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THINNING a NECK

THORRR

THORRR

Supporting Member
Jun 26, 2010
1,080
34
Parker, Colorado
#1
I have 3 Fender Jazzes, all with adequate necks.

That said, I'd like a thinner (front to back) neck more along the lines of an Ibanez SR500 neck, but on a Jazz.

The new Fender American Jazz Special comes close to the feel I want and it's about an 1/8" thinner than the necks I currently have.

I've been thinking about sanding down the thickness on one of mine as an experiment. If it works I'll do all three of them.
Refinishing the neck backs shouldn't be much of a problem - pretty straightforward, but I'm wondering if removing an 1/8" of thickness from the back of these necks is going to cause any problems.

All three are of the "skunk stripe" variety. Is this going to mess up the effectiveness of the truss rod? Am I disturbing the integrity of the neck by doing this?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks -

:bassist:
 
#2
Can you afford to run the risk of having to replace the neck? 1/8" is a lot of wood. A lot of folks have thinned necks before, with success. But you do run the risk of sanding/filing through and revealing the truss rod, ruining the neck. Depends how deep the rod is buried in the neck.
My advice? Replace the necks with ones you like. Fender style necks that will fit your bass are not hard to come by. Shop around until you find one that fits your needs, or have someone like Warmoth, USA Custom Guitars, or AllParts(I think they'll build you one custom) build what you want. My .02.
 
#3
Thanks Mike -
I've been told the skunk stripe is 3/8" thick by a few people and that removing 1/8" should be okay, but I realize that's a gamble.

On the other hand I don't want to spend $3 to $500 for another neck if I don't have to.

I may search for a beat up old cheapie on CL to test sand first.

:hiding:
 
#6
heavyfunkmachin said:
this might sound crazy, but: unbolt the neck, take it to a scan, like the airport's scan machine: take a look at the neck's inside!!
Click to expand...

That's a cool idea, if I thought I could get away with carrying a "club" with a pointy hook on one end into the airport past the front door security guards, I'd do it.

Security being what it is, I don't think I'll try that one but you get high marks for innovative thinking - Thanks!

:hiding:
 
#8
I've done this and have to warn you, be careful not to take off too much. I actually got too close to the truss rod cavity in my '96 MIJ Jazz Bass. Even though I was doing it at the same time with someone that had the same exact bass, the depth of the rod was not the same on mine. His turned out perfect and mine had an exposed truss rod when I was done. I ended up adding a 5" long ebony skunk stripe to correct it and 10 years later still works fine.
 
#9
I'd be surprised if anything Fender makes twice comes out exactly the same, that's why I'm a little hesitant to do this.

Do you know approximately how much you sanded off before you hit the truss rod cavity? Was it more than an eighth of an inch?
 
#10
No clue how much came off. I was trying to get the profile really small like Jaco's bass (funny enough, I did this mod in Jaco's living room but that's another story) I don't recommend doing it. Just something I was doing by eye with a friend so no dimensions.
 
#13
Rebop said:
I've done this and have to warn you, be careful not to take off too much. I actually got too close to the truss rod cavity in my '96 MIJ Jazz Bass. Even though I was doing it at the same time with someone that had the same exact bass, the depth of the rod was not the same on mine. His turned out perfect and mine had an exposed truss rod when I was done. I ended up adding a 5" long ebony skunk stripe to correct it and 10 years later still works fine.
Click to expand...

Here you explain why you had problems:

Rebop said:
No clue how much came off. I was trying to get the profile really small like Jaco's bass (funny enough, I did this mod in Jaco's living room but that's another story) I don't recommend doing it. Just something I was doing by eye with a friend so no dimensions.
Click to expand...

You don't do this by eye... You sand, measure, sand, measure, sand and measure again until your profile is strictly how you expect it to be...
 
#17
spaz21387 said:
Well take a small drill bit like the smallest you can find and carefully drill a hole in the skunk stripe till you hit the truss then take a paper clip or whatever fits in the hole and you can use that as a depth guage and you know how far from the truss you are.
Click to expand...

This actually sounds like a good idea. But remember, you need to leave enough wood behind the truss rod to prevent the rod from pushing/breaking through when you adjust it. LMI says 3/32". That's the rule i follow. Also, remember that the standard compression rod used by Fender has a curve in it, so it will be closer to the surface toward the middle of the neck. The rod is not at a constant depth.
 
#18
allexcosta said:
What were doing as a teenager in Jaco's living room? :D
Click to expand...

You make it sound like a bad thing. :smug:

Me and his sons used to hang out quite a bit. For a while there it seemed Felix and I couldn't keep from hacking up our basses trying to make "improvements". Under the bridge of the same J bass I boogered the neck on, there's a chiseled out shape of one of Jaco's barcus berry T style upright bass pickups. We thought it would sound "acoustic". It sounded like crap but was fun to do.
 

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