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Should this bother me?
- Thread starter Komadinic
- Start date
D
I was expecting a pic of the tiny gaps that people seem to get obsessed over but that was pretty extreme, even for Fender. It the first pic it looked like the entire neck was tilted slightly sideways but in the second pic it looks perfectly fine.
If the bass feels great, seems stable and sounds great I wouldn't worry about it. 70s Fenders can be a bit, ehm, inconsistent. If everything else feels great I would count myself lucky and a winner of the Fender lottery.
It looks great btw, congrats!
If the bass feels great, seems stable and sounds great I wouldn't worry about it. 70s Fenders can be a bit, ehm, inconsistent. If everything else feels great I would count myself lucky and a winner of the Fender lottery.
It looks great btw, congrats!
That gap is nothing for a seventies Fender. Yours is probably on the better side of what many people put up with.
Agreed. On the plus side, you don't have to worry about a too-tight tolerance (expansion /contraction) cracking the adjoining finish. Hate to say this, but some of the late 70's offerings were complete schlock along QC lines.
Riis
A sloppy neck pocket on a 70’s Fender is proof of authenticity. Fender was sloppy in that period, and neck pockets like that are pretty much how they made them. The hype around pre-CNS Fenders is, in large part, due to the sloppy work in the 70’s - it’s not that earlier ones were all spectacular, it’s that they looked good when compared with the 70’s production.
It does bother you already, since you asked.
I owned a strat from 73 once that had a horrible gap in the neck pocket all around. Almost like the guy who was cutting it forgot he was making a guitar, not a bass. As far as neck gaps go on 70s fenders, this one actually isn't half bad.
What’s weird isn’t the gap (my 2006 Jazz has a comparable gap), it’s the way the neck fails to line up with the heel edge. On the other hand, the strings seem to be aligned well enough on the fretboard.
That's the first thing I noticed, also. OP, have you taken the neck off to check if that's actually a Fender body? My guess is that it isn't. I have never seen neck pocket overhang (for lack of a better term) like that, and I used to work in a music store.
What do you mean by this? I'm sorry I'm not quite sure what you're referring to and would like to understand my instrument more if possible
The thread asks..........Should this bother me?
Answer.........no.
If your J Bass is all original, it is what it is. If you can play it decently as is, then it is not a problem.
As far as neck gap goes, your neck actually sits close to the edge of the actual neck pocket. The issue is the excess wood above the cut-away that extends past the edge of your neck.
Typical 70s Fender build quality.
Of concern to me are the frets that look like there is no crown edge. The frets looks flat on the top edge. If so, you might want to get those crowned by a luthier.
Otherwise..............Nice J Bass!
Answer.........no.
If your J Bass is all original, it is what it is. If you can play it decently as is, then it is not a problem.
As far as neck gap goes, your neck actually sits close to the edge of the actual neck pocket. The issue is the excess wood above the cut-away that extends past the edge of your neck.
Typical 70s Fender build quality.
Of concern to me are the frets that look like there is no crown edge. The frets looks flat on the top edge. If so, you might want to get those crowned by a luthier.
Otherwise..............Nice J Bass!
The heel of the neck not even close to flush with the edge of the pocket at the bottom edge of the rout in the body is what looks wonky to me....
It'd bother the hell out of me, but if it feels good and sounds good, etc, etc, etc.
Thanks for the response, i think they're normal but am not sure. Bass was just setup at 30th street guitars, and they didn't say anything about it so I'm not certain what to think
That's what was bothering me, there's no gap in the pocket itself but that edge is just gross. I guess I didn't use the right terminology, my bad!
If it plays and sounds the way you want it to, and everything lines up as it should, and it is solid/stable, then it wouldn’t bother me one bit.
Looks gorgeous. I want it in my hands, like right meow.
Looks gorgeous. I want it in my hands, like right meow.
