Neck gap. Should I be concerned?

[ryan pate]

I would pull the neck and get a proper evaluation of the pocket and that crack.First checking that the 4 bolts are tight.A gap there is not ok. You want the neck seated firmly in the pocket, and need to confirm if the body is ok.(it looks like it is broken). Take some pics and put em up. Also , maybe post it in the luthiers forums.Lots of experience and very helpful folks there.Good luck bro.

 

[legalbass]

If you look at the top of the pic, I think I see a bit of pickguard lift...BEWARE!

Thank you for everything you do.

I mean that sincerely.

 

[bolophonic]

If it sounds good, I would stop worrying about it.

 

[roccobladr]

Some more pics of the paint cracks. Not for the faint of heart..

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Do you happen to do the Billy Sheehan neck whammy thing?

 

[enormungus]

oof, yeah I def take back my initial assessment. Do what @ryan pate above said and pull that neck to see if there's a crack running along the bottom edges

 

[lug]

Thank you for everything you do.

I mean that sincerely.

I live to serve the forum.

 

[lug]

I’ve never had experience with this. Why is this a bad thing?

https://app.box.com/shared/static/564ycxgvp6.wav

 

[Fender_Bender]

What Rich said. It looks like the body has warped or cupped there. It wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to take that neck off and have a looksee. Check the heel of the neck for possible concavity in the middle or debris preventing the neck from fully seating.

 

[SJan3]

Some more pics of the paint cracks. Not for the faint of heart..
View attachment 4569903 View attachment 4569904 View attachment 4569905

Bro, no offense but it looks like that bass was run over or something. That's severe looking.

 

[C Stone]

That looks far more severe than the 'normal' finish cracks on the Hoppus bass, it looks like it took a good face plant and the neck broke it's fall so to speak, I'd be really surprised if that body wasn't cracked as well. Bummer.

 

[Titch]

I’m not sure exactly when it started but it seems like just recently over these years of owning it. Never noticed it before.

It might have Covid?

 

[5StringBlues]

 

[ryan pate]

That bass body is broken.Take it to your luthier (he hasn’t seen the bass or the damage yet. Has he?)and he will tell you the same thing.Sorry.Good luck man.

 

[roccobladr]

Wow. These were definitely not the responses I was expecting!

I’ll try taking the neck off, but is there any chance this might do more harm than good? If it really is a busted body then I’d be tempted to ride it out since it still plays and sounds fine.

 

[GreyBeard]

I had a CBS p-bass fretless that had a gap big enough to store picks. The neck screws are what does the heavy lifting here and not the neck pocket. No worries.

 

[DrBnz]

I dunno..... I'd have to think about it some. At first I was thinking you need to pull the neck. But now that I think on it some. It plays good now and you still enjoy it. Why mess with it? Nothing good is gonna come of it. Meaning.... i doubt you'll find something that you can easily fix. It could get "worse" (big chunks of paint break off - bolts won't go back "in"). I'd leave it alone and play it till it cracks in half.

 

[MVE]

Wow. These were definitely not the responses I was expecting!

I’ll try taking the neck off, but is there any chance this might do more harm than good? If it really is a busted body then I’d be tempted to ride it out since it still plays and sounds fine.

Don’t be afraid to unscrew the neck. I do it all the time.
The hardest part is keeping your strings from coming off the winders and flipping and flying around everywhere. If you have a capo, use it to hold the strings to the neck after you loosen them a bit.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

May affect the tone. Vibration transfer may be compromised. But, if it plays and sounds good to you I wouldn't sweat it.

Ideally you don't want vibration to transfer. It may affect overall system stiffness, although probably not much. Generally you want things to be stiff unless you want the sound to be coloured.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Are you sure that bass wasn't used to tend goal in a hockey game, or possibly a cricket wicket?