Not sure if this is possible....

If you're talking about buying and assembling premade parts, perfectly reasonable to try. Making them all yourself, that's a whole different thing. Lots of turf in between. I think your best bet is if Warmoth offers that as one of their neck profiles, if so, just order it and the rest of the parts and get started.

 

Well, a lot of folks like the green scotch-brite treatment on the backs of necks, especially thick glossy sticky poly ones. Warmoth offers a satin finish and even unfinished if you want to go that route. Not sure how best to get the feel you're looking for, I don't really know finishes, but there are some experts here, hope they'll chime in.

 

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to do this. Assuming that you don't need to precisely replicate the finish and its faux road wear, your two main (only?) challenges are matching the neck profile and the pickup.

The pickup question has been discussed here before, I know, and IIRC the wise guys maintain that the Pino pickup is unique, although no one was certain what the ultimate difference was, be it number of winds or wind style... I personally call a bit of BS on this and would assert that your favorite of the Fender split coil pickups would suffice, be it CS60's, Original 62 or what-not.

That leaves neck profile as the big question. If the neck is indeed a re-planed or sanded '62 AVRI neck, then there must exist specs on what it is supposed to be reshaped to so as to constitute a "Pino" shape. If there exist no ultimate specs and the necks are shaped to the satisfaction of the assembler, then I should think you only have more license to please yourself and still call it "correct."

Anyone know the deal on the necks?

 

You may want to go try some Squire P basses and see if you find one you like and then mod it to taste. It would be a lot cheaper than building a parts bass.

 

The lack of agreement on the specs jibes with all I've read on this site over the last few years.

I'd assert that sonically speaking, an alder body, a CS or vintage style split coil, a 7.25" neck and TI Flats will get you 95% percent there. That being the case, I'd recommend finding a used 62 AVRI for around a grand. And another two bucks for the scotch-bright pad and some fine grit sandpaper.

 

...The 62 AVRI necks are NOT quartersawn, by the way - unlike the Pino.

 

Back in the early 70's I put myself through college buying PreCBS basses and guitars cheap (when I could find them cheap) and selling them for more - also bought and sold a lot of newer fender and gibson stuff that never felt nearly as nice as the vintage stuff. So on newer gear that didn't feel very good, I would strip the paint/finish off the back of the neck and reprofile to give them a feel closer to the Pre CBS instruments (back then nobody would have believed that those CBS instruments would ever be collectible). Tung oil finish felt better than the paint or lacquer and players always thought I had made a major improvement. Occasionally I ruined a neck when shaving a chunky neck down too far and hitting the truss rod channel - it only took that happening once to make me much more careful about how far I went. So it can be done - but it's also easy to ruin things if you're doing it for the first time on expensive parts. I practiced a lot on crappy instruments I bought at pawn shops for $25 (that would probably be collector items today - hard to believe what people think is "vintage" nowadays)

I have a couple of high end basses that I leave totally stock to preserve the resale value - but I also have two really inexpensive Yamaha BB300 basses that both had really flat neck profile. So I reshaped the neck profile and tung oiled the neck. And I find that I keep going back to play the cheap bass that is modified to my liking - it just feels worn in and like an old friend. The extremely flat profile on the right is how both of these basses were stock and the profile on the left is what I reshaped them to

 

Sure, why not. You have got to start somewhere.
Go for it. You will learn a lot along the way and number two will be even better.
Leo Fender had never built a guitar before his first one.

 

Sounds like a fun project. Warmouth parts are the best I've seen, but not cheap. Maybe get an unfinished neck and oil yourself? Unless you believe that nitro has magical tone properties, ( I don't) id get a Poly finish, at least on the body. Nitro is pretty fragile and reactive with stuff like foam rubber guitar stands, can't see much advantage to it. I've put together a couple Warmouth parts basses before trying scratch built. It's a fun "treasure hunt" finding parts and electronics. Allparts and Mighty Mite have some cheaper parts alternatives, fine for bodies and hardware, but I'd spend your money on the best neck you can afford.

 

The sanding trick works fine if you still want a gloss finish on the headstock. If you use very fine sandpaper, like 400 or 600 grit, it's reversible by buffing it back up to gloss. I don't think I'd use a scotchbrite on it, unless it's one of the really fine grey or white ones. I built a Warmouth parts fretless Jazz and had a satin finish put on the neck, it's not sticky at all. Here's a link to the scotchbrite color code:
Scotchbrite Grit Chart | Predator Racing

Good luck, and post photos! Love me some parts builds.

 

Green scotchbrite is the best stuff to know the gloss off the back of a neck.

 

I wanted a dot/bound '66 J for a while and could never consider paying up to 10K for one. At one point I played one at Chicago Music Exchange and was not impressed. That helped de-mystify it a bit, but it could have just been that particular instrument. So I built up my own for about $1300 give or take and love it. My focus on '66 J's is now for appreciation and not of wanting. (note: hs tip is a shadow, not cut that way)