NancyJohnson Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 Like the question header says! I do love my old Aria Primary, but I think I'd like it more if the board was rosewood(y) or blocked rosewood(y). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 I have, quite some time ago, it was reasonably cheap and actually pretty good. Didn't need any work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meterman Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 I bought a rosewood one off eBay for my Telecaster. The original neck was maple and had seen about 25 years of hard gigging. It was very good for the price - under £100 - but I eventually found a bargain used Fender rosewood replacement. I wasn't let down by the Chinese one though, it was decent quality. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 @Ander87 has a nice looking one for his bitsa build; Would love to see an all roasted maple P version. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ander87 Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 28 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said: @Ander87 has a nice looking one for his bitsa build; I’ll report on thread upon receipt! Should arrive this week or next… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 1 minute ago, Ander87 said: I’ll report on thread upon receipt! Should arrive this week or next… I found the seller on eBay - couldn’t see any all maple roasted flamed P sizes. Can’t buy anything yet anyway, but will be good to get your feedback on it. I bought a rosewood bound neck for about £90odd quid a few years ago - did the trick just fine. Had I bought a maple board version at the time I’d likely still have it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ander87 Posted November 4 Share Posted November 4 Oh gotcha! I am positive there were maple jazz ones so hopefully there may be a P version around. There’s a couple sellers I believe they’re the same though. I will likely sand the fret ends myself if need be, but I’ve hopes that it’ll be decent! you can get an necks in Thomann for £130 so I can imagine these would be decent or better for the money… come to think of it they have to be decent if you can finish the fret ends likely. If you have the machinery it’s just easier to do a good neck than a bad one… right…? Right??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I've bought a few. First one came from 'Wang Guitars', really sweet neck so I tracked them down through Ali-Ex and ordered another 4 🙂 Got another couple from Kmise UK, crazy price of £20 and £25 for the 5 string, no issues with them. Short scale paddle neck bought from Yinfente was returned, no fault with the neck just the given heel size was reversed; it was 65mm when I needed 56mm. I've no qualms buying in future. A wee heads up to those wondering "How can they sell these so cheaply ?" I got my "timber update prices" email yesterday. US sawmills are currently paying $200 for MBF of Hard Maple, just $165 for ash. That's for felled trees👍 When prices were higher the mills were selling kiln dried FAS hard maple or $1650 per MBF. Takes 1 BF to make a bass neck and MBF is 1000 BF. Should come as no surprise, given the scale of Chinese manufacturing, that enterprising folk own and operate mills solely for the home market. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ander87 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 44 minutes ago, kodiakblair said: Should come as no surprise, given the scale of Chinese manufacturing, that enterprising folk own and operate mills solely for the home market. This is so useful - I guess the only issue is about finishing and making sure they're well finished, but then again 99% of this is machined these days so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted November 5 Author Share Posted November 5 15 hours ago, Ander87 said: Oh gotcha! I am positive there were maple jazz ones so hopefully there may be a P version around. There’s a couple sellers I believe they’re the same though. I will likely sand the fret ends myself if need be, but I’ve hopes that it’ll be decent! you can get an necks in Thomann for £130 so I can imagine these would be decent or better for the money… come to think of it they have to be decent if you can finish the fret ends likely. If you have the machinery it’s just easier to do a good neck than a bad one… right…? Right??? Perusing Thomann, cheapest bass neck is £168 (Allparts)...for £190.00 I could buy a HB Jazz and butcher reshape the headstock. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 (edited) I bought a fretless neck from these guys, 10 years ago. It was fine and is still holding up today https://eyparts.com/ having just looked, the necks are hard to find but they are there Edited November 5 by police squad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 7 hours ago, Ander87 said: , but then again 99% of this is machined these days so... Hartley Peavey likes to blow his trumpet about operating the world's first CNC guitar factory, this was back around 1977/78. He's wrong, Matsu in Japan beat he to it by a couple of years 😁 Thing is Hartley's set up was pretty basic, 7 pin routers running off a master template, but the results were good. After shaping all the wooden parts only got a light dusting with 1000 grit. There was no levelling of frets, fret wire was stamped in and a precut metal nut added. Today's machines are even more efficient 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andruca Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I haven't off of eBay, but I've bought the cheapest 20 fret neck and (basswod) JB body I could find on AliExpress for 51€ BOTH delivered home in 2019. So mine is probably bottom of the bottom quality. Neck (23€ IIRC) is decent, if a little on the thick side for a JB. It already came with a Fender headstock shape. It adjusts perfectly, just had minimal sharp fret ends I easily filed. No issues whatsoever in 5 years. Since then the offer has blossomed and prices haven't gone too far up. You can get really nice necks for 50-100€. And judging by what can be read around, quality has gone up. My rat rod JB (with all other parts from a donor wreckage I got for 38€ more) came out great. I even recorded a couple of my band's tunes with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 12 hours ago, kodiakblair said: I got my "timber update prices" email yesterday. US sawmills are currently paying $200 for MBF of Hard Maple, just $165 for ash. That's for felled trees👍 When prices were higher the mills were selling kiln dried FAS hard maple or $1650 per MBF. Takes 1 BF to make a bass neck and MBF is 1000 BF. So my knowledge of MBF is slightly less than my knowledge of ancient Sanskrit. I looked it up on Google and I'm still clueless, however it appears from what you said that a bass neck could be as little as $1.65 for the raw wood material. I know there are loads of work and other hardware, but that sounds cheap to me. Also I am assuming that a body would be circa 5-6 BFs, which again sounds cheap. Have I got the maths wrong here? Thanks Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obrienp Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 (edited) I bought a 32” Jazz neck off eBay recently, direct from China. It worked out much better than I had expected. Block inlays and binding. Frets were all good. The nut needed a little work. The heel was actually a little wider than Fender standard, so I needed to ease the neck pocket of the body I was putting it on. Also the profile was more C than D but that might suit some folks. It wasn’t sealed but was pretty well sanded, so it only needed a little prep before applying the finish. The supplier’s name was “car-mall” on eBay. It only cost about £65 all in and took about a month to arrive. Here it is in action. Edited November 5 by Obrienp 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 21 hours ago, rwillett said: I looked it up on Google and I'm still clueless Maple blank 1" thick x 4" wide x 36" long = 1 Board Foot. Standard shaped Fender bass neck 1" thick, 3.5" wide at the peghead, 33" long =0.8BF Standard bass body blank. 2" thick x 14" wide x 21.5" long = 4.1 BF. Paul Reed Smith might take a few hours one afternoon to film a nice PR video of him knocking on bits of wood but if you're FMIC in Corona there's 360 units to produce in a day, that's them at lower production levels. Factories go through 1000's of feet every week so buy direct from sawmills, with bulk purchase discount. As to how little Maple actually costs, let me run this by you. There this decent wee sized mill in Michigan, Bell Forest. They mainly deal mail order to hobbyists and carry a very healthy list of timber. Their top grade hard maple is $6 for 1 BF, drops 25% to $4.50 if you buy 100 BF. FMIC are going through more than 70,000 BF in a year just for necks. 2" (8/4) ash for a body is $7.50 for 1 BF, if you use Basswood it's $6.35. Discounted for 100+ BF, $5.50 and $4.80. I'll leave you to ponder the discount offered on orders for 100k BF p.a. p.s. The 100k BF is just a random figure. FMIC build more guitars than basses, 3.7 BF for a guitar body blank, and not all of the 80-90,000 instruments they produce yearly in Corona use ash 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 Thanks for this. I now understand. I looked on eBay for some tiny bits of maple (30cm by 2cm by 2cm) for making some end grain dowels and was astonished at how expensive maple was. Certainly wasn't anywhere near the prices that mill was charging. Capitalism in action. Appreciate the comprehensive response. Many thanks Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 2 hours ago, rwillett said: I looked on eBay for some tiny bits of maple (30cm by 2cm by 2cm) for making some end grain dowels and was astonished at how expensive maple was. You and me both 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 I want some Maple to make end grain dowels to plug into a neck I have to make it headless. I wanted it clean and neat. I've seen what @Andyjr1515 does with necks and I've learnt whats good and not so good. £20 for a piece of maple a few inches long is an outrage. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 4 hours ago, rwillett said: £20 for a piece of maple a few inches long is an outrage. It is. Alistair Reid sells Fender bass maple blanks, 22mm × 100mm × 940mm, out of his shop in Glasgow for £18.50. He does a roaring trade in mail order. With a plug cutter you'd be set up for life 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 (edited) @kodiakblair I assume you mean this one https://www.reidtimber.co.uk/ I'll look through and work out what I need. Looks a dangerous place to shop I can see a simple maple order turning into a mega order. There's too many nice things there and whats worse, they're reasonably priced. Must resist... Thanks Rob Edited November 7 by rwillett 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 Order made. Managed to keep it down to a reasonable amount. Love the site Thanks Rob 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 16 hours ago, rwillett said: Order made. Wise decision 🙂 He's a good man is Alistair, think he still uses a photo of my Cabronita on the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwillett Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 I had to suppress my desire to buy a load of stuff on his site just in case I might need a Japanese pull saw. Like I say, dangerous site to look at 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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