Parts Bass

[Mackonbass]

Greetings all,
I am looking for places to purchase bodies and necks. I have checked out Warmouth, but I want to know what else is out there. All suggestions welcomed!

 

[bholder]

Warmoth is about the highest in both quality and price. Lots of competition out there. Google is your friend. Or just search on Reverb and Ebay and even Etsy sometimes...

 

[Wfrance3]

I just received a Warmoth short/medium scale P Bass Body. It was PERFECT. I (also) just received a telecaster body from Stratosphere that was still very (very) good but the paint on the back has a couple color run finish imperfections. If it was a whole guitar in a music store it wouldn't have stopped me from buying the guitar if it played and sounded good. Still, getting the two bodies back to back like that, I think Warmoth has the superior QC. Also, if you look at Warmoth and want to go Hybrid, some of their bodies will accept Fender Necks. Depending on what you get, you wouldn't have to go 100% Warmoth if you find a neck outside Warmoth's offering that makes you happy.

There are a few other companies; Guitar Mill and MusiKraft are two that I see out there, but have not bought anything from either of them.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Big fan of Warmoth but these guys are also very good :

Security Measure

www.ebay.ca

If your budget is tight, many Chinese manufacturers are on EBay but expect to do a bit of rework on their necks before assembling. Their tuner’s hole are also not always the standard of the industry.

 

[Dark Horse]

Warmoth, Guitar Mill, USA Custom Guitars, Halo Guitars, KNE Guitars, Musikraft, Allparts

 

[pbassnut]

Greetings all,
I am looking for places to purchase bodies and necks. I have checked out Warmouth, but I want to know what else is out there. All suggestions welcomed!

Warmoth, AllParts, Musikraft, and USACG (USA Custom Guitars - which no longer exists and would have to be bought used) are all good ones, IMHO.

 

[JRA]

a different take:
i have 6-7 parts axes, 6 of them using glarry bodies just to get cheap, finished, lightweight paulownia. so, i'm buying the whole glarry bass in the FSO configuration that i want, from their color/finish offerings, and i'm paying ~$100 USD to get the body.

when i started my parts-bass assemblies 5 years ago, i wasn't sure what to do about necks as i'm picky about that part of the instrument. i knew that i could get quality stuff from warmoth or allparts (and others), but i decided to go all-in on the 'cheap' idea and i ordered one neck from a chinese vendor on ebay: at the time the necks were ~$65-$75 per. thus, my first parts/assembly ax resulted in my favorite P-bass:


that ax was so nice that i decided to assemble more --- and i decided i'd keep buying chinese necks via ebay until i ran into problems (i never did...after 7-8 necks!).

caveat = i'm buying fretless necks: there is obviously no such thing as fret issues on unlined fretless necks. also: the side dots must be moved: all of mine were in the 'fretted positions'.

anyway, my parts axes aren't actual "cheapies" --- i've used premium hardware and name-brand electronics to make them feel/sound/be what i want and need. the ax pictured cost a total of $728 (in 2019 dollars), but it's still much cheaper than its badged FSO cousins, and of course, i get to make them look the way i want in the process, i.e., all options that i'd want to consider are open.

TL;DR --- just because the wood parts came from china = they weren't poorly made...they weren't junk!*

best of luck finding and assembling the parts you need for a great instrument!


* some folks have regarded the chinese necks as "junk." i think they had bad luck with fretted necks, and/or they were reactively critical because they expected perfect fretted necks (for very little money), and/or they did not have the skills to remediate.

 

[MCS4]

When I did a parts p-bass build I got the body and neck (used Japanese Fender body, new Allparts neck) on eBay. I believe both came from Stratosphere's store on there, but definitely at least one of them did.

 

[N4860]

Here's another company that sells bodies and necks as well as other parts: https://www.solomusicgear.com/

 

[groooooove]

cant beat warmoth.

it's really good quality stuff.

 

[eeyorebass]

Warmoth, AllParts, Musikraft, and USACG (USA Custom Guitars - which no longer exists and would have to be bought used) are all good ones, IMHO.

USA Custom Guitars was purchased by MJT. I don't know if that means they will spin it back up (they have been saying they will) or they will simply use the machinery/templates to build their own bodies and necks. I liked that USA Customs had more options for back profile and fingerboard radius than Warmoth.

When I'm ready for my next build, my intention is to get a Warmoth body and request a neck from our own @Freekmagnet. I love the work he posts in his various threads.

 

[Bodeeni]

I have had good luck with Squire bodies off Ebay and I really like Allpart necks

 

[Dark Horse]

USA Custom Guitars was purchased by MJT. I don't know if that means they will spin it back up (they have been saying they will) or they will simply use the machinery/templates to build their own bodies and necks. I liked that USA Customs had more options for back profile and fingerboard radius than Warmoth.

When I'm ready for my next build, my intention is to get a Warmoth body and request a neck from our own @Freekmagnet. I love the work he posts in his various threads.

I checked before posting and their website looked to be taking orders

Necks - USA Custom Guitars

usacustomguitars.com

EDIT:
I stand corrected. It shows that you can build a custom neck, body, etc….. but when you click the links it shows either “back ordered” or that they will “relaunch soon”. Too bad, I know when Tommy owned it the parts were impeccable, so I would think they’d be excellent if Mark ever opens it back up.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Like everyone elese said, Warmoth is probably the best, but I think their bodies are way overpriced. The neck is no place to skimp, buy a Warmoth neck and a pre-finished body elsewhere. The body wood makes little to no difference to tone IME, hundreds of body suppliers out there on Ebay and Amazon. Mighty Makes decent necks too, though it might need minor fretwork. Don't buy a Chinese neck unless you have the skills to do a full fret level and polish.

 

[micguy]

I just received a Warmoth short/medium scale P Bass Body. It was PERFECT.

Warmoth builds stuff to Fender's specs. Fender doesn't - they're a bit sloppy at times. I have built a couple dozen basses from Warmoth parts, and after a while you realize things like: "I've never needed a shim in any of my builds". That's not an accident - Leo had a good design, and when made right, it works.

 

[dc-upright]

I built my parts jazz with a body and a neck bought here on talk bass from different people, bought some pickups from Music go round and the pots and jack from Amazon!

 

[PFBASSO]

Stratosphere still parts out oem fender instruments on eBay.

 

[BAG]

cant beat warmoth.

it's really good quality stuff.

Unfortunately down here on the bottom of the world their stuff has gotten a bit too expensive. I priced up one similar to my current ones and I'm now looking at over $1200 (NZd) just for a neck.

 

[HowieD72]

Unfortunately down here on the bottom of the world their stuff has gotten a bit too expensive. I priced up one similar to my current ones and I'm now looking at over $1200 (NZd) just for a neck.

+1

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Stratosphere still parts out oem fender instruments on eBay.

Stratosphere Guitar Parts is an excellent place for new Fender replacement necks, bodies and other Fender parts. I think they also carry replacement Gibson parts as well. They used to have their own website but as of last year or so they are now solely on Ebay.

Stratosphere Guitar Parts