Neck replacement

[Ken Smith]

From my standpoint having had many Basses restored, cut and altered in every way including work done before my time on basses I have owned I can say that I have seen just about everything in terms of Grafts and string length reductions.

As far as value, any kind of decent Bass should get a Graft unless it's a cheap modern factory bass. Even my 1997 Shen 3/4 Gemunder 1000 model has a Scroll graft. The Neck had a hidden knot and the Neck also back bowed in the first year here in USA. In straightening the Neck it broke and the designer/dist. himself graftet a new Neck leaving me with the original Scroll attached.

Ask yourself this. Would you buy YOUR Bass from someone knowing they put an entirely new Neck in to save money and tossed the original Scroll?

Show some pictures of your bass and then the measurements. There will be some questions asked of you to measure because you will not think of every number to post that will determine the work needed to achieve a shorter length that is also easier to play.

A new or shorter neck still doesn't not bring the octave up closer to you unless the Bridge is moved closer to the Neck, one way or another.

Being in the UK you have two top Luthiers that I know of and maybe more. They are Roger Dawson and Martyn Bailey.

There are several ways to cut a bass from the shoulders to the Block and the Ribs as well at the corners to lower them if you want to retain the Rib curves as they are.

When I did the 9th a couple of years ago I used my English Gilkes (Samuel) that's only a 41" length. That last page is a killer..

On the Extension, with a New Scroll/Neck you might loose it. With a Graft, it can be re-fitted usually BUT, if you have chromatic Keys of some sort they will need to be moved or re-made due to the shorter length.

Take your bass to a Top Pro Bass Luthier and consult with him. Use a Luthier known for this kind of work and not one who will do it for less money as he learns.

Expect this to cost several thousand dollars or pounds and once inside, the other work that might be needed with jack up the estimate as well.