Unknown "MIJ" bass necks on ebay?

[z11111]

Stumbled across a certain "samsguitarshop" selling some dirt cheap finished necks on eBay. Some of them have made in Japan in the title or description. Anyone have any experience with these or know what they might be? Found a bunch of other similar necks made of "canadian maple" as well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAZZ-Replac...714?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item4874ea1b0a

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAZZ-Replac...703?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item418b7b1587

 

[z11111]

Update: seem to have found a lot of similar necks all over ebay advertised as "canadian maple" within the $70-$150 price range.

 

[Doctor Hugocat]

Interesting: He uses 'MIJ' in the title of the second link but nowhere in the listing itself that I can see: honestly I'm interpreting this as using MIJ as a keyword to get traffic to the listing. If I were in the market for one of these I'd certainly confirm with the seller that they're not Chinese.

 

[z11111]

Messaged the seller of these necks; they responded saying they're made in Japan by the same manufacturer as Allparts? Very interesting.

 

[ATLbassist]

De-lurking just to post this: I stumbled across the samsguitarshop necks a few months ago and took the plunge. TL;DR = They're nice.

Backstory: I found an abandoned project bass on my local Craigslist about a year ago. It looks like it started life as an SX Ursa 3 (PJ configuration), but the pickups had been swapped for Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders. The body was completely copper-insulated with a nice sunburst finish and the price was very low - it was like buying pickups and getting a bass for free. (The owner just up and left for Alaska, leaving the bass with his guitarist. Said guitarist then moved to NYC, leaving it with his father who just wanted it out of the house.) I slapped on a Gotoh 201 bridge I had lying around and it was good to go.

The headstock, however, was the color of Chee-tos and a very odd shape:

image by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

(EDIT: Turns out this is an SX neck after all - just an older one that's not seen often.)

I lived with it for awhile but finally decided to replace when I saw the samsguitarshop neck. I really like the 70s block inlay style and the price was right, so I jumped on it. I had a little trouble getting the right one at first; the first one sent had some imperfections in the binding and the truss rod adjustment at the heel instead of the headstock like I wanted. But the seller has great service and replaced it as soon as a new shipment came in. He was great to work with.

My bass setup guy was impressed with the quality and said it was exactly like the AllParts necks he used to sell. It came without screwholes, so they had to be drilled. There was also one fret that needed leveling, but overall it was great right out of the box. All my old hardware fit perfectly, and the vintage tint is exactly what I was looking for. A few months down the road, and it feels great and has not had any extra bowing. I recommend giving samsguitarshop a try.

On with the pictures!

image by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

image by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

image by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Oh, the decal is from Rothko and Frost. (Yes, I'm a bit of a smart aleck.) I don't need it, but getting the samsguitarshop neck that's all-maple with black inlays and binding onto a green SX Ursa 4 (Jaguar style) body is a pretty tempting project.

 

[ATLbassist]

In case anyone is searching for information on the samsguitarshop necks, I took some more pictures. BTW, the seller's name is Dave and here's a link to his eBay page.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

The inlays are definitely plastic. The pearloid doesn't show as much as I'd hoped, but from a distance it looks great. I might try putting some varnish over them.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

The heel fit nicely with only minor shimming needed. That may be because the body is an SX and not an actual Fender.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Nice woodgrain on the back. Poly finish; I might sand it.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

The binding was a really nice touch and was what convinced me to take the plunge.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

I really like the vintage tint - not too orange, not too thin.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

There was one tiny blemish where the poly didn't completely cover the binding.

Samsguitarshop neck closeups by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

But that's the only quibble. It looks and feels great overall. In fact, I just bought the black inlay maple version for the SX project.

 

[ATLbassist]

Here are some pictures of the maple neck with black blocks and binding. My Ursa project is currently on hold while I 1. wait for a sale at Rondo and 2. keep fiddling with the Squier Bass VI I scored!

Another Samsguitarshop bass neck by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Another Samsguitarshop bass neck by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Another Samsguitarshop bass neck by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Another Samsguitarshop bass neck by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

Another Samsguitarshop bass neck by thaddeusthompson, on Flickr

You can see some small blemishes on the edge of the binding. Based on these two, perhaps this is a common issue with these necks. Again, it's very minor and you can only see them when you're up close. I think the ones on the black binding might buff out.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

ATL, love your decal choice!

 

[z11111]

@ATL: Didn't see this post as I'm not on the forums as much as I used to be but wow, seems like a pretty good product for the money! Definitely might grab one in the future if they're still around. Thanks so much for all the details, as well!

 

[superheavyfunk]

Those necks look like they're of excellent quality, @ATLbassist! Thanks for updating the thread.

That old headstock looks rad too, though. Why'd you get sick of it?

 

[WhoSeyes]

The neck in the opening post looks like it has a sloppy fretwork (look at edges).

I've owned Squier, Epiphone, Samick and 70s asian basses and never seen a bad fretwork like that...

 

[bholder]

The neck in the opening post looks like it has a sloppy fretwork (look at edges).

I've owned Squier, Epiphone, Samick and 70s asian basses and never seen a bad fretwork like that...

Yeah, the edges aren't all fully seated in those pics. That seller has several listed now, none of the pics show closeups of the fretboard edge like that one does. Hmmm.

 

[ATLbassist]

That old headstock looks rad too, though. Why'd you get sick of it?

I don't like the shape; something about the large extrusion of wood next to a deep cutaway looks weird to me. SX aficionados call it the "paddle" style. It might be interesting to use that space to create a narrow-width 5-string. I still have it if you want it.

That seller has several listed now, none of the pics show closeups of the fretboard edge like that one does.

I can't speak to the unbound necks, but the bound necks I picked up look quite nice. My bass tech said he only re-seated one fret and sanded the others. Probably you'd normally have to do for a cheaper neck; nothing drastic.