Neck pocket question and project advice

[ack1961]

I'm in need of some advice for a current project.
 
In a nutshell, I have a old USA Peavey Forum neck that I absolutely love and want to use with a Jazz bass control plate.
I'm going to be using an Audere JZ3 (Jazz plate) preamp, so I need to either build a body to house the Audere or find a Jazz bass body that will fit the Peavey neck.  Here's the dilemma:  The Peavey neck has a square heel where it meets the body at the pocket.  The Jazz bodies that I have all have the rounded Fender-type pocket.  The Peavey neck heel also has a slightly more narrow width: 2 7/16" (as opposed to 2 1/2" for the Fenders). The 4 neck-plate mounting holes line up (PV neck with Fender body), but there is a substantial gap (1/2") between the heel and the pocket.

I've been up on Warmoth's website for reference purposes, but I'm having trouble locating a definitive description of the different heel configurations (in this case, square vs rounded & 2 7/16" vs 2 1/2").

I'd love to just pick up a Jazz body that will accept the Peavey neck, but I'm curious about the proper terminology for the squared-heel pocket.

The other option is that I have a 2-piece Walnut slab that's been "drying" (read: wastefully sitting in my house) for 3 years and it needs a project.  Regardless of which direction I go, if anyone here has an idea as to how I can discern between the two neck pockets when shopping online for a bass body, I'd really appreciate it.

Steve

[drbassman]

It is highly unlikely you will find any jazz bass body that will fit the Peavey neck. Jazz bodies are typically routed for Fender-sized jazz necks.  Your best bet is to custom make the heel pocket so that it fits the Peavey neck.  If the pocket isn't perfect, you can always cover any gaps around the heel of the neck with a pick guard.  Just some ideas.  BTW, square heel Fender bass necks were typically the old Tele basses.

[dadagoboi]

You can side shim a Fender neck pocket to fit the narrower Peavey neck.  You can also reshape the end of the Peavey neck to fit the contour of the rounded neck pocket.

Or you can just slap the neck in the Fender pocket and compensate by adjusting the bridge saddles for correct intonation or move the entire bridge if necessary.

[Granny Gremlin]

Personally, I'd fill the entire neck pocket (or at least a good bit of it) and re-route it to fit the peavey.  ... basically what Carlo said about side-shimming, but moreso.  Then refint he body (which I am taking for granted as something you were gonna do anyway).  This way you can put the neck exactly where you want it (in addition to width, is the length the same?  Though as Carlo said you could move the bridge if you needed to; I am assuming the same scale because both companies defaulted to 34" so it wouldn't need to be moved very far if at all).

To simplfy this, it would be rather easy to chisel/route out the corners of the neck pocket to take the square peavey neck butt (do you even need to if it's narrower?) and then fill in the side gaps or just leave them if it don't bother you (It'd bother me).

[drbassman]

You can side shim a Fender neck pocket to fit the narrower Peavey neck.  You can also reshape the end of the Peavey neck to fit the contour of the rounded neck pocket.

Or you can just slap the neck in the Fender pocket and compensate by adjusting the bridge saddles for correct intonation or move the entire bridge if necessary.

Good ideas, too.  I'm not a shimming fan generally, I just like to make a neck pocket that fits.  Either way, it will all work.  Good pints on knowing if the neck position on the Peavey in a fender pocket will yield the proper scale/intonation with a fixed bridge.  Something to measure for!

[Dave W]

You won't find anything made to Fender specs that fits the Peavey neck. Also, IIRC the Peavey Forum had 21 frets, your standard J body is made for a 20 fret neck. The Forum neck plus a 1/2" gap would mean having to move the bridge about 1.6" closer to the neck pocket, which also might put the bridge pickup too close to the bridge for you. There have been 22 and 24 fret Js but you'd have to find the right body.

If you have the capability of making your own body to fit, go for it.

[ack1961]

Thanks for all the replies - you guys are great.
As mentioned above, I can get the PV neck secured to the Jazz body, but the intonation is off.

Finding a good fit is going to be difficult, so I'll be dusting off the Walnut slab and heading to the workshop to make something that fits the Peavey neck pocket.  I'm glad this happened - kinda gets me off my ass, and starting with a slab allows my mind to wander and be creative for a change.

Thanks for the help.
Steve