I’m in the middle of a couple of NR builds utilizing Rosser bodies. One is a standard 1960’s NR tribute with some performance tweaks to my taste, and the other is a Fender Telecaster Modern Player transplant into a NR body to capitalize on the Tbird ergonomics that fit me better than the Fender ergonomics.
Neither build is 100% complete yet but the 1960’s tribute has been fit tested and sound checked before handing it over to the finisher to paint. The Tele NR is ready for pickup routing but currently a basic NR slab.
Preliminary observations on the Rosser NR body:
The raw mahogany wood used has excellent grain structure and multi piece slabs are perfectly matched with no obvious grain or seam issues. The body is a slab design, no tummy cut and no forearm contour. Body weight is what it is, according to their eBay listing Rosser will not hand select a light weight body for you, you get what you get. Mine is on the heavy side, but on a thunderbird that actually helps balance the body better (look for light weight necks and tuners to reduce the overall weight of the bass).
The neck pocket is a perfect light press fit for a licensed Fender P bass or Jazz bass neck. The standard pickup routes are 1960’s vintage size and location correct on the neck pickup and about 1/4” closer to the neck on the bridge pickup. The pre drilled Fender bridge position and ground wire route is exactly correct for a Fender high mass bridge. To stay relatively true to thunderbird aesthetics I am using an Epiphone VP two piece bridge, so I needed to fill the Fender bridge mounting screw holes. The ground wire route coincidentally aligned exactly with the Epiphone bridge anchor for proper grounding. The control cavity is small and narrow. It is properly sized for Alpha pots but larger CTS pots might be a bit tight.
Rosser does provide a control cavity cover but not a pickguard. I designed my own pickguard and had it professionally fabricated by a club member here, he still has the template and can use it to make a pickguard for other Rosser NR IV bodies.
For the price the Rosser body is a hard deal to beat, but don’t lose sight of the fact that the total build can easily exceed $1000 if you are paying someone else to finish the neck and body.
Here’s a progress pic of the NR 1960’s Tribute build fit test prior to the forearm and belly contours as I was shipping the body off to the finisher for a Fender Shoreline Gold Metallic finish.
Pre assembly…
And along side my Burgundy Red Gibson 2021 NR for reference…
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