body, with a chambered, roasted body to minimize weight. Frankly, I’m not sure I could have gotten it any lighter without a Paulownia body or other super lightweight wood.
Not everything turned out perfect. The finish, while nice looking, isn’t exactly what I pictured, and I would have done it differently had I known how it would turn out. The body was light weight (4.3 oz finished), but I had hoped for it to be just a bit lighter. The bridge I ordered didn’t fit, I had failed to realize that Hipshot offers 3 different “fender mount” bridges. So, I scrambled and bought a cheap one on Amazon. Also, a couple of more minor things that should be easy fixes: I think I mis-wired the tone pot, since it doesn’t seem to do anything. Also, the low d string I ordered is long scale and so doesn’t quite sit right on the post, almost no break angle. Going to need to buy a medium or short scale string.
Ultimately though, I’m pretty happy with how I turned out. This was by far my most expensive music-related purchase, so I’m glad it worked out.
Specs:
Sound Guitar Works roasted maple neck with:
Here she is:
A few years ago, I spent a while trying a bunch of different bass necks in search of the profile I most liked. This past year I tried to isolate each variable to the best of my ability. Radius, nut width, thickness, fret size. I tried to compare necks that were as similar as possible except for one particular spec. I finally started narrowing it down. 5 strings too wide. Jazz basses too narrow. P bass pretty much perfect. Rounder fretboards yes, flatter boards no. Tiny frets yes, big frets no. Profile on the skinny side.
I did want a 5 string, since I do use the lower notes a lot, but I was also considering a 4 string tuned DGCF, since I pretty rarely go below D and it’s much easier to find a 4 string neck with the specs I like.
My Schecter was 35” and I was pretty sure I wanted to stay with the longer scale length to keep the low notes tight. But, on one of my many guitar shop visits over the past year, I picked up a Spector Bantam that was short scale and really, really liked how easy that was to play. So then I considered a medium scale bass.
Everything came together when I found that Best Bass Gear/Sound Guitar Works offered a medium scale conversion neck. I ordered that together with a Warmoth dinky j body, with a chambered, roasted body to minimize weight. Frankly, I’m not sure I could have gotten it any lighter without a Paulownia body or other super lightweight wood.
Not everything turned out perfect. The finish, while nice looking, isn’t exactly what I pictured, and I would have done it differently had I known how it would turn out. The body was light weight (4.3 oz finished), but I had hoped for it to be just a bit lighter. The bridge I ordered didn’t fit, I had failed to realize that Hipshot offers 3 different “fender mount” bridges. So, I scrambled and bought a cheap one on Amazon. Also, a couple of more minor things that should be easy fixes: I think I mis-wired the tone pot, since it doesn’t seem to do anything. Also, the low d string I ordered is long scale and so doesn’t quite sit right on the post, almost no break angle. Going to need to buy a medium or short scale string.
Ultimately though, I’m pretty happy with how I turned out. This was by far my most expensive music-related purchase, so I’m glad it worked out.
Specs:
Sound Guitar Works roasted maple neck with:
- 7.25” radius
- Vintage-size frets
- 1 5/8” (1.625) nut width
- .830 neck thickness at 1st fret
- Graphtech TUSQ XL nut
- Hipshot USA Ultralite tuners
- Tobacco burst satin finish
- Warmoth parchment pickguard
- Musiclily bridge
- Tonerider Classic J pickups with staggered pole pieces
- 70s bridge pickup position
- 3-way rotary switch instead of separate volumes
Here she is:
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