Restoration: '97 MIK Squier Jazz Bass body + '13 CII Squier P-Bass neck

Hi there!

Let's go for a part bass... I'll need precious help not to fail that project! I hate to waste things that can be re-used, so I want to try to do my best with what I have, which is the following:

- a Jazz Bass from a 1997 Made in Korea Squier 70s Jazz Bass... as the neck surely had a structural defect at manufacturing... the neck is NOT bowed but has a weird angle at the 6th fret... on both side of this angle, the neck is "straight", but with a issue like that, a trussrod adjustement or fret leveling cannot do anything... anyway the frets are completely dead, the price of changing them, even on a correct Squier neck is not worth it. The body is lacking a piece of wood, and the neck pickup cavity has a manufacturing hole right where a screw for the pickup needs to be... Sorry but I don't think that the QC of these MIK Squier was awesome in 1997!!



The good points: body has a 70s PU spacing, and it came with Fender 1962 Jazz Pickups with the grounding plates. Body would should be alder, but some people say that is plywood. I hope for the first idea!

The bad points: I have to repair the lacking piece of wood, shove all the screw holes with paste because a standard pickguard doesn't fit and I want to be able to replace it when I complete the project. Another bad point, the neck heel is very deep and my replacement neck is not "high enough", the screws would go up to the rosewood fingerboard and damage it. I'm looking for a flat neck shim to raise the neck and avoid damage. Plus, the playability would be better, than a when strings are too close to the pickguard makes slap hard to do, and also, most of the time, the bridge saddles can't be adjusted properly.

I intent to repair the body, stuff the screw holes, and sand the body completely for a new paint.

- a P-Bass neck from a 2013 Crafted in Indonesia Squier Affinity P-bass, I have, because I replaced the neck on that beauty with a 2012 Crafted in China Classic Vibe one! What I plan to modify on that neck: installing a bone nut, rounding the fingerboard edges (Affinity necks have a raw angle), maybe lacquer the back of the neck (satin finish is really thin and I want the maple to be protected), and for sure: a matching headstock with a brand new silverish Squier logo!



The goods points: the neck is beautiful and clean, 9,5" radius, rosewood, trussrod works, neck is nearly flat with trussrod unengaged, frets are quite alright. Plastic nut went off super easily, which I'll replace with a bone one!

The bad points: The nut width is 40mm and not 38mm like Jazz Bass, so the lines from the heel to the nut are different from a 38mm wide neck, and I'll have to work on the body's heel to center the neck properly. 40mm is really comfortable though, so that's all a good part.

I already started the work with the body and stuff the neck bolt holes that don't align with the body holes



In the end, I plan to paint the body and the headstock with bungurdy or something equivalent, install a white pearl pickguard (I've become a fan of these), white pickups caches, and leave a vintage bridge for that one... Hopefully, this will turn good!

What are your advices, ideas, folks? Cheers

 

Here are my ideas for the headstock decal, as I'm thinking about either a Lake Placid Blue or a Bungurdy Mist finish with the matching colour on the headstock.

I'm looking out for a neck shim without an angle, to raise the neck position. Any idea where I can find that? I do not have any saw to cute wood properly. Thank you

What I'm essentially looking at, is that, but without the angle, as I want a flat surface: https://www.stewmac.com/Materials_a...cks_and_Wood/StewMac_Neck_Shims_for_Bass.html

 

That looks neat! But isn't aluminium harder to work than wood?

 

Do you think that a rotating tool like a Dremel could be a good idea? Thank you for your commitment to help,

 

Thanks for weighing in. As I don't really have the necessary tools to bend and work with aluminium, I decided to go with A4 sheets of paper temporarily

My next steps:

- Sanding down the body completely
- Rounding the edges of the rosewood fingerboard for a better playability
- Painting with Burgundy Mist nitrocellulose spray paint both body and headstock front
- Reinstalling electronics and attach the neck for a try out

Then I'll have an overall feel of the project so far. I also plan to try to see how the body look pickguard-less, as I resealed the screw holes before sanding down the body. As the neck pickup cavity is big, I would hide it with a Jazz Bass pickup cover (no bridge cover though). If the result is unperfect, I would install a redish tortoise pickguard or something like that. White pickup covers...

I may be long doing this project! I need to take my time... with money being tight too! Cheers

 

Here's also how low is the neck, without any shim...




And now here's with some help:

 

I already done it to another of my bass (not worth spending more in terms of time and material) and it worked, not sustain loss to my impression, nothing was altered that I could feel, and I could set my action has wanted. It was impossible to achieve any low action because the neck was too low in the body and bridge saddles were hiting the bottom plate.

I'll be using wood (that I'll paint to mask them haha) and in the future, that's still something I can replace when I get a proper material and tool to work it.

Thanks

 

Here's a video of the assembled bass with the Affinity Precision Bass neck... very sloppy playing very promising bass!!

I have to move the neck backward from the body because if I wanted the correct pickup spacing and using Fender pickguard, that was the only choice. The pickups are not soldered during the demo, I just taped the wires. Also, tone knob if half way open/close.

VERY PROMISING!!

 

Another update: I corrected all the geometry of the pickups, pickguard and everything... these Squier were surely made super quick... they were not following any template for screw holes for sure! Hopefully, this is now allright!

Let me tell you that this Squier Affinity P neck is awesome; frets are perfectly leveled from factory, the 40mm width at the nut (between a J and P standard) is perfect to me!!

New bridge screws cause the stock ones were bad. For the neck heel shim, I used a old unmarked neck attachement chrome plate! Exactly the height I needed! But I need new screws here too...

ONE QUESTION: What's the best screws you can buy?? I don't get why some screws get smashed when you use force with a screwdriver on them... and some resist super well (stock Squier Classic Vibe screws are awesome for exemple, even my Harley Benton screws were very hard and resistant to multiple force usages). Nickel? Chrome? Steel? Even the Gotoh screws I bought are "meh".

Remember: on these demo, I'm using the stock Squier pickups from 1997 (they look cheap and aren't sized like Fender ones or modern Squier ones) and I didn't even solder the wires! They're taped.

 

Very slow on that project because health, money and life issues...

I bought a non QC passed Squier Classic Vibe Jazz Bass neck on eBay, which had an impact on the heel side, to use for that project, rather that the Squier Affinity neck...

Here was the photo of the listing on eBay:


The lacquer was damaged and the rosewood veneer board was severly deformed too.

With some patience and 400 grit sanding paper, as well as a painting brush to clean the mess, here's the best I could do to restore that neck (reminding that material had to be anayway)...









I guess I could always say that this part of the neck was damaged due to YEARS and YEARS of playing with nails and picks at this location

For real, now the thing that worries me with the neck is the planimetry of the frets. Maybe it didn't pass QC for that reason rather than some physical damage. I even thing that they damage them on purpose to ruin their value. That's stupid when things can get fixed. But of course, the Classic Vibe line had very high requirements in terms of finish. My 2011 CV 60 Jazz Bass is a true example of that.

 

My bad! I didn't know that, I have no knowledge about working on wood. That's some good information, thank you Sir! I'm okay with the scar, though; I'm planning on a unperfect finish and a very light "road worn" touch at the end of my project.