Shaving your neck

[Owen]

So, I have an early Korean MTD Kingston I won when I was playing Ebay roulette many, many years ago. It has been roundly abused through the years with multiple pickup/preamp combos going in there. I should have kept the Audere preamp with the Low-Z switch . It was intense. Anyway, I LOVE the neck on it. It is (apparently) asymmetric. It is quite thin and just feels fabulous in my hand. I have other basses and sometimes wonder if I could have the necks re-carved into something similar. I know that if I change the mass of the wood then the way the instrument responds will change. It is entirely possible that I should not be trying to fix things which are already working. But I cannot help but wonder. Is this a thing people have done?

[gjones]

I know that Geddy Lee had the neck on his first Jazz Bass, which was a 70s model, shaved. That's why his signature model has such slim neck front to back.

 

I've owned a 3 Geddy Lee basses over the years and, out of curiosity, I swapped the neck on one of them. The neck I fitted to the Geddy was a much chunkier Allparts neck with a rosewood board and it definitely did make a difference to the sound.

 

The Geddy Lee is a pretty twangy Jazz Bass but with the bulkier neck fitted it sounded much darker and fuller. After a few weeks I fitted the old neck back and the twangy Geddy Lee sound returned.

 

So if you do get the neck shaved on your bass, I suspect that you'll notice a difference in tone.

[Owen]

This is why I need to discuss this with real people and not just the rabid enabler in my head. I actually like the noise all of my basses make and I should probably leave well enough alone. Thanks.

[tauzero]

I have a 1987 Warwick JD Thumb which has a lovely slim neck. I bought a 2000 Thumb which has a far thicker neck and had it defretted and the neck reprofiled to be the same as the JD Thumb. There was a slight issue as the 2000 has a volute which goes over the end of the trussrod and removing this broke through into the trussrod channel, but Joe fixed this (and later Jon Shuker did too when he replaced the wenge unfretboard with a plain ebony one).

[itu]

I've tried Braun and Philips, and this time the latter won.

 

I had a Washburn Status copy long ago, and the neck shape did not feel good. A local and very talented carpenter took off the lacquer from the body, and did some extensive shaping of the body and neck. Neck lost several mm from its thickness. Felt far better, but because Washburns had somewhat soft necks, this became really springy: no need for trem.

 

(Now I have a bolt-on copy of Status. Although the neck is thicker, its shape is boxy and fits my hands well.)

[Maude]

Not neck, but I shaved the headstock on a later P style head to the profile of the slimmer early P style (Telebass) head and gave myself a new dead spot on the 5th fret of the G string. 

Obviously changing neck mass doesn't always do this but unwanted results can happen. 

[Paul S]

I've had this done a couple of times.  A few years ago now @Andyjr1515 of this very parish slimmed down a neck for me - a NOS Marathon bass neck - to make it nearer Jazz proportions.  More recently a local guy Leighton Jennings took caliper measurements from what was for me a perfect EROS P bass neck and slimmed down a very chunky Allparts neck to mimick it.  Both were extremely succcessful.

[Chienmortbb]

On 01/02/2025 at 13:43, Maude said:

Not neck, but I shaved the headstock on a later P style head to the profile of the slimmer early P style (Telebass) head and gave myself a new dead spot on the 5th fret of the G string. 

Obviously changing neck mass doesn't always do this but unwanted results can happen. 

As I remember it, I don’t remember much very well these days, When Leo Fender asked one of his top guys to investigate dead spots on P & J basses, he determined that the 4 in a line design was the problem and that a 2x2 would reduce it and a headless bass would eliminate it. However the 4 in line design was already an icon and it was decided to leave things as they were. 
 

 

[bremen]

7 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

As I remember it, I don’t remember much very well these days, When Leo Fender asked one of his top guys to investigate dead spots on P & J basses, he determined that the 4 in a line design was the problem and that a 2x2 would reduce it and a headless bass would eliminate it. However the 4 in line design was already an icon and it was decided to leave things as they were. 
 

 

That's interesting...any idea how they came to that conclusion?

Is this behind the Music Man 3+1? I'd always thought it partly a novelty, partly a neck-dive cure.

[Andyjr1515]

For my personal guitars and basses, there aren't many that I haven't done this to, @Owen.  And where practicable, I have always favoured doing it for custom builds too.  It usually isn't the actual depth that is the issue to the player (and there be dragons in the spine zone), but instead it is the 'haunches' either side of the neck spine that generally makes the biggest difference.  That can make a MASSIVE difference to the feel of the bass or guitar.  I have been able to show more than one player that the 'slimmest of the necks that they have ever played' is actually deeper than the rest of their collection. 

 

So when I have ever built a bass or guitar for myself, I carve the neck close to what 'feels right' but then, when it is fully finished, strung up and in tune, I play it, then twist it round like a back to front cello and shave material off the haunches from the heel to the nut, either side of the central spine.  Then I play it, then turn it round and shave some more off until it 'feels right'.  Finally I re-do the slurry and buff and by the next day of it hardening off, I have a fully playable bass or guitar.

 

It's clearly a little more involved if it's a varnished neck, but you can do the same with those.

 

Tone-wise, I've never been aware of any major difference unless the spine itself is reduced - and never do that unless you know exactly how deep the trussrod slot is... 

 

Edited February 14 by Andyjr1515

[Owen]

Thanks Andy. Yes, the truss rod depth is something which I have been considering!