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Precision Bass Body Jazz Bass Neck

R

RTrafton

Jul 26, 2011
4
0
#1
I prefer the sound of the Precision Bass, and the neck of the Jazz Bass.

The lows on the Jazz Bass are not prominent enough, and I despise the neck on the Precision Bass-- it's like a baseball bat.

The Precision Bass is far more aesthetically pleasing, but there is no way in h*ll I can play on a Precision neck longer than 15 minutes without getting hand cramps.

Does Fender (or did Fender) make a Precision Bass with a slim 1.5 inch nut Jazz Neck?

My budget is $1,000, but I don't want to drop any money on a neck that isn't Fender (like "AllParts" or something like that). I would prefer to spend the money on a full bass and neck that came out of the Fender factory whole.
 
#5
AFAIK, this mod was one of the first popular with bass players back in the 70's. A lot of guys were putting J necks on the P. Also, Fender made P's in the '71 - '72 time-frame which had Jazz Bass profiled necks. I know because my first Fender I bought in 1972 was a P with the thinner neck. Wish I still had it. For all of CBS' mess-ups, this was one mod which made some sense. So, yes, they are somewhere out there.

All that said, with a lot more years of playing, my 2c is that the neck profile actually influences tone more than anything, and that neither profile is "faster" or easier on the hands than the other. The thinner neck is more flexible and that has direct influence on the resonant characteristics of the instrument, with neither being either better or worse, just different, IMO.

If you are actually having hand cramps playing a P neck, you might want to get some lessons, cause that should not be happening using any kind of decent left hand technique. And not to say that you might prefer the J anyhow.
 
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#7
I have 3 Jazz basses and one P bass with a Warmoth slim profile Jazz neck. I really can't notice a difference in playabilty, but the Warmoth feels a little harder when fretting as compared to my stock Feender Jazz neck.The easiest of all is the Geddy Lee model neck, which feels like playing on glass.
 
#8
RTrafton said:
I prefer the sound of the Precision Bass, and the neck of the Jazz Bass.
Click to expand...

What you're asking for sounds a lot like a G&L SB-1 or SB-2...

IMG_2559.jpg


IMG_2558.jpg
 
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#10
I am sitting here with my "new to me" factory original, 1971 Fender Precision Bass with a stock "A" neck on it.
An A neck, as listed on Fender's website, is listed as being 1 1/2" width.
I think some may say they are 1 7/16 wide or 1 9/16 ???.

And my neck really looks like 1 and 17/32. ! I have looked at it a lot. Also could be failing eyesite. haha

pageing JohnK .........for the word from the Bass Gods.

Although they are not real common you could always order any width they made as a stock option. If I'm not mistaken the A option is the hardest to find as these would have been ordered by persons of smaller stature whether they were male, female or a youth.
I happen to just like them better and I am 6' tall but don't have large hands. I started on a bass just like I have now and can't believe I sold my original P 40 yrs ago. Now things have come full circle.
I also just finished a rebuild of a 1962 P-Bass and I used a fender Lic. neck. I was not an expensive one, less than $150 as I recall. Of course I had to supply the Nut and finish work. It came out stunning with a vintage tint finish, and it plays great.

peace Kirk

wow what a bunch of posts in the time it took me to post!
 
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#12
My Squier P-Bass Special came stock with Jazz Neck and rosewood fretboard. Swapped it out for a Squier VM Precision Neck with maple fretboard, much better, imo.

But yeah, it should be really easy to swap the neck on a Fender, just remove the old one and put the new one in, followed by a decent setup.
 
#14
#16
Kael said:
Just get a P, put an aftermarket warmoth neck on it and be done. Honestly, warmoth necks are superior in every regard to Fender's stock necks. Except for perhaps the rolled edges. That's dead simple to do yourself however.
Click to expand...


Disagree - I don't think Warmoth necks are any better than Fender necks, and in many cases not as good... YMMV, but that's how I see it...


- georgestrings
 
#17
georgestrings said:
It's a direct bolt-up... I've done it a few times, and as long as everything is Fender made, it's a straight up swap...


- georgestrings
Click to expand...

For the most part, yes; however, some models of Jazz necks have 21 and 22 frets. While those would physically fit, you would face an almost impossible task of setting the intonation.
Just make sure you're putting a 20 fret neck on a "twenty fret" body.
 
#19
Turock said:
For the most part, yes; however, some models of Jazz necks have 21 and 22 frets. While those would physically fit, you would face an almost impossible task of setting the intonation.
Just make sure you're putting a 20 fret neck on a "twenty fret" body.
Click to expand...

If you buy a Warmoth neck, don't worry about this. It's not really the number of frets to worry about - it's the scale length of the neck. As long as it is the standard 34" scale neck (which is determined by the spacing of the frets), you'll be fine. For instance, I just bought a jazz neck from Warmoth that has 21 frets. It still fits my Fender Jazz bass - the extra fret is added length on the fretboard. It does not change the scale length.
 
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