New neck help?

The necks are all going to be subtly different, so there is almost no chance your fretted neck will match your fretless perfectly.

Nut adjustment is going to be fiddly swapping necks. I think you'd need a nut shim when going to the fretted neck. And "nut shim" doesn't sound very good to me, sounds potentially abusive...

it would be a total re-setup every time you swap necks: neck relief, string height, nut height, intonation. If it's only once or twice a year, maybe not that bad. You'd get really good at setting up basses if you go this route.

 

If you are going to make it so that the necks are swappable you might want to look at doing this conversion to both necks as well. It will save you from having to dowel and redrill the screw holes every so often.
8 Guitar Neck Threaded STEEL INSERTS DIY KIT SS Oval screws+HSS DRILL+Allen key | eBay

 

I would keep the fretless neck on then, especially if you like how it plays. To do a Fender spec setup you'd need a set of auto parts store feeler gauges , maybe some files for nut adjustments, and of course whichever hex turns the truss rod on each bass. Straight edge, and a pencil. Maybe some very thin veneer like 22/1000th pieces for neck shims.

 

I’ve done a bit of neck swapping, and each time i need to fine tune and adjust everything while the neck settles. Sounds like a bit of a pain to me, and I’d be afraid the bass wouldn’t play the same! I’ve got my current parts bass all dialed in, and I’d be very hesitant to take it apart. If you did do it, the steel insert idea above would be the way to go.

Looking at budget, you could probably get a nice Squier for the price of a MIM neck, Something to consider...

PS do you really need 3 P basses?

 

I'm puzzled by this. Please explain.

 

Buy another bass. Necks aren't good candidates for frequent swapping. Eventually the neck bolts and the wood in the neck that they bite into will need to be repaired and/or fortified.

 

Me too.

 

the frets are going to make the action at the nut just a tiny bit higher, so I think in swapping back and forth fretted/fretless necks, one would either want to use a separate nut for each neck, or bring the nut up by the thickness of the frets above the fingerboard when switching to fretted ~

 

Yup that’s confusing. I would assume each neck would have its own nut attached.

 

Why on earth would you not have a nut glued into each neck?

 

That is not the sort of thing a polite person asks on TB.

 

Truly! And here of all places...

 

@casualmadness - Easiest neck swap would be to get an actual Standard Series Fender fretted neck. They run $249 direct from fender. The hard part is cutting the nut if you're new to it and you don't have the proper files. So a parted out neck is probably a better option. Check the TB classifieds and (maybe) Stratospher's website.

 

I’m a glutton for punishment!

 

I figured I wouldn’t talk you into trading one

my point was IME the marriage of the neck and body is a delicate balance. I tried 3-4 on my parts body before I found one that really sang. If you’re gonna invest in a neck, I’d just get a whole bass! You’re already in this deep...

 

I think if you spring for a nut for each neck, once you get each neck set it shouldn't change much swapping between them. If you'll plan to do this more than once or twice I recommend getting neck inserts for each neck and using machine screws for the neck bolts. Then you have no worry about wearing out the wood holes swapping back and forth. If you keep safety post tuners on each neck it'll be no problem to swap out keeping the same strings.
I have seen this approach quite a bit, periodically you'll see basses sold with their matching fretless neck. I'd want to have tuners and string tree for each neck too. You can carry the fretless and the fretted "bass" in the same case that way, just wrap the one in linen so it stays put mostly.

It is more fun to have whole basses where you can afford to though.

Same reason lefties make due just flipping righty nuts: cheapin' out.

I can understand it though - sometimes you're making that demo tape, you only have $80 bucks or whatever to your name but you demand the fretless sound. Its not ideal but it probably happens a lot more than we think.

 

You will probably need to do a set up each time you switch necks. No two are alike.