Jazz bass neck holes don't quite align with Jazz body holes... What to do?

[rwillett]

Hi 

 

I'm pulling together a bitsa jazz, a nice Jazz body with very decent pickups and a decent bridge courtesy of @sifi2112 with a rather nice, quite old MIM jazz neck. The neck is wide and thin and its great to play.

 

The body is not a Fender body but was made for Si.

 

I've just got around to putting the neck on the body and it's very tight fit but a club hammer and cold chisel sorted that out. (joke joke).

 

The holes in the neck don't quite line up with the holes in the body. Its about 2-3mm out. I can see the edges of the holes in the neck through the holes in the body. If they were a long way apart I'd simply not worry, but as they are so close, I don't want to damage the neck and I really don;t want to drill more holes in the body.

 

So what's the best solution, do I fill the holes in the neck with bamboo rods and decent wood glue which I have, then redrill the holes when the filling is dry or something else.

 

All advice welcomed.

 

Thanks

 

Rob

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Hi Rob, yes I’d glue and plug the holes, preferably with hardwood and let it dry and re drill your new holes 

[rwillett]

Cheers, mate, thanks

[rwillett]

Hi

 

Would it be best to drill the hole out to say 4-5mm and then fill it or leave it as-is?

 

thanks  

 

rob

[itu]

If your tools are accurate enough, you could drill bigger holes for metal inserts. Even then it may be a good idea to fill the holes with wood (maybe glue is not needed, if the inserts are wide enough to cover the old holes). But that requires good equipment, definitely something you cannot do with a hand tool.

[rwillett]

I have a decent pillar drill but do not feel confident enough to do this. I think I've answered my own question here 😊

[PaulThePlug]

If you can sort of see or feel the edge of the holes with a pokey thing...

How about using those threaded inserts in the neck, and bolts instead of woid screws.

The inserts would need a larfer hole carefully drilling over prolly taking to or the edge of an existing hole.

[Reggaebass]

I’d just plug them as they are myself, the larger type cocktail sticks like the wooden kebab ones do a great job and they are pretty hard 

[rwillett]

I've ordered a section of hardwood rods in different diameters. I'll fine one slightly bigger, sand it a bit and plug the hole that way. 

 

In hindsight thinking about drilling the holes was a dumb idea for someone as cack handed as me with power tools. 

 

Thanks for all the help and useful suggestions.

 

Rob 

[Geek99]

1 hour ago, rwillett said:

I've ordered a section of hardwood rods in different diameters. I'll fine one slightly bigger, sand it a bit and plug the hole that way. 

 

In hindsight thinking about drilling the holes was a dumb idea for someone as cack handed as me with power tools. 

 

Thanks for all the help and useful suggestions.

 

Rob 

Why not just drill out the hole to the size of the dowel? Much simpler 

[rwillett]

@Geek99

 

I don't have any hardwood rod (or softwood rod) or dowels of any description.

 

I also don't feel confident about drilling into a real (and nice) Fender neck to make the right sized holes even with a pillar drill. I've never done that sort of thing before. I'd need to support the neck properly to ensure an accurate vertical drill and if I cocked it up, I'd be gutted.

 

Somethings worry me and this is one of them

 

Rob

 

 

[itu]

This operaation is very doable with a pillar drill, yes. You need to attach the neck solidly, and then it is a straightforward action. To attach the inserts, it is also easy with that pillar drill, because you can keep the inserts straight. Here it is done by hand, but you get the idea.

 

 

[rwillett]

I'll experiment with some junk wood first and see how it goes. 

 

Rather nervous of wrecking a lovely neck 

[MichaelDean]

If you can accurately drill and tap holes in aluminium backbones for your 3d printed creations, you are certainly more than capable of doing this. I have faith in you!

[rwillett]

4 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

If you can accurately drill and tap holes in aluminium backbones for your 3d printed creations, you are certainly more than capable of doing this. I have faith in you!

Mmmm....

 

More faith than I have to be honest. Aluminum is easy, also if I cock it up, I have more of it. The Fender neck is lovely and I really don't want to damage it. 

[Geek99]

You can dowel it and try again. It’s only wood and it’s isn’t magical. 
 

unless it was made in 1962 of course and Leo might have breathed on it, and when touched it fills the air around it with the sound of contented angels exhaling after a particularly fine banquet, in which case it might be a bit magical 

[NancyJohnson]

I'm constantly amazed with the amount of solutions that are proposed for questions like the OP!

 

Plugging holes?  Get some dowels (there's probably a bloke in your immediate vicinity who has spares in their shed from IKEA builds), drill out the holes to the required diameter, glue and plug, cut/sand back smooth, redrill new pilot holes in correct locations and reattach neck.

 

 

[Geek99]

How dare you come around here hawking common sense, simple solutions to problems that come up quite often? I demand that all of this is made much more complicated and time consuming! 
 

😁

[rwillett]

12 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

How dare you come around here hawking common sense, simple solutions to problems that come up quite often? I demand that all of this is made much more complicated and time consuming! 
 

😁

@NancyJohnson must be new here... 

[NancyJohnson]

3 hours ago, rwillett said:

@NancyJohnson must be new here... 

 

2007.  I know how this place works!

[itu]

8 hours ago, rwillett said:

The Fender neck is lovely and I really don't want to damage it. 

Come on, it is a mass produced basic product. 

 

Before drilling, check the depth! The hole needs to be deep enough for the insert, but you should not drill to the fretboard, or through it. If the hole is not deep enough, you may remove the fretboard while tightening the insert. So hey... 

 

 

[b7l4s]

Just to bolster your confidence... I did the drill out and plug with dowel version of the fix, admittedly on a very cheap neck, and made a horrid job of it. For someone who likes woodworking I was ashamed of myself. However, it's been fitted to my office beater-bass for several years and has been completely solid. No problems with movement or strange sounds coming through the pickups or when played unplugged. Have a practice run on a bit of scrap and go for it!