Fenderbird!

[Denis]

Okay, here are some pics. I found out from the previous owner of the body that it had been routed for an AFTERMARKET CUSTOM P-bass neck, NOT a Fender neck. I wish he had mentioned that nice little detail in the auction. Hence, you will see that the genuine Fender neck sits closer to the edge of the body rather than snugly down into the pocket. This leaves a gap of approximately .375". Rather than drilling 4 additional holes in the neck and moving it down, drilling the new holes in the body seems like the smarter idea since the body has already been decapitated. Thoughts?

Fender P-bass neck.


Fender neck numbers. Made my J. Torres.


Headstock


Body, pre-neck upon arrival (thanks for pointing out this now-expensive project, Uwe!)


Headstock with tuners!


Body with neck mounted.


Assembled

[PeterB]

Rather than drilling 4 additional holes in the neck and moving it down, drilling the new holes in the body seems like the smarter idea since the body has already been decapitated. Thoughts?

Very nice catch!

I would also choose to drill new holes in the body and leave the neck as it is.

[dadagoboi]

One of JAE's Fenderbirds, this IS a Fender neck


It will be a little easier to dowel the Fender neck and drill thru the body holes than to try and line up the original holes in the neck.  Aftermarket necks are generally sold w/o holes.  I have 2 from the Fender custom shop that came w/o holes.  The important thing to me would be having the neck in proper alignment w/the bridge I was gonna keep for myself, again easier to align the neck and drill pilot holes.  If it was for a customer it would be different.

[Hornisse]

Make sure about the intonation as well.  If you move the neck down to the body will it still be the proper scale?

[Denis]

Hmmm, it's good to have friends like you guys! I wonder what the proper scale is for this, since it's a hybrid. Would it be different than a complete Thunderbird (aren't they 34 1/2"?). Where would I take EXACT measurements?
Thanks!

[dadagoboi]

34 is correct, I take 17.5 from middle of 12th fret to front edge of G saddle leaving room to intonate forward and back.  It's probably correct if the job WAS done by someone competent.

[Denis]

Tried to upload pics but Photobucket is busy choking itself.
From the inside of the nut to the front edge of the bridge it measures 34 1/16".
From the center of the 12th fret to the front edge of the bridge it measures 17 1/16".
From the center of the 12th fret to the CENTER of the bridge cavity it measures 17 3/4".

The previous owner told me that a luthier in NYC made the body modifications so it's possible I might be able to track him down.

[dadagoboi]

Hey, I'm an idiot!  Wrong about that 12th fret measurement.  It's 17!  Obviously half of 34.  That said seems like the scale is a little long on yours to zero in intonation.  How close can you get the G saddle to the front end of the bridge?  That should be no more than around 16 3/4" from the 12th fret.  Somebody please keep me from making a complete fool of myself!

[Bionic-Joe]

How about buying a Warmoth 8 string neck and bridge and coming over to the Dark side....IF you dare....... Pus they have those crazy extended fingerboards so it would hide the space.

[Denis]

Well, the Fenderbird is off to Carlo for some woodwork and refit! Thanks, Carlo!

[dadagoboi]

Let's hope he remembers half of 34 is 17.

[dadagoboi]

Man, some beautiful mahogany!  Do no harm was my guiding thought.  The neck was 1/16" under sized compared to the pocket so I decided to shim the pocket with glued in maple veneer.  I could have cut a new pocket but it would have involved routing an oversized hole, inlaying a piece of mahogany and rerouting the pocket.  Seemed like overkill and no guarantee the pocket would be in the right place.


Trimming.  Note that the screw holes are not drilled symmetrically.  Denis wanted to use the original neck holes and redrill the body.  I thought I could just move the holes in their relative positions toward the bridge 21/64" which was the gap between the end of the neck and the pocket.  I used a drill bit to determine the gap.  Have to rethink since the holes ain't right.


Turned out the original route was also off center and the strings would not line up with the bridge properly.  So I doubled up on the treble side and the neck end of the pocket and remove the bass side shim.  Used the neck as a clamp and strings as tensioners and to check alignment.


Since the original holes were off I screwed these cut down screws into the neck using a vise grips pliers and pressed it into the neck pocket.  Then drilled the new holes using the indentations from the screw points.  And forgot to take pictures...ever notice how every '70s fender neck seems to have D Torres stamped on it?


Trimmed shim and neck dry fitted, no shim on bass side.


Stained with minwax polyshades.  Denis wants to keep the mojo so not a lot of time was spent getting a perfect match.  This was basically a functional repair.  No neck wiggle, the bass now intonates and plays really well with super low action for a 30 year plus neck with no fret work.


The Mark of the Beast


Thanks for trusting your 'bird to me, Denis.  It'll be on its way back to you Monday.

[Highlander]

Neat work... what was your opinion of the sound...?

[dadagoboi]

Neat work... what was your opinion of the sound...?

Thanks.  The 60's pups I've been testing seem to have more tone variation and output, in all fairness the strings don't look very new on this 'bird.  It looks like the neck pup has been rewired, non Gibson cable, so maybe that's it.

...I'm going to adjust the pickup height and may have to shim the neck to get the pups closer to the strings.  That may help.

[chromium]

Thanks.  The 60's pups I've been testing seem to have more tone variation and output, in all fairness the strings don't look very new on this 'bird.  It looks like the neck pup has been rewired, non Gibson cable, so maybe that's it.

...I'm going to adjust the pickup height and may have to shim the neck to get the pups closer to the strings.  That may help.

Denis' has the 70s sidewinder pickups, so that might account for some of the sound differences too.  I forget the specs but one pickup is like half the impedance of the other, and one has a non-braided cable (grey plastic insulation or something) to help differentiate it.  They were wired in a series arrangement in the original circuit.

Really nice work!  What a cool bass    And that trick with threading the screws in, making indentations, etc.. is one of those moments - I've needed to do something like that before and never thought to try that.  Great tip!  (literally  )