Anyone bought a cheap (Chinese) neck off eBay?

[MichaelDean]

I keep forgetting that I've got a cheap Chinese neck on a Variax that I've recently gutted after the electrics died. I had the neck fettled and fitted about 18 years ago.  Some cheap necks are absolutely fine! 

 

 

 

[police squad]

15 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Well.

 

I've pulled the trigger on a Jazz bass style neck from a Chinese seller, complete with a '70s TV logo.  Maple, rosewood, block inlays.  We'll see how good it is in a few weeks.

 

If it's crap, then it's only £80 down the sh*tter.

I have 3 now

1 from ebay

2 from Aliexpress

the ebay one is attached to a Bravewood body and sounds amazing. It may need a fret level, I'm off on a course to do fret levelling 

the Aliexpress one, tinted laquer and 70s logo, plays superb. Attached to a random P bass body and it all works as it should

you should be fine mate

[police squad]

double post

Edited April 21 by police squad

[HowieD72]

I've bought 2 wenge necks off Ebay. Both only needed minor fret work & that only cost me $25 NZ per neck. Great necks. And I've bought 1 Maple neck off Ali Express. Just needed similar work on the frets. So, all three have been good purchases for me & I'd happily buy again from either place.

 

Here are pictures of all three necks on my made at home parts basses.

 

Edited April 24 by HowieD72

[PaulThePlug]

Jazz Nut Neck from the bay... Nice neck, they tend to be a flatter 12" rather than 9"

Ended up getting a fair refund as the Side Dots at the 9th and 12th had been drilled wrong, filled, and re-drilled

 

Also a Jazz Nut Neck from Twin--Cam on the bay

[rwillett]

@PaulThePlug

 

I'd be interested in hearing your views on how they play please

[police squad]

Actually I've had 2 necks from ebay

The 2nd one is on my Adam Clayton '74 Pbass look-a-like

it came from here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/highendguitarneckstore?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

 

It was a 21 fret jazz bass with dots and a nice amber tint on the neck

 

[NancyJohnson]

8 minutes ago, police squad said:

Actually I've had 2 necks from ebay

The 2nd one is on my Adam Clayton '74 Pbass look-a-like

it came from here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/highendguitarneckstore?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

 

It was a 21 fret jazz bass with dots and a nice amber tint on the neck

 

 

Same place I got mine!

 

 

[police squad]

Just now, NancyJohnson said:

 

Same place I got mine!

 

 

has it come yet?

[rwillett]

11 minutes ago, police squad said:

Actually I've had 2 necks from ebay

The 2nd one is on my Adam Clayton '74 Pbass look-a-like

it came from here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/highendguitarneckstore?_trksid=p4429486.m3561.l170197

 

It was a 21 fret jazz bass with dots and a nice amber tint on the neck

 

How does it feel and play? Did you need to do much corrective work on it?

 

Looks great

[police squad]

7 minutes ago, rwillett said:

How does it feel and play? Did you need to do much corrective work on it?

 

Looks great

I haven't even adjusted the truss rod yet

The nut slot on the E string needs a little file but other than that, it does play really well.

I will roll the fingerboard edge at some point. The fretting is good, no sharp ends and well seated

[tauzero]

I bought a 5-string J neck a little while ago which I have yet to use - I have plans. Profile feels nice.

[NancyJohnson]

6 hours ago, police squad said:

has it come yet?

 

Nope!  Will report when it drops!

[Stub Mandrel]

On 05/11/2024 at 12:34, NancyJohnson said:

 

Perusing Thomann, cheapest bass neck is £168 (Allparts)...for £190.00 I could buy a HB Jazz and butcher reshape the headstock. 

 

 

 

For £70-90 you could buy a harley benton kit with an oversize, unshaped headstock and a bonus box of bits that are mostly surprisingly serviceable and a very light, unfinished body.

[Owen]

On 21/04/2025 at 08:35, police squad said:

the ebay one is attached to a Bravewood body

Yeah. We will be needing a picture of that.

[police squad]

Its not very exciting

I was trying to spray the whole thing metal flake gold from rattle cans but i didnt think it was good enough

So the body is still a fiesta red colour

It originally had a fretless maple board, again from china

 

[Owen]

P bass vibes. I was hoping for Bravewood reliced goodness

[Silky999]

I have had 3 necks off eBay in the last month; 2 x maple gloss and a flame roasted maple. All three are excellent quality at a fraction of the price of an equivalent source locally. All three were individually less than £100 with the gloss maple about £75. The flame maple allegedly even has SS frets 
 

I’ve only fitted one so far but I can honestly say, it plays really well and required a couple of sharp fret ends sorting but that is about it. All three necks arrived quickly and well packaged. With the flame maple one, the seller even gave me a choice of 3 different necks to chose from by sending loads of photos of the 3 options which I was not expecting. 
 

I don’t yet have the skill or tools to make a neck so for me this is the best and most cost effective option. I have put poly on the headstock of the flam as I really wanted a high gloss finish.

Edited April 26 by Silky999

[police squad]

3 hours ago, Owen said:

P bass vibes. I was hoping for Bravewood reliced goodness

It's just a body that john sprayed the wrong colour and let me have it cheap to make the red Sting fretless

The paint wasnt even flattened and polished

It has a fender 63 pickup in it and sounds amazing 

Just shy of 10 pounds in weight

[Owen]

19 minutes ago, police squad said:

It's just a body that john sprayed the wrong colour and let me have it cheap to make the red Sting fretless

The paint wasnt even flattened and polished

It has a fender 63 pickup in it and sounds amazing 

Just shy of 10 pounds in weight

Lots of good things happening there then

[80Hz]

On 24/04/2025 at 11:37, HowieD72 said:

I've bought 2 wenge necks off Ebay. Both only needed minor fret work & that only cost me $25 NZ per neck.

 

The middle wenge neck one on the white bass is particularly attractive IMO. Can I ask whether you felt they were noticeably different in weight to maple? And have you done any finishing on that one?

[HowieD72]

15 hours ago, 80Hz said:

 

The middle wenge neck one on the white bass is particularly attractive IMO. Can I ask whether you felt they were noticeably different in weight to maple? And have you done any finishing on that one?

 

The middle wenge neck on the p-bass and the right one on the jazz bass are both from the same seller on Ebay.

 

Definitely heavier than maple. I'd recommend lightweight tuners unless your bass body was a heavy wood. And I always put on heavier bridges. 

 

The only finishing I added to both was apply lemon oil on the back of the neck, fretboard & headstock. 

[80Hz]

30 minutes ago, HowieD72 said:

 

The middle wenge neck on the p-bass and the right one on the jazz bass are both from the same seller on Ebay.

 

Definitely heavier than maple. I'd recommend lightweight tuners unless your bass body was a heavy wood. And I always put on heavier bridges. 

 

The only finishing I added to both was apply lemon oil on the back of the neck, fretboard & headstock. 

 

Very nice - thanks for the observations on the weight. Can't argue with just a bit oil!

[HowieD72]

1 hour ago, 80Hz said:

 

Very nice - thanks for the observations on the weight. Can't argue with just a bit oil!

 

No worries! Anytime. 

 

Yes, some don't like the lemon oil on the back of the neck, but I've had great results on my wenge neck parts basses & my Warwick basses. 

 

The following was on a Corvette FNA I bought. Before & after lemon oil.

 

 

 

Edited April 29 by HowieD72

[NancyJohnson]

Neck arrived.  Looks lovely.  Bit of Birdseye in the wood.  No sharp fret ends.  There's an ever so slight backbow.

 

Beyond this I can't comment as it arrived about ten minutes before we were off out.

 

More later.