Neck Pocket too shallow

[Dave Vader]

On my fretless Jazz project that I've been tinkering with for ages, the pickups are practically on stilts as the gap between the top of the fingerboard and the body is huge, the bridge saddles are almost all the way up. Action feels great on it though, so I'm loath to do to much to change it. However, I would like a way to increase the pickup stability, and/or get those saddles down a bit.

Is shimming the top of the neck pocket going to have enough effect? (I could do with losing a good 5mm) or am I going to need someone to go at the neck pocket with a router or chisel? I can do pickup routs, but I don't feel confident enough to do a neck pocket without killing it.

Alternatively, I could just get some superdense, superthick foam under my pickups, try and find some extra length screws, and live with it.

Any ideas would be most gratefully received, as I'm going to put a finish over the fingerboard soon, and that's probably going to put them strings even higher.

 

[HogieWan]

pics?

 

[stflbn]

I wouldn't take a chisel to the neck pocket. A firm smooth fit is preferred.

Either route pocket further down (but not to far) would be option. Or foam under the pickups.

 

[ehque]

Routing - or if you don't need much material removed, a large flat sanding block - would be my recommendation. Since you already have a router, go with that...

 

[Rodent]

before taking any action, please share a bit more on this. please measure very accurately, making use of a dial caliper if you have access to one

- what is the distange from the body top to the crown on the fingerboard?

- how deep is the neck pocket? is it flat, or does it have a small amount of drop-off from the heel downwards towards the headstock?

- what make and model is your bridge? how much further can your saddles be lowered from their current adjustment?

- how deep are your pickup cavities? what make/model pickups are you using?


a couple good quality images would also be useful


I would not recommend utilizing a sanding block to adjust the neck pocket since it's far too easy to end up with a 'lumpy' mess. it's almost impossible to sand uniformly so that the edges of the pocket are reduced equally with the center where it's really easy to sand. A router mounted on a larger base plate to give you stability when routing near the headstock end of the pocket plus a template bit is the only way to go IF you need to modify your neck pocket

all the best,

R

 

[Gone]

How much of a heel is there on the neck?
Might be possibly to remove a few mm from heel, which would be easier than changing the neck pocket...

 

[bassy7]

You may not need to route the pocket deeper. But from the sound of it- I think I would. I don't like having pickups mounted to high, even more so, I don't like having my saddles raised to extremes.

I do not agree with "Gone" when it comes to un-angled neck pockets. IME it has always been easier to route a neck pickup deeper than it is to make a neck heel thinner. Especially on a finished instrument. Making the pocket deeper doesn't require much setup- and it is easier to achieve very accurate results. On the other hand- I've never tried to tweak an angled neck pocket, nor have I built a bass with an angled neck. It seems that tweaking the neck heel might be easier in that situation. But Watch out for that truss rod!

If you can determine that your neck pocket is flat, and not angled.... then you can simply route it deeper with a template bit. The existing neck pocket will act as the template, and the bearing can ride against it- with the cutter portion just going a bit deeper into the body. This will of course require a short template bit. As mentioned by Rodent above, you will need either or large base plate for the router or a larger section of wood on top of the body (with an opening above the neck pocket) that extends over the neck side of the body. This will keep the router from "tipping" over the edges of the body.

If you have an angled neck pocket- you may be able to use the method above- but it would require much more setup to keep the angle correct and inline with the existing neck pockets "walls". Or perhaps you may want to make it flat, but if your pocket is angled- it would also be quite tricky to flatten properly. It is crucial that you measure everything extremely accurately before tackling this project.

Since you seem concerned with messing things up b y routing--I might suggest that you route shallower than you need too- then string her up to check the progress before going deeper. Because if you do to deep- it might be neccessary to make a fitted shim to build the pocket back up a little.

 

[Dave Vader]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys. No camera at the moment, will try and borrow one in the next few days to get some close ups. I did think about taking some wood off the back of the neck, but it's not a very thick neck to start with.
I don't think any of the stuff in this thread will help, but here's the build thread anyway
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=597110
I'm leaning towards getting some of that thick foam they have in epi t-birds, and sourcing some of the long screws they have in them as well.
The pickups are a tonerider J in the bridge (don't believe the hype, they aren't that great, unless it's the stilts it's on) and some generic nasty thing in the neck.
As to the measurements, I'll have to get back to you on that, I'll have it apart again sometime soon, and get as accurate a measurement as I can, though I don't have much in the way of useful measuring tools, and do most things by eye.

 

[shirojiro]

I'm having a similar problem, trying to mate up a Squier VM Jazz neck to a MIM 3T Sunburst body. I'm using a Gotoh 201 bridge and Fender Original '62 pickups. I have it strung up with Ernie Ball flats (50-105), and to get the strings not to fret out, I have the bridge cranked up almost all the way, and I'm stuffing things under the pickups to get them close to the strings.

The distance from the top of the body to the top of the fretboard is 0.38" vs about 0.34" on the donor Squier.

I'm surprised how much of a difference .04" makes on the action.

Opinions?

Should I just live with it? The neck plays pretty nicely now that it's setup, but my right hand feels a little awkward and the strings feel like they're really far away from the body.