Why so many parts basses?

[Michael B]

Do a search for 'for sale p' or 'j' at any moment and you get a full body and a neck being sold at the same time.

Are the parts worth more than the whole?

Or do people need to learn how to get together?

And how the heck did these parts get separated to begin with?

 

[whatizitman]

#1, would be my guess. Folks probably find old guitars, take off the neck, turn right around and sell the parts separately. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that modded or changed something, and are selling off unused parts. But since cheap guitars are cheapest whole than in parts, I wouldn't be surprised that most of them are people just trying to make some extra bucks from the modders.

EDIT: and regarding #2, fender parts are ridiculously easy to remove and change around. Even cheap knock-off replacement parts fit reasonably well. Takes just a couple of minutes to remove a fender neck, pickguard, and bridge.

 

[Michael B]

It must be the parts value.

I just don't see how there would be that many people swapping out necks.

The other possibility is the necks get trashed. But bodies? Not as likely.

 

[Freightshaker]

Parts basses are the easiest and cheapest way to get the specs you want. It's easier to find a buyer for a $200 neck and a $150 body than it is to sell the whole thing for $325.

It's similar to auto junk yards. They have a hard time selling whole cars. Buyers don't have to deal with storing the extra parts they don't need or want.

 

[hrodbert696]

Well, I don't know what leads people to part them out in the first place. But at the purchasing end, I wanted a P bass but I don't like P necks, I like the J neck profile. I also wanted to have an LPB bass with a tort guard. The only way I could have gotten the bass I imagined was to order a custom one, which I couldn't afford, but buying an LPB P body, J neck, and aftermarket tort guard got me the bass I wanted within the budget.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I've been told there is at least one company that will buy new Fenders, disassemble them & sell the parts for profit.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I just don't see how there would be that many people swapping out necks.

I wanted a Fender Precision Blacktop body with a Jazz neck, but I gave up on that idea when I found out it would cost more to assemble it from parts than just buying a used one. In the end, I can barely tell the difference between necks, but maybe I am doing something wrong.

 

[DwaynieAD]

Do a search for 'for sale p' or 'j' at any moment and you get a full body and a neck being sold at the same time.

Are the parts worth more than the whole?

Or do people need to learn how to get together?

And how the heck did these parts get separated to begin with?

parts are definitely worth more than the whole.

I parted out my cort p bass here on tb and got more for it that way than I paid for it new 14 years ago, and I kept the body.

I really like maple necks with black block inlays, I'll be putting on on my current build.

I've trashed more bodies (1) than necks (0)... mainly from doing a horrible job trying to repaint it.

 

[ahc]

Try buying a car part by part. It's incredibly more expensive than buying one already assembled.

 

[two fingers]

It's pretty simple to me. I like certain things about one bass and hate certain things about the same bass. I find another bass with the things I wanted on the other bass. I swap parts and enjoy. Then I have stuff left over. Sold.

Nothing complicated about it at all.

 

[AnchorHoy]

I've been told there is at least one company that will buy new Fenders, disassemble them & sell the parts for profit.

eBay seller StratoSphere for one. Much of their inventory is apparently from brand-new instruments that were bought with the express intention of parting them out

FWIW there's two Tony Franklin fretless necks on their site right now, along with one TF fretted neck, all advertised as mint/never played

 

[mongo2]

I've been told there is at least one company that will buy new Fenders, disassemble them & sell the parts for profit.

I bought a couple of relatively inexpensive Mustang RI bass necks from that company and installed them on Squier Bronco bodies to create my Squender Mustoncos.