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Warmoth: weird neck pocket dims?

H

Hoover

Inactive
Nov 2, 2007
4,388
96
New York City
debris.rednotebook.org
#1
I've had this Warmoth 5-string fretless J-type bass for about 10 years now. It was purchased second-hand and judging by all the lacquer checking on the body finish, it was either quite a few years old already at the time I bought it, or else the previous owner left it in the icebox just before playing underneath hot stage lights!

Here's the bass:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Having just recently acquired another (admittedly nicer) fretless 5-string (a Rob Allen MB-2, in case you're wondering) I now want to change this Warmoth to either a fretted 5-string or (preferably) an 8-string. So I want to re-use this body & electronics, and put a new Warmoth neck onto it.

Here's my problem: According to Warmoth's website (Invalid Link Removed) the neck pocket dimensions for a 5-string body should be 100mm x 74mm, and the neck pocket dims for a 4-string body (which the Warmoth 8-string neck fits) should be 3.875" x 2.5"

My bass appears to be neither of those dimensions!

As best as I can tell, the neck pocket dims of my bass are 3.8125" x 2.625". (In metric that works out to 96.83mm x 66.68mm)

So either
A) I have a completely unique freak of a bass body that's not compatible with any current Warmoth necks; or
B) this is simply within the typical margin of error in Warmoth's published dimensions (which seems unlikely; and even if it were true, I'm still not sure which neck would fit my body); or
C) I suck at taking & reading measurements!

In case C is the likely answer, I humbly submit photos of my neck pocket & neck heel with a steel straightedge ruler:

neck pocket [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
neck pocket length [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
neck pocket width [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
neck heel length [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
neck heel width [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Can anyone help me identify what I've got here, and whether any of the currently-made Warmoth necks (either 5-string or 8-string) will fit this body? Thanks.
 
#3
since Warmoth is still in business today, why not directly ask the ultimate authority on this - Warmoth

I know, way too easy of an answer


p.s. because a neck and mating neck pocket have a slight angle, you should measure the dimensions at the tangency of the heel and not at some random location within the neck pocket

all the best,

R
 
#4
Rodent said:
since Warmoth is still in business today, why not directly ask the ultimate authority on this - Warmoth

I know, way too easy of an answer
Click to expand...

I actually did send an email directly to Warmoth...but since I'd already gone to all the trouble to host the pics on ImageShack, I figured I'd also ask here (as well as on The Unofficial Warmoth Board) in case anyone else could offer additional, non-commercially motivated insight.


Rodent said:
p.s. because a neck and mating neck pocket have a slight angle, you should measure the dimensions at the tangency of the heel and not at some random location within the neck pocket
Click to expand...

Aw crap, no one said there was gonna be math on this quiz!

Sorry, it's been way too long since I took a geometry class; where exactly is the "tangency of the heel" ?
 
#5
Nothing new there re: Warmoth variance......I bought a, well ordered specifically actually, a new fretless neck from Warmoth and ordered a body as well. I had at the time another warmoth P body lying around. The neck was 2mm wider than it should have been and didn't fit either body. I got in touch with Ken Warmoth and he blamed the 'guitar crazy dolts' (his phrase) who worked there. I managed to widen the neck pocket of one of the bodies and got the wider than normal neck to fit and it is stil in use today. I've bought a lot of products from Warmoth but this was the only one tat was off. I could have returned it but I thought I could fix it and I did. In your case, you are unlikely to get a sympathetic ear from Warmoth.
 
#6
if you look at this image you'll see the pocket width is measured at its widest (tangent) point - at that location where the straight line of the neck shaft connects to the radius of the heel contour

faq_3.jpg


a similar measurement is made for the pocket length - you measure it at the place where the heel contour intersects (crosses) the neck centerline

make sense?

all the best,

R
 
#8
Well, I got a reply from Warmoth:

"Our D5 necks used to be classified as Big 5 and Small 5 with each of those neck heels being a different dimension.

We changed all of that a number of years ago to a new D5 based on Fender’s dimensions and discarded all the hand patterns for the Big 5 and Small 5 necks and bodies.

We rarely obsolete a product but that is indeed what we have done to the Big 5 and Small 5. We are unable to make those necks or bodies any longer."


Crap. So who will custom build a bass neck to fit this body. USA Guitars? Anyone else?
 
#11
from my viewpoint as a builder and repair person - it would be easier and cheaper to build a new neck than to fret/re-fret a fretless.

getting all of the fret slots cut accurately thru the multiple materials in the previous slots has the potential to be an incredible pain due to material hardness differences. and then there is the issue of cutting the slots themselves - on a fretboard blank I use a slotting jig ... but to freehand those slots on a completed neck - no thanks

all the best,

R
 

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