Unfinished P Body for Ibanez SR Neck

[MrGigggles]

Hey folks, a while back, I picked up a cheap Ibanez GSR100 and a random neck on Facebook, pulled all the frets off and pulled all the frets off. Not perfect lol but it was a ton of fun, but now I have this cheap GSR4 (I think?) neck laying around.

Just for fun, I've been wanting to buy an unfinished P bass body and finish it myself. My understanding is that this bass neck won't fit into any standard Fender-style pockets, but I'm not sure I understand why. I was looking at the Warmoth Fender P body and the width of the neck pocket seems to match the neck I have - is there some other consideration that I'm not thinking of?

If that won't work, is there another bass kit body I should look for? Or should I just try to find another Ibanez bass body and remove the finishing myself? The point of this is just to be a fun DIY project, I'm not looking for a super high-quality final product. Just something workable that I can say I did myself.

Edit: worth noting I used a cheap, unbranded Fender style p neck on the GSR100 and I did have to rout off a couple mm to get it to fit. Wasn't pretty lol. So it's definitely not a perfect size fit regardless.

Edit again: I emailed Warmoth directly to ask about neck compatibility, will report back what they say.

 

[ardgedee]

The Soundgear Gio has 22 frets, most Fender necks have 20 or 21 frets.

So to fit the Gio neck on a Fender-style body, you would have to at a minimum cut the neck pocket towards the bridge or move the bridge (edit: The heel shape is probably different, too; looks like the Gio's is pretty square, Fender necks have rounded corners and sometimes the heel end is also curved). The neck thickness might not match, meaning you'll have to shim or carve some wood to get the strings the appropriate height across the body to the bridge. Bolt holes might not line up either. None of these factors should necessarily keep you from doing it but you'll have to measure and take them into account.

 

[DanAdams]

If you are mostly interested in tinkering and modifying stuff, I would steer clear of expensive brands like Warmoth, especially if you suspect that may have to cut them to achieve your goals.
go on eBay and search for 'bass guitar kit' Complete unfinished unassembled basses start around $70 shipping included.
Unfinished bass bodies alone seem to sell for just as much as the complete package.

Also, removing the finish between the horns of a bass body is a lesson in frustration.

 

[BobKos]

@ardgedee has it right. As an experiment, you can bolt the Ibanez neck on. Then - try to intonate it using the existing fret locations. You will likely find it impossible. One caveat is that although the scale is different, it will be playable but it will also be a unique bass and the fret markers will not be accurate. It will literally play like no other bass in the world!

 

[Phreaky Phriday]

If you're feeling handy with a router, you can make your own body specific to the neck to ensure scale length and attachment screw locations are right

 

[Pep]

If you are mostly interested in tinkering and modifying stuff, I would steer clear of expensive brands like Warmoth, especially if you suspect that may have to cut them to achieve your goals.
go on eBay and search for 'bass guitar kit' Complete unfinished unassembled basses start around $70 shipping included.
Unfinished bass bodies alone seem to sell for just as much as the complete package.

Also, removing the finish between the horns of a bass body is a lesson in frustration.

I have disagree with this post. It sounds like you’re serious about doing this and you can’t do any better than Warmoth. It appears you already have an aftermarket P-Bass neck. If the neck
has a radiused heel and is standard Fender dimensions it should fit.
Warmoth has neck pocket dimensions on their website so you can measure to see if it will fit.
Also, check the number of frets you have and share that with Warmoth before you order.
Last but not least I would go ahead and have them rout for a J-Bass pickup in the Bridge position. If you do that make sure you select 7/8 Jack rout in the body.
Order your pickguard from them as well to insure a perfect fit.
I’ve been using them for years and never had an issue.
If you need any other info about your project and Warmoth products, feel free to PM me.

 

[MrGigggles]

The Soundgear Gio has 22 frets, most Fender necks have 20 or 21 frets.

So to fit the Gio neck on a Fender-style body, you would have to at a minimum cut the neck pocket towards the bridge or move the bridge (edit: The heel shape is probably different, too; looks like the Gio's is pretty square, Fender necks have rounded corners and sometimes the heel end is also curved). The neck thickness might not match, meaning you'll have to shim or carve some wood to get the strings the appropriate height across the body to the bridge. Bolt holes might not line up either. None of these factors should necessarily keep you from doing it but you'll have to measure and take them into account.

Thank you for all that info! I think I got really lucky with the fretless. The Gio neck is roughly half an inch longer because of that extra fret, but I was able to set the saddles back far enough to get the intonation close. What I might do for intonation is buy a body with the bridge holes drilled, just so I already have the alignment and correct spacing, get a more precise measurement on the neck disparities, then drill new holes using that measurement and the old holes as a reference.

I think the Gio neck is a bit thinner, so I might have to shim. Does the material I use matter much for that?

The heel from the unbranded P neck fit my GSR body really well, but I don't know if that's because the P neck is weird or because the Gio neck is different from other SR models. This particular neck does have rounded corners and a round heel, so maybe I got lucky again lol. I was definitely just making it up as I went with the fretless, and I think a lot of it just happened to work out

 

[MrGigggles]

If you are mostly interested in tinkering and modifying stuff, I would steer clear of expensive brands like Warmoth, especially if you suspect that may have to cut them to achieve your goals.
go on eBay and search for 'bass guitar kit' Complete unfinished unassembled basses start around $70 shipping included.
Unfinished bass bodies alone seem to sell for just as much as the complete package.

Also, removing the finish between the horns of a bass body is a lesson in frustration.

I think that's a solid idea! I was currently thinking about buying the cheapest warmoth just because I don't know if this is going to work. But maybe I can get one of those cheap kits to test the concept, make sure everything fits or that I'm capable of doing the modifications if it doesn't. Then if it does, maybe then I'll get the Warmoth with the features that I actually want and spend a bit more. Assuming I can find a cheap kit that has roughly the same shape as the Warmoth.

 

[MrGigggles]

@ardgedee has it right. As an experiment, you can bolt the Ibanez neck on. Then - try to intonate it using the existing fret locations. You will likely find it impossible. One caveat is that although the scale is different, it will be playable but it will also be a unique bass and the fret markers will not be accurate. It will literally play like no other bass in the world!

I have a friend who does microtonal music who would love this!

 

[MrGigggles]

I have disagree with this post. It sounds like you’re serious about doing this and you can’t do any better than Warmoth. It appears you already have an aftermarket P-Bass neck. If the neck
has a radiused heel and is standard Fender dimensions it should fit.
Warmoth has neck pocket dimensions on their website so you can measure to see if it will fit.
Also, check the number of frets you have and share that with Warmoth before you order.
Last but not least I would go ahead and have them rout for a J-Bass pickup in the Bridge position. If you do that make sure you select 7/8 Jack rout in the body.
Order your pickguard from them as well to insure a perfect fit.
I’ve been using them for years and never had an issue.
If you need any other info about your project and Warmoth products, feel free to PM me.

I appreciate that! The Warmoth body does seem like a solid product. Would Warmoth be willing to rout the neck pocket a bit for me to account for that extra fret? That might end up being the best option. I can do minor adjustments, but my woodworking skills are pretty beginner-level right now, so the last I have to do and risk ruining the body, the better lol

 

[Chrisk-K]

Won’t work without heavy modifications. Not sure if all the hassles would be worth your time and energy.

 

[Phreaky Phriday]

This is how i typically do neck pockets if you need to route one - put neck on body and trace it, then put bumpers on the trace lines with blue tape and super glue trick - the test neck pocket fit on the body before routing to desired depth

 

[ardgedee]

Thank you for all that info! I think I got really lucky with the fretless. The Gio neck is roughly half an inch longer because of that extra fret, but I was able to set the saddles back far enough to get the intonation close. What I might do for intonation is buy a body with the bridge holes drilled, just so I already have the alignment and correct spacing, get a more precise measurement on the neck disparities, then drill new holes using that measurement and the old holes as a reference.

I think the Gio neck is a bit thinner, so I might have to shim. Does the material I use matter much for that?

The heel from the unbranded P neck fit my GSR body really well, but I don't know if that's because the P neck is weird or because the Gio neck is different from other SR models. This particular neck does have rounded corners and a round heel, so maybe I got lucky again lol. I was definitely just making it up as I went with the fretless, and I think a lot of it just happened to work out

If you have the measuring tools and neck and body at hand, you can figure this out and know in advance what you'll have to do. If you don't, get some. Otherwise you'll just be hacking at wood and the result will need even more work to repair than the task of getting measurements right the first time. For example, one potential problem you might find with the Gio neck is that some of the bolt holes are farther up the neck than the body pocket goes, which would lead to having only two attachment points rather than four.

Four-strings tend to not vary in width much at the bridge; they pretty nearly all have a string width of 57-63mm (about a quarter inch of range). Which means neck heels can be wider or narrower but not to the extremes that five- and six-strings can vary.

For lining up the screw holes, there are several techniques, it's discussed occasionally in the Luthier's Corner forum so a search there should find you info.

Personally I don't want to discourage you from trying this, making a Frankenstein's monster can be fun. But I don't think there's any practical way to avoid hacking up the body some. iirc Warmoth will pretty much cut wood any way you ask them to if you pay them enough, but the cost might be more than the project's worth. If you can budget Warmoth prices for parts, it might be worth buying both neck and body there and saving the Gio neck for when you're ready to really DIY.

 

[MrGigggles]

If you have the measuring tools and neck and body at hand, you can figure this out and know in advance what you'll have to do. If you don't, get some. Otherwise you'll just be hacking at wood and the result will need even more work to repair than the task of getting measurements right the first time. For example, one potential problem you might find with the Gio neck is that some of the bolt holes are farther up the neck than the body pocket goes, which would lead to having only two attachment points rather than four.

Four-strings tend to not vary in width much at the bridge; they pretty nearly all have a string width of 57-63mm (about a quarter inch of range). Which means neck heels can be wider or narrower but not to the extremes that five- and six-strings can vary.

For lining up the screw holes, there are several techniques, it's discussed occasionally in the Luthier's Corner forum so a search there should find you info.

Personally I don't want to discourage you from trying this, making a Frankenstein's monster can be fun. But I don't think there's any practical way to avoid hacking up the body some. iirc Warmoth will pretty much cut wood any way you ask them to if you pay them enough, but the cost might be more than the project's worth. If you can budget Warmoth prices for parts, it might be worth buying both neck and body there and saving the Gio neck for when you're ready to really DIY.

I appreciate the info again! I think actually building a body myself like someone else suggested is probably beyond both my interests and capabilities, but modifying something that's already close is doable and does sound pretty fun. Luckily Warmoth provides some detailed-enough measurements on their site, so I should be able to figure out the scope of the work before I commit. Definitely a lot to think about! I'll spend some time on the luthier part of the forum and try to learn a bit more too.