Hey guys. So a bit of back story about this project...
I snagged this 1979 T-40 for $200 on Craig's List a few months back. Dabbled with it at the dude's house, seemed, okay, and figured that $200 was a steal for this (including OHSC). Took it to band practice, tuned it up, and played through some songs. Absolutely loved the sound - insanely versatile.
Took it home and decided to take a look at the action - seemed a bit high. I sighted the neck, and WOW....the neck was curved from frets 1-4. Took off the truss rod cover, and the rod is completely slack. Uh oh. Did some reading about the construction of these, and realized that the problem lay within an inherent design flaw.
T-40's were one of the first CNC'd basses - and THE first CNC'd bass made by Peavey, AFAIK. Instead of a neck laminate (or even one-piece neck, a la Lakland) with a fretboard on top, they took two pieces of maple and routed the truss rod slot down the middle - thus making the fretboard an integral part of the neck. That's problem 1.
Problem 2: this center joint puts the truss rod's tension DIRECTLY on a (thin) glue joint. over 30+ years, that glue joint may start to give out and crack. That's precisely what happened to mine. I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but it essentially made it unable to be played. Time to make a neck!
I decided to do a 5-piece laminate for the replacement neck - 4 pieces of maple with a thin mahogany veneer down the middle. Size specs are (obviously) exactly the same. I'm installing a double-action truss rod (which I've done in every guitar neck that I've built - I see no reason not to). It'll have vintage-size medium nickel Jescar frets (FW 43080), a curly maple fretboard, and black side inlays. I am not sure yet if I'm going to do dots on the fretboard or not. The original peavey hardware will go onto the replacement neck as well. I have a Silhouette machine that I use for decals that I'll use for the "Peavey T-40" and paint the pinstripe line. Sherwood LOVOC nitro over everything when it's said and done.
Another advantage to this replacement neck aside from stability will be threaded inserts - the wood screws on the original were nearly stripped out. Threaded inserts are the way to go, IMO. I'll keep the neck angle adjustment screw as well, but probably install a new socket screw in place of the old one (also a bit rough looking).
Enough talking - onto pics! I resawed and planed the fretboard wood last night, and I'm getting the inserts and installing them tonight after work. Pics to follow.
Replacement neck & the original. You can kind of see the crack in the middle at the first fret.
Headstock shaped.
Nice, snug fit!
I will post more pics as I progress more. I'm looking forward to being able to play this baby again!
I snagged this 1979 T-40 for $200 on Craig's List a few months back. Dabbled with it at the dude's house, seemed, okay, and figured that $200 was a steal for this (including OHSC). Took it to band practice, tuned it up, and played through some songs. Absolutely loved the sound - insanely versatile.
Took it home and decided to take a look at the action - seemed a bit high. I sighted the neck, and WOW....the neck was curved from frets 1-4. Took off the truss rod cover, and the rod is completely slack. Uh oh. Did some reading about the construction of these, and realized that the problem lay within an inherent design flaw.
T-40's were one of the first CNC'd basses - and THE first CNC'd bass made by Peavey, AFAIK. Instead of a neck laminate (or even one-piece neck, a la Lakland) with a fretboard on top, they took two pieces of maple and routed the truss rod slot down the middle - thus making the fretboard an integral part of the neck. That's problem 1.
Problem 2: this center joint puts the truss rod's tension DIRECTLY on a (thin) glue joint. over 30+ years, that glue joint may start to give out and crack. That's precisely what happened to mine. I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but it essentially made it unable to be played. Time to make a neck!
I decided to do a 5-piece laminate for the replacement neck - 4 pieces of maple with a thin mahogany veneer down the middle. Size specs are (obviously) exactly the same. I'm installing a double-action truss rod (which I've done in every guitar neck that I've built - I see no reason not to). It'll have vintage-size medium nickel Jescar frets (FW 43080), a curly maple fretboard, and black side inlays. I am not sure yet if I'm going to do dots on the fretboard or not. The original peavey hardware will go onto the replacement neck as well. I have a Silhouette machine that I use for decals that I'll use for the "Peavey T-40" and paint the pinstripe line. Sherwood LOVOC nitro over everything when it's said and done.
Another advantage to this replacement neck aside from stability will be threaded inserts - the wood screws on the original were nearly stripped out. Threaded inserts are the way to go, IMO. I'll keep the neck angle adjustment screw as well, but probably install a new socket screw in place of the old one (also a bit rough looking).
Enough talking - onto pics! I resawed and planed the fretboard wood last night, and I'm getting the inserts and installing them tonight after work. Pics to follow.
Replacement neck & the original. You can kind of see the crack in the middle at the first fret.
Headstock shaped.
Nice, snug fit!
I will post more pics as I progress more. I'm looking forward to being able to play this baby again!
it looks good 
