chrisanthony1211 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) I was quite fancying an early 70s jazz bass to match my precision, however I've read a lot of bad stuff about the fender micro tilt design in the 70s, is it all that bad? Are the necks really that unstable? I wonder whether they may have been better in the early 70s, and then as fenders quality control got worse in the mid to late 70s, so did the application of the three bolt neck. There is obviously nothing wrong with the design as the reissues with the three bolt necks seem to be quite good, so it was the application which was the problem, any experiences with these would be appreciated. Edited April 12, 2015 by chrisanthony1211 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) some say that the actual screw that was used for actually tilting the neck, pushed into the wood at the back of the neck and affected the neck/frets above. I've owned a few reissues, and never had a problem. but with a 40 year old instrument, it might be a different matter. its something to look out for when buying a vintage Fender Jazz. someone with more Vintage Fender experience will add more info than i can I'm sure. Edited April 12, 2015 by bubinga5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Hughes Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I've had my '75 reissue for about 4 years now, think it's about 15 years old. No problems at all. And where the screw meets the neck, it makes contact with a little metal circle rather than digging into the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinehead Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 [quote name='Gareth Hughes' timestamp='1428875844' post='2745633'] I've had my '75 reissue for about 4 years now, think it's about 15 years old. No problems at all. And where the screw meets the neck, it makes contact with a little metal circle rather than digging into the wood. [/quote] Exactly correct. I think most of the problems came about by operator error. Lots of information available about this. My American Vintage 75RI has never been a problem over about 7 years of ownership. Frank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 (edited) [quote name='Gareth Hughes' timestamp='1428875844' post='2745633'] I've had my '75 reissue for about 4 years now, think it's about 15 years old. No problems at all. And where the screw meets the neck, it makes contact with a little metal circle rather than digging into the wood. [/quote]sorry i didn't mean it was just a screw into wood. but that pressure of the screw to disc caused problems over time, especially over 40 years. also some say the neck/neck pocket was not as secure as the screw pushed out the integrity of the joint. I'm not sure but take from that what you will. Edited April 12, 2015 by bubinga5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) There is nothing wrong with the theory of the micro-tilt neck. The problem was down to the implementation along with the integrity of the router templates used and slipping quality control at Fender in the late 70s. The way the micro-tilt works is the adjustment screw acts against a metal disk set into the neck. Unfortunately production standards of the time meant that this disk wasn't always set parallel with respect to the base of the neck in the joint area. That meant that instead of applying an upwards force to the neck joint, could, depending on the angle of the disk also be applying a sideways force. This wouldn't have been a problem if the neck pocket was a perfect fit, but because the router templates were wearing out, the neck pockets were being cut much larger than they should have, allowing the neck to move sideways in the pocket. In extreme cases the neck could be pushed so far out of alignment that the G string was completely off the side of the neck above the fifteenth fret (I've actually seen basses with this degree of mis-alignment in the late 70s). So if the disk is set flat in the neck and there isn't too much play in the neck pocket you should be fine. Otherwise proceed with caution. Edited April 13, 2015 by BigRedX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1428925304' post='2745942'] There is nothing wrong with the theory of the micro-tilt neck. The problem was down to the implementation along with the integrity of the router templates used and slipping quality control at Fender in the late 70s. The way the micro-tilt works is the adjustment screw acts against a metal disk set into the neck. Unfortunately production standards of the time meant that this disk wasn't always set parallel with respect to the base of the neck in the joint area. That meant that instead of applying an upwards force to the neck joint, could, depending on the angle of the disk also be applying a sideways force. This wouldn't have been a problem if the neck pocket was a perfect fit, but because the router templates were wearing out, the neck pockets were being cut much larger than they should have, allowing the neck to move sideways in the pocket. In extreme cases the neck could be pushed so far out of alignment that the G string was completely off the side of the neck above the fifteenth fret (I've actually seen basses with this degree of mis-alignment in the late 70s). So if the disk is set flat in the neck and there isn't too much play in the neck pocket you should be fine. Otherwise proceed with caution. [/quote]the great stuff i learn from other BC members is never ending. thanks BRX. Edited April 13, 2015 by bubinga5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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