Neck attachment

[Simon.]

Holla folks,

I'm in the middle of upgrading an old and slightly crusty mid 80's Fender Jap Jazz bass.

After a good clearing, new pick-ups and general sorting of the electrics, it's sounding much better. The next stage is to put on the new, All Parts, neck. However, as I tend to do a lot of travelling with my work (which plays havoc with trying to get a band together!), my intention is that this is going to be the bass I can take with me, without worrying too much about it getting knocked or the occasional dent. Most of the time I won't have the space to take a hard case, so would be taking the neck off and transporting it in two parts.

So, as the neck is likely to be on and off the body more than your average instrument, I was wondering about installing bushes in the heel and using bolts to attach it to the body, rather than the traditional 4 screws, which I suspect if screwed directly into the wood will wear out the holes over time. Has anyone had any experience of this type of arrangement, or seen it done elsewhere?

Cheers,

Simon.

[neepheid]

[url="http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/2011/04/11/how-to-fit-the-threaded-insert-neck-kit/"]http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/2011...nsert-neck-kit/[/url]

Also my Gibson G-3 and Victory Artist both have a similar sort of arrangement and yes, it's very secure and convenient.

Edited May 30, 2011 by neepheid

[untune]

I posted about these a while ago, you can get a set on ebay for about a tenner - seems that loads of Hong Kong based ones have cropped up lately too!

[bigjohn]

A cheaper and easier way - though not quite as robust, would be to take out the screws, put wood glue on them and screw them back in.

The screw holes are far tougher - and there's no real mod.

[henry norton]

During my heady days as a designer of expensive furniture we always used machine screws into inserts, never screws into the wood. Leo's woodscrews obviously worked well but weren't meant for constant use. You could probably buy inserts and machine screws from somewhere like Screwfix for a couple of quid rather than pay luthier prices for the same thing but in a nicer plastic bag

This is the way forward for detachable necks [url="http://brunner-guitars.com/flash/"]Brunner outdoor guitar[/url] (check out the outdoor guitar assembly/disassembly page)

Edited May 31, 2011 by henry norton