I won a baritone JM body...now what?

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daemon
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I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Thu Nov 05, 2020 3:24 pm

So I've been wanting one of those baritone Squier Jazzmasters for a while, but never bought one when they were around* because I figured they'd be easy to track down later [cue sad trombone]. As anyone following this sort of thing knows, they go for crazy money now so I saw this body and thought "why not". Of course now that leaves me with another problem of getting the rest of the stuff.
Pickguard - There seem to be some sources for aftermarket ones
Pickups/electronics - Nothing too difficult here I wouldn't think
Bridge - From what I've read, a Danelectro one might work here if I can't find an official one
Neck - Now things start to get interesting, and not the good kind. There are all sorts of listings in the past for these but none currently. There don't seem to be any aftermarket options that I've been able to find either.

So does anyone have a line on any parts for these things? Fortunately I've got time, so I can always just wait and see what pops up.

*I actually did buy one from eBay for a good price not long after they went out of production, but when it arrived it had obviously been slammed pretty hard as there were paint chips coming off and the wood was dented where the paint used to be. I asked for a return, hoping they would offer me some money off, which I would've taken, but they took it back. oh, hindsight.

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peterherman
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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by peterherman » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:00 pm

It's a 30" scale, so I'd imagine that any Bass VI type neck would work, no?

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daemon
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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:27 pm

I don't know, if so that would at least widen the possibilities. I'd be a little concerned about the neck pocket being the right size, but a cursory search seems to indicate that at least a couple of people have done this.

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Thu Nov 05, 2020 4:59 pm

im pretty sure a bass vi neck would work

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by Embenny » Thu Nov 05, 2020 11:02 pm

The VM baritone JM and VM Bass VI from the same era had the same scale, same number of frets, same inlays, same binding, same tuners, same headstock, and came from the same factory.

I'm willing to bet they were the same neck and the only difference was the decal.
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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by Zork » Thu Nov 05, 2020 11:26 pm

There are also 30" necks from pit bull guitars in Australia. I got one of those and it's a decent neck. I can do some measurements later with my bass vi but I think these are interchangeable.

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Fri Nov 06, 2020 4:56 am

Great info, I appreciate it, that helps. So I guess the only thing that would be different would be the nut?

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by garyptaszek » Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:59 pm

I’m sure the Squier bass vi and Squier baritone neck are the exact same neck... if that helps

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:07 am

garyptaszek wrote:
Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:59 pm
I’m sure the Squier bass vi and Squier baritone neck are the exact same neck... if that helps
I appreciate the confirmation, that does seem to be the case. Unfortunately those necks are going for crazy money when you can find them as well, so apparently everybody else knows this or there's a lot of Bass VIs out there with missing necks. It's amazing to me that someone is spending $300 on a Bass VI neck when you can still buy the whole thing new for $500. These were going for $150 not that long ago.

I even looked into Pitbull necks, but they only sell a kit with the whole guitar. I e-mailed them and they said the neck should fit a Squier baritone, but that's a bit more than I'm willing to gamble. Plus it would need to be shaped and finished, neither of which I have the tools to do.

So, the search continues...

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by AcrylicSuperman » Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:11 pm

If you don't mind the non fender headstock, Warmoth does make a bass vi neck. Not exactly cheap, but you would at least know what you are getting.

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by CorporateDisguise » Mon Mar 22, 2021 5:09 pm

AcrylicSuperman wrote:
Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:11 pm
If you don't mind the non fender headstock, Warmoth does make a bass vi neck. Not exactly cheap, but you would at least know what you are getting.
Warmoth states that their Bass VI necks only work with their bodies. I’m not sure that they are compatible with the fender stuff.

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by Singlebladepickup » Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:57 pm

daemon wrote:
Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:07 am
garyptaszek wrote:
Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:59 pm
I’m sure the Squier bass vi and Squier baritone neck are the exact same neck... if that helps
I appreciate the confirmation, that does seem to be the case. Unfortunately those necks are going for crazy money when you can find them as well, so apparently everybody else knows this or there's a lot of Bass VIs out there with missing necks. It's amazing to me that someone is spending $300 on a Bass VI neck when you can still buy the whole thing new for $500. These were going for $150 not that long ago.

I even looked into Pitbull necks, but they only sell a kit with the whole guitar. I e-mailed them and they said the neck should fit a Squier baritone, but that's a bit more than I'm willing to gamble. Plus it would need to be shaped and finished, neither of which I have the tools to do.

So, the search continues...
Musikraft is making them now

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by Zork » Tue Mar 23, 2021 2:36 am

daemon wrote:
Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:07 am
.

I even looked into Pitbull necks, but they only sell a kit with the whole guitar. I e-mailed them and they said the neck should fit a Squier baritone, but that's a bit more than I'm willing to gamble. Plus it would need to be shaped and finished, neither of which I have the tools to do.

So, the search continues...
Damn, that sucks. When I ordered mine from them last year, they had 3 different variants of a 30" neck on their site, different heels and fingerboards.

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daemon
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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:31 am

I looked on Musikraft's site and didn't see any 30" scale baritone or Bass VI type necks but maybe I'm just not searching correctly. I did look into Warmouth as well, but as was stated they are not made to fit anything but their own bodies, it seems. Plus the price was pretty steep for a non-Fender neck.

I did manage to score a bridge with posts on Ebay today. I had removed my posts (and damaged them in the process) because I was thinking of putting a Bigsby on it if I couldn't find a bridge, so I guess I'll be putting those back in it.

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Re: I won a baritone JM body...now what?

Post by daemon » Thu Apr 08, 2021 9:40 am

Well, I was checking eBay last week as I've been doing for a while now, and this auction popped up for 6 Squier necks that supposedly have truss rod issues, one of which was a Bass VI. Given they all had tuners I figured I could at least part those out to recoup some of the cost if they were all bad, so I took the plunge. The truss rod turns and seems to have tension, but necks have never been something I've been comfortable with adjusting so I'm not sure how to tell if it's really bad or not. I'll probably end up taking it to this place that I trust to tell me.

I also managed to score a complete set of black hardware and have a pickguard and pickups on the way so at the very least I'll have a loaded body.

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Last edited by daemon on Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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