Anyone tried this? Taking the corner off a P bass heel

[Andyjr1515]

Hi

Not a large tortuous thread, you'll be relieved to know.

A 'mature' former professional bassist I know was bemoaning the sale many decades ago of his beloved 60's Fender Precision.  The two things he remembered - different to the cheap and cheerful no-name P he'd recently bought - were the smooth feel of the neck, and the lack of a sharp heel where the neck abruptly meets the body.  I said I might be able to help by building a cheapish 'bitsa' and doing a couple of mods.

The first was the neck - straightforward.  Bought a P-bass neck, tinted it with chestnut spirit stain and finished it with the tru-oil slurry and buff approach described in a number of my tortuous threads

For sorting the sharp heel, I wanted to use a cutaway neck plate but I also wanted to use an old Washburn body bought for a song - and for time and cost reasons - didn't want to have to strip and refinish it.

Here's the plate:

In that my mate wanted function over form, I could have just filed the corner off, stained the bare wood and treated the hole as an object d'art.  Instead, I decided that if you can't hide it then flaunt it!

So I decided to drop a piece of contrasting wood in.

First forstnered and routed a pocket at the back:

 

Then set in a piece of figured dark wood from a previous project:

 

Shaped that to remove the corner:

 

 

Drilled through the three relevant existing holes and the new offset one, then a touch of finish:

 

And I've got to say, wow - what a difference!  I thought that you would still hit the heel with your palm, albeit not on a sharp corner, but in reality, you can play right up to the top frets and your palm doesn't hit the heel at all.   My mate is over the moon.

 

Clearly, the fact that the offset plates are readily available means that this is a regular feature on some basses but has anyone else tried a retro like this?  I'll certainly be doing this on my own VM Jag! 

 

[gary mac]

That looks rather excellent Andy, great job.

[Paul S]

Andy - must have been a subconscious memory - the P Bass Lyte of mine that you refinished had a smoothed off heel and 5 screw plate.   

 

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

Andy - must have been a subconscious memory - the P Bass Lyte of mine that you refinished had a smoothed off heel and 5 screw plate.   

 

Ah - maybe that's what I'm thinking.  Now THAT was a nice bass

[Simon.]

I was just about to mention the P-Lyte, but Paul beat me too it!

Has a very similar neck plate and chamfered heel and it indeed, very comfortable to play. I do like the contrasting wood tones Andy. Very nice.

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Simon. said:

I was just about to mention the P-Lyte, but Paul beat me too it!

Has a very similar neck plate and chamfered heel and it indeed, very comfortable to play. I do like the contrasting wood tones Andy. Very nice.

I'm actually wondering whether it was a P-Lyte he originally had, then.  Were they around in the late 60s/early 70s?

[Simon.]

I think it exceedingly unlikely the P-Lyte was around in the 60s or 70s. To the best of my knowledge they are a Fender Japan original design - a neuron is fizzing at the back of my mind which reckons it was the first original, non-domestic, design Fender Japan were allowed to produce. Others might be better able to verify that.

 

Mine is dated from 1990, and I think that was pretty early in their lifespan. Doesn't mean there might not be other designs with that heel shape. It is super comfortable.

[pineweasel]

Don’t know about basses but they started putting a contoured heel on some Fender guitars in the late 80s, for example: https://guitarchimp.com/products/1989-fender-hm-heavy-metal-stratocaster-raspberry-made-in-usa

[Woodinblack]

The current precision elite has this.

[Norris]

I used one of those plates on my telecaster build, but recessed it for additional "smoothness"

Nice job on the insert though - it looks like it was built like that. Cap duly doffed

[Andyjr1515]

59 minutes ago, Norris said:

I used one of those plates on my telecaster build, but recessed it for additional "smoothness"

Nice job on the insert though - it looks like it was built like that. Cap duly doffed

Nice - I remember that now.