Will a standard Jazz neck fit a Peavey Milestone?

[SamBassPlayer]

I've got a Peavey Milestone like this one:

It is very much Jazz-ish though the body is a little different as you can see. It needs a new neck: Does anyone know if a Jazz neck (or identically-sized knock-off) will drop right in? I can deal with routing out a little space from the body/pickguard if more is needed for the truss rod adjustment. If I had a real Fender Jazz bass I would just try it out but I don't.

Thanks

 

[Whale]

Most (but not all) Milestone bass necks have a 64 mm wide neck pocket. Jazz Basses are 63.45 mm wide, so you should (hopefully) be pretty close. The key will be finding a Jazz Bass with 20 frets. Anything else will cause issues with intonation.

I’m not sure, but you may also have to plug the holes in the neck and redrill to accommodate the Peavey neck plate.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Milestone bass necks have a 64 mm wide neck pocket. Jazz Basses are 63.45 mm wide, so you should (hopefully) be pretty close. The key will be finding a Jazz Bass with 20 frets.

With these measurements, I would say that a Jazz neck will fit with tight clearance. We’re talking .55 millimeter total clearance - which would be a little more than 1/4 millimeter clearance on each side of the neck. That’s preeeeeeetttyyyy close.

https://reverb.com/item/64109155-new-fender-lic-mighty-mite-jazz-bass-neck-mighty-mite-rosewood-mm2908-

According to the measurements listed, the neck heel width of the MightyMite neck is 63.09mm wide. You’d have 1/2mm clearance on each side.

Most standard Jazz necks are 20-fret. Some eBay Knock-offs can be 21-fret. Search wisely.

PS-
I see the bass pictured has a truss-wheel at the heel of the neck (like EBMM Stingray’s). Depending on what type of neck you get, you might need a channel routed for hex key truss adjustment. I haven’t seen any Jazz replacement necks with a truss wheel.
If you get a replacement neck with adjustment at the headstock (like MIM or Squier necks), then no worries.

 

[SamBassPlayer]

Thanks for all the input. The original neck measures out 63.75MM and has (as noted above) a pocket-end truss rod turnwheel.

I think a replacement neck with a neck-access truss rod adjustment would keep me from having to muck around with it.
I was thinking about something like this:
Yellow 20 Frets Maple Bass Guitar Neck for Precision P Bass + Truss Rod | eBay
Remember, it is a 'value' instrument and I'm not going to put a $400 neck on it.
Though this listing says that neck is 64mm I suspect that it is not exact. I also think that I could come if with .25MM if I had to.

More to the story: I picked this bass up for a good price because the neck was bowed. The TR seemed to work and I wondered if maybe the seller just didn't know how to adjust it. Upon getting it home I tightened the TR as far as it would go and still the neck was quite bowed. I did find that if I loosened the TR all the way I could slide it out of the neck completely. Upon inspection it seemed that it worked properly.

Figuring I had nothing to lose, I headed out to the shop. Using my ski iron and a putty knife, 90 minutes of labor got the fingerboard off the neck.

I saw that the neck end of the TR slot was enlarged a bit but it looked like it might've been made that way (the jagged edges are mostly dried glue). I saw that the wood under the TR end was compressed a little so I glued in a piece of plastic to bring the bottom of that pocket level with the rest of the TR channel.

Using various shims and clamps I made a jig that would hold the neck flat when clamped. I installed the TR and then re-glued on the fingerboard and clamped everything down.

After the glue dried I took it for a test run and everything seemed good. Neck held a proper relief, TR is working and still has some turns left in it. I dismounted the neck and cleaned up the dried glue, sanded the sides a little to re-meld the FB to the neck, leveled/crowned/polished the frets, and gave the back of the neck a light spray of matte poly (then steel wooled that smooth) and the neck looks new and is likely more leveled/setup than it would have been new (being a budget instrument):

I originally got this bass with the thought of upgrading the electronics but I never got that far because of the neck issue. Now that the neck plays well I find that the thickness near the nut and the 38mm nut width is too small for my liking - My P-bass (my main instrument) has a very chunky neck that's 42mm at the nut and even my other J-style, a Yamaha BB604 is 40mm and thicker front to back.

So now I'm a bit torn about what to do with it. I could get a similar neck to the listing I included above but that is 42mm at the nut I guess. Or I could just sell this bass as it is now - it'd be a great starter bass or a good backup. Has anyone had experience with these $50-ish 'Candian Maple' necks off of EBay?

 

[JRA]

Has anyone had experience with these $50-ish 'Candian Maple' necks off of EBay?

i think you did great stuff to bring that neck back!

i have no experience with that neck on ebay, or the vendor, but i've purchased and used 4-5 fretless necks from china via ebay (cheap) --- i've had one for 4 years and it's just been a superb neck, no problems at all.

 

[SamBassPlayer]

i think you did great stuff to bring that neck back!

i have no experience with that neck on ebay, or the vendor, but i've purchased and used 4-5 fretless necks from china (cheap) --- i've had one for 4 years and it's just been a superb neck, no problems at all.

Thanks JRA. Still up in the air about what to do with this bass. I like the shape a lot and there is no neck dive at all with that longer (than a standard J body) top horn. I'm not crazy about basswood bodies - they dent/chip so easily. But this bass is comfortable and not too heavy. I might just pick up one of those knock-off necks and hope I have the same luck as you. I'm sure I can get it to play. I know a lot of players like the 'faster' feel of the 38MM nut and even put J necks onto their P basses, but I have large hands so I'd get a 42MM neck.

Can anybody suggest a set of 'good-enough' J bass pickups and controls (keeping in mind that this is a budget project)? The stock ones work as designed but are a bit 'microphonic'.