Narcissism Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Well i've come to an interesting fork in the road. Here's what i've got: I've got a modified bass. I ordered a neck from Ken Francis. Basically, what happened, was i gave him the dimensions on my bass, a few measurements or something were missed, and now i have a 35" scale with a neck and body that are meant for a 34" scale. The neck pocket isn't deep enough to hold the fretless neck as it adds an inch to the scale. I didn't know that until i started building a bass and i decided to measure. For the longest time i couldn't figure out why my fretless sounded flat or sharp. I thought i was just sucking at playing it or something. Anyway, I was wondering if i should route out the neck pocket or not. By routing out the neck pocket, i lose the ability to change back to my fretted neck. Buying another bass, is an option too, but small apartments don't have much room in them. The other option is to chop off an inch of the fretless neck i ordered. The problem with this isn't the cosmetics or the loss of a 21st fret (its a bass, come on lol), but i'm worried about hitting the truss rod. Does anyone know if a Carvin bolt on 34" scale bass neck has a truss rod channel that runs all the way to the 20th or 21st fret? Because i'd rather just do that. Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 While not having frets means you can get away with just chopping an inch of the heel end of the neck to get your scale length in spec, if you have any markers on that neck, they're going to be in the totally wrong places. What type of bridge are using? If it's a top loading setup, and it's just held on with a few screws, and you've got room, I'd think about simply moving the bridge. Leaves some extra screw holes, but depending on the finish, those might not be too bad to hide. Depending on the placement of the bridge, it might even cover the old holes. I'd imagine a stud finder used from the back of the neck might help you tell if there's truss rod in the way. But contacting the manufacturer might be the best way to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 While not having frets means you can get away with just chopping an inch of the heel end of the neck to get your scale length in spec, if you have any markers on that neck, they're going to be in the totally wrong places. Not true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 While not having frets means you can get away with just chopping an inch of the heel end of the neck to get your scale length in spec, if you have any markers on that neck, they're going to be in the totally wrong places. Not true. How do you figure? If it has lines marked out for a 35" scale, they wouldn't match up with the placement of a 34" scale regardless of the actual length of the fretboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted October 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 (edited) While not having frets means you can get away with just chopping an inch of the heel end of the neck to get your scale length in spec, if you have any markers on that neck, they're going to be in the totally wrong places. Not true. The problem with the neck is that its a 34" scale neck, but the body turns it into a 35" scale, thereby giving me a bit of an intonation problem. Its not that i want it to be a 34" scale, its that it IS a 34" scale neck, but the neck pocket isn't routed correctly for it, so it adds an inch and gives me an intonation. Basically, routing out the body would fix my intonation problem, but i like having the option of switching back to a fretted neck because i like to play slap sometimes. I can play slap on a fretless, but it just doesn't sound the same. I like playing fretless though, because of the sound and the feel. I hate making slides or jumping scales with frets bumping into my pinky... Yet i continue to scallop frets 12-24 on all of my guitars... ANYWAY: Good idea on the stud finder! I never would have thought about that! This is why i come here; I'm always missing something, and you all find it for me. So thanks a lot! I'm going to try to chop an inch off and make it look pretty. Wish me luck! Edited October 16, 2008 by Narcissism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 While not having frets means you can get away with just chopping an inch of the heel end of the neck to get your scale length in spec, if you have any markers on that neck, they're going to be in the totally wrong places. Not true. It's certainly true. If you have a fretless neck without any lined markers, it can be any scale you set the bridge to be. However, if there are lined markers and you chop off an inch to get the nut 1" closer to the bridge, the lined markers will be incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Nope - I was wrong and Wes is right, now that I look at it again. Since his neck is actually a 34" scale neck, just bolted in the wrong place, the markers would be in the right spot. It's like bolting a neck with no overhang into a body designed for a neck with an overhang. (Actually, that's probably exactly what's going on) It moves the whole neck away from the bridge. Cutting the end of the neck moves it back towards where it should - the nut ot bridge distance is now correct, and since the neck was originally marked out for that scale length anyway, everythings hunky-dory. Where this a case of chopping an extra inch off the heel end of a 35" scale neck to make 34", then we'd have a problem. I was misunderstanding the original post. EDIT: didn't see the last few posts as I had the window open for a while... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted October 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Well now that you mention it j. Pierce, the option of keeping the overhang on the fingerboard sounds like a pretty nice idea! I think I'll do that. This way if I'm unsatisfied with the end, the Carvin factory carved ebony will still be there to cover up whatever ugliness will be lurking inside of the neck cavity after I'm done. Stud finder results = safe to remove an inch BTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Anyway, I was wondering if i should route out the neck pocket or not. By routing out the neck pocket, i lose the ability to change back to my fretted neck. Buying another bass, is an option too, but small apartments don't have much room in them. This is more confusing than cutting off an inch??? All in all it sounds like it would be best to build another body for the fretless neck and put your fretted neck on this body????????????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Anyway, I was wondering if i should route out the neck pocket or not. By routing out the neck pocket, i lose the ability to change back to my fretted neck. Buying another bass, is an option too, but small apartments don't have much room in them. This is more confusing than cutting off an inch??? All in all it sounds like it would be best to build another body for the fretless neck and put your fretted neck on this body????????????????? Well, its true that i could start a whole new project with the materials and issues i have in front of me. However, having another guitar in my tiny apartment would only upset the wife, whereas having a spare neck hidden behind an amp doesn't seem to phase her at all. So routing the neck out for the fretless neck and then not having the ability to go back to my fretted neck doesn't appeal to me. I'm building a 5 string fretless right now though, so maybe a future body project is in order for the 4 string fretless... when we move into a house Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted November 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2008 So i went to work on doing this thing. I got out the trusty jigsaw (because i don't have a chop saw) and i dug in! And i found the truss rod! And i found out that my jigsaw isn't tuned properly so it cuts at a funny angle! And i found out that Ebony snaps really clean! *sigh* i'll call this more "practice" and get a stud finder next time. i wasn't really too concerned about the looks... so i can deal with it. At least the bass plays well and sounds right now. I think i can cover that up with the spare pieces of fingerboard and some of the maple i have lying around. I've seen people here completely fill in pickup cavities and make that look amazing, so if they can do that, then this little pocket/void shouldn't be too much of a problem. Damn i feel retarded though, lol. But i really can't help but laugh at how ill prepared I was and how much prep work i didn't do before tackling this job. I guess i should stay away from power tools and projects when I'm running on 4 hours of sleep... Lesson learned... On a side note, this neck looks a lot better without the pinstriping on it! I'll have to use black pins instead of silver next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 How do you figure? If it has lines marked out for a 35" scale, they wouldn't match up with the placement of a 34" scale regardless of the actual length of the fretboard. Because it is a 34" fretless and he was going to chop the inch off of the bottom end.He is not changing the scale,he is just sliding the neck to make the scale correct.Or at least that is the thought in my mind at the time...but I think I may have missed a part of the equation as I think I was a bit drunk maybe? It was a while back and I don't remember...right now I can't make sense of it at all because it's too early and I just woke up. But I still THINK I was right?...too early..let me know if I am still wrong.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted November 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 You are correct, wes *thumbs up* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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