Is this an upright fingerboard on a bass guitar?

[NikNik]

Seems a waste of ebony.

 

Bass

[mybass]

Looks like an old bass too….many years ago a DB repairer called Neville Whitehead who lived around the corner from the original Wal Bass workshop up in High Wycombe was fitting ‘ex’ DB fingerboards onto Fender basses. I saw a bass being prepared for bassist Dil Katz, fancied one myself and Neville replaced one onto my P bass. It sat all the way up to and partially around the P bass pickup…..yep, you couldn’t play it up there! I eventually cut the over length back.

[NikNik]

2 minutes ago, mybass said:

Looks like an old bass too….many years ago a DB repairer called Neville Whitehead who lived around the corner from the original Wal Bass workshop up in High Wycombe was fitting ‘ex’ DB fingerboards onto Fender basses. I saw a bass being prepared for bassist Dil Katz, fancied one myself and Neville replaced one onto my P bass. It sat all the way up to and partially around the P bass pickup…..yep, you couldn’t play it up there! I eventually cut the over length back.

I remember a Dill Katz Jazz with a retro-fitted ebony 'board!

[mybass]

Just now, NikNik said:

I remember a Dill Katz Jazz with a retro-fitted ebony 'board!

I think his was the first and maybe mine was the second that Neville converted.

[fretmeister]

The radius isn't nearly small enough to be from a DB.

 

I quite like it.

[NikNik]

12 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

The radius isn't nearly small enough to be from a DB.

 

I quite like it.

It could have had a new radius carved?

 

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, NikNik said:

It could have had a new radius carved?

 

 

 

They are not that thick. Re-carving to be flatter would mean making the centre of it really thin, possibly to the point of it breaking down the centre.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a 7.25 inch radius board (as per old Fenders) that has just been cut with an extension / extra length.

 

I don't see why it would be a waste. There are other extra long 'board basses out there. The Ibanez Portamento and the Zon Hyperbass just as 2 examples at opposite ends of the money spectrum.

[Belka]

That would be definitely worth buying at that price if only for parting out - it's a '70s neck but I'm almost certain the tuners are early pre-CBS and would probably be worth at least £500. 

[NikNik]

55 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

 

They are not that thick. Re-carving to be flatter would mean making the centre of it really thin, possibly to the point of it breaking down the centre.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a 7.25 inch radius board (as per old Fenders) that has just been cut with an extension / extra length.

 

I don't see why it would be a waste. There are other extra long 'board basses out there. The Ibanez Portamento and the Zon Hyperbass just as 2 examples at opposite ends of the money spectrum.

 It does look vintage radius.

 

The Ibby and the Zon have access; that bass doesn't.

[Happy Jack]

And who amongst us can say with complete honesty that they have never wanted to try bowing a Precision?

 

😂

[mybass]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

And who amongst us can say with complete honesty that they have never wanted to try bowing a Precision?

 

😂

I used to bow my Gibson EB3 via a (Roland maybe) space echo way way back in the day!

[mybass]

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

 

 

They are not that thick. Re-carving to be flatter would mean making the centre of it really thin, possibly to the point of it breaking down the centre.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like a 7.25 inch radius board (as per old Fenders) that has just been cut with an extension / extra length.

 

I don't see why it would be a waste. There are other extra long 'board basses out there. The Ibanez Portamento and the Zon Hyperbass just as 2 examples at opposite ends of the money spectrum.

I did take my bass back to Neville Whitehead a couple of times to have the radius/ curvature flattened out, it was too much for an electric bass. Unfortunately, that refit and subsequent ‘invetsigations’ into bass guitar led me into design and building basses, much nail biting, cursing and happiness has ensued!

[fretmeister]

3 hours ago, NikNik said:

 It does look vintage radius.

 

The Ibby and the Zon have access; that bass doesn't.

 

That assumes the owner wants the extra for playing in the traditional way. 

Perhaps the guy wanted it to pluck the strings over the board like on a DB.

Or maybe the extra is being used for tapping with the right hand. Or for both.

 

 

[OliverBlackman]

6 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

And who amongst us can say with complete honesty that they have never wanted to try bowing a Precision?

 

😂

It wouldn’t eliminate the scratching sounds I used to get but at least they’d be in tune

[lee650]

I'm sure I read many moons ago, that Mo Foster, had an ebony fingerboard from an old Double bass, grafted onto his Fender, gave it a much thicker board.  This is from a dusty part of my memory and not sure whether this information is mixed up with an old episide of Minder or something 😂 Mo' s fretless tone is sublime though.

[lee650]

16 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

And who amongst us can say with complete honesty that they have never wanted to try bowing a Precision?

 

😂

Lol when I started on bass, I was given an old violin by a neighbour,I thought it would be a cool way to get into Double bass later 🙄 I then saw a video with Jimmy Page, so decided to use the bow to play my roundwound strung bass, with a Distortion pedal on. My Dad was not a happy camper,at my early "musical" experiments. Who knew 6 years later, id be playing Agadoo in Skeg Vegas 😂

 

[Owen]

I owned an NS Fretted Omni Bass once. It was a proper curved DB neck with frets. It was very comfy and, for those of us who come from a DB background, strangely like coming home. I miss it and would buy another if I ran into one at the right time. 

[Pea Turgh]

I really like the look of that.

[crazycloud]

On 25/05/2022 at 18:28, lee650 said:

I'm sure I read many moons ago, that Mo Foster, had an ebony fingerboard from an old Double bass, grafted onto his Fender, gave it a much thicker board.

Then it would have had to have been shaved thinner and the radius adjusted to fit. Fenders have a standard neck pocket depth so adding to the total thickness of the neck would have meant something needed to be adjusted or the geometry of the bass would be off.

[lee650]

On 28/05/2022 at 05:14, crazycloud said:

Then it would have had to have been shaved thinner and the radius adjusted to fit. Fenders have a standard neck pocket depth so adding to the total thickness of the neck would have meant something needed to be adjusted or the geometry of the bass would be off.

I've found the Article, and he confirms everything you've just said 😁

 

http://www.fretlessbass.com/mo-foster-a-history-of-his-fender-jazz-fretless-bass/

[NikNik]

9 hours ago, lee650 said:

I've found the Article, and he confirms everything you've just said 😁

 

http://www.fretlessbass.com/mo-foster-a-history-of-his-fender-jazz-fretless-bass/

Interesting read. I also use Upright fingering down the bottom end and switch to one-to-one at 7th position.

[lee650]

1 hour ago, NikNik said:

Interesting read. I also use Upright fingering down the bottom end and switch to one-to-one at 7th position.

Yes I do too 😁