Neck replacement

[Ken Smith]

I looked at your bass and its measurements. This is a turn of the Century Germanic (German style or Bohemian) Flatback Bass.

This is an easy bass to play by size as compared to higher shouldered English, Italian or French basses.

Easiest and cheapest way would be to cut the Block, not the shoulders, maybe add wood to the Block inside as well to set the Neck in deeper in the mortise. Then, sit the Bridge just above the F-notches and play it like that. The Neck graft would only be needed if it is not solid and sound. The Luthiers can move the Neck out a bit and even slightly re pitch one way or another and make it play easier.

Also, how tall are you? Arm/shirt size length?

I play many Basses as big or bigger than yours and some hurt and some don't!.

Here is a bass that we cut with Before and After Pictures. The bass was a roundback at about 43 7/8ths" string length and an Eb neck. With the same same neck and a block cut it was reduced to 42 3/8ths with the bridge cheated forward just a bit. The pictures are old and were not taked to teach the block cut method exactly so look it over carefully so you can guess what to expect. We reduced it by 1/5". On your bass it would hit 41.5" if the same job was done.