repairing hollowbody neck pocket

[christpncher]

i have acquired an old MIJ Ventura hollowbody bass that is a replica of a gibson eb-2. the problem is that the bass appears to have been sitting for too long with roundwound (likely built for flats) strings that may have been too tight. it seems that over the years the extra string tension, and possibly humidity, the neck began to pull up so much that the neck pocket has a split in it and it causes the neck to have a terrible angle.

as you can see in the photos the rest of the bass is in great shape, just a bit of slight separation in the neck pocket and small piece of binding splitting near the pocket. the neck is in excellent shape.

a little bit of net searching tells me this is a fairly common problem for old hollowbodies. wondering if anyone knows whether or not this could be fixed?

also i know its hard to say but what is a ballpark estimate of what a luthier would charge to do it?

i know pictures of the actual neck pocket would help, ill try to get some tonight but wanted to get the ball rollin on this.

i was thinking fill in the separation with wood glue, reshap the pocket floor if necessary and load in a thick shim.

 

[JLS]

Post a few photos, we'll be able to figure this out.

DON'T do a, "Ready! Fire! Aim!"--a FUBARed repair attempt, can really ratchet up the cost of the repair, done right. Any repairperson who has had to, sya, clean hot melt glue from an attempted headstock repair, will agree.

 

[christpncher]

ok, ill be sure to get some good photos up. would be sweet to get this thing somewhat playable.

otherwise ill either try to find a replacement body or try the neck on some other. should fit other univox basses, looks very similar to the neck on my hi-flier bass

 

[Pilgrim]

You need photos from the side, close up, and showing the exact problem.

 

[john grey]

I once had a very old acoustic 12 string where the neck started to pull away from the body. Obviously you're going to have to post some pics.
However in this instance (my situation) a matching dowel need to be used as an additional bracing. That type of thing is really serious Luthier's work as the dowel need to match the wood and the brace insertion point needed to be exact to deal w/ the stress. It required centering so there was enough wood to bear the hole, the dowel insertion, the proper adhesive and refinishing.

I can only underline the "DON'T do a - READY, AIM, FIRE" advise. Even the guy who showed me and worked with me, took a full day to think it through and measure several times. He did most of the stuff needed, including finding a hardwood supplier to get a dowel that matched up. It came out great and I even have that guitar today (about 23 yrs later) but the level of serious work was not a joke. Measurements of a unique surface are more than a "measure twice, cut once" agenda; they are incidentals like lining up any exterior grain (on a dowel re-enforcement). There could be a lot to this.....or you might be lucky.

Do your best to take very close pics of not only the crack but the method used to attach the neck originally & examine it so that any other problem feature are depicted.

The guy was a friend and this was a long time back but today I'd say very roughly that it's about $35 an hour depending entirely on what's needed. So there is no ballpark figure until you have ALL the problems outlined. But if it's done correctly, you'll never be able to see the repair unless it's pointed out. Obviously, you understand that with a hollow-body you have less wood to work with almost none to remove, And filling a crack generally needs to be setup (as a pressure or squeeze fit) - just putting glue INTO it may not help and it would still be very visible; not to mention possibly expanding the issue.Very often that means tools that can clamp without ruining the finish and fitting awkward positions.

 

[mbennettbrown]

I just joined this forum...but I found a Lero hollow body bass at a Salvation Army today and picked it up for $39. The neck is/was in the same condition. Once I figured out it was not the truss rod i took the neck off and there is crack in the neck pocket, the whole way round. Essentially the top (sound board?) has separated from the pocket.

I am curious to see if this thread continues.

 

[christpncher]

this thread would probably continue if i could ever remember to take some pictures of the thing.

but the more i think about it, its probably too much work to fix.