This neck joint had been repaired several times before… you can see the wooden dowels in the side that extended all the way to the base of the neck. Now the block had broken again.
During this repair, I advised the customer to make the neck detachable—it has probably never been more secure than it is now, with the screw and the steel counter-thread mounted inside the block …
Hidden dovetail joints like this one are common on guitars, but they’re rarely found on basses—thankfully. They’re difficult to repair, and adjusting the neck angle or overhang is nearly impossible. This dovetail was also poorly executed—the button of the back (which had already been replaced) was bearing the brunt of the load, and there was a massive amount of glue under the neck heel that I first had to soak and wash out.
