mosriteforum.com

Hello all,

I’ve been wanting to build my own Ventures II Slab for awhile now. While I do technically have a Ventures II Slab replica (an Eastwood Mach II / JR. Elite) I want one that’s a little more accurate.

My first build was a bass kit that was considered “advanced”. Which involved me sketching and cutting out my own body shape and headstock, I found that to be fairly easy. So I can say I’ve built a bass before. But now I want to build my own Ventures II from scratch.

I’m going to start with a neck, assuming I can get the hardest part of the project done then I know I can finish the rest. I ordered a maple neck blank and an Indian rosewood fretboard blank from Stewmac. Two very beautiful pieces of wood. I started drawing out the Mosrite headstock (starting with the outline of the Eastwood headstock) as well as the neck, and fretboard. (Photos will be added)

As I can’t start cutting anything out yet because I’m still waiting for the truss rod (which has to be added to the drawing of the neck) as well as some other tools, I decided to tackle the next difficult part. The Ventures II tremolo system. While it’s not a complex design, not having one in front of me to copy is a bit difficult. So using my Eastwood body (with hallmark pickups in it, thanks bob) I was able to design my own Ventures II tremolo system. The design is a “draft” as I’ve already found something I may need to change.

I’ll leave a link to Dropbox where all the photos are. I hope it works, if not let me know!

Anyways, I’ll keep posting as I continue on with this project. Let me know your thoughts!

Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/t/Wa5vy7Yqch3FNMCv

Sounds like fun. The dropbox link expired however so we can't see any pics of your progress.

Sarah93003 wrote:Sounds like fun. The dropbox link expired however so we can't see any pics of your progress.

darn, know of any other ways of posting photos other than photobucket and Dropbox? Thanks.

- Matthew

I've been helping SouthernVersion with the neck measurements, off-site. Here's a compilation of info about the Slab Body.



(Found in thread 1, linked below.)

For the record, the Ventures II Slab Body is 13.5 by 17.5 inches, according to Maxkat (who has owned multiple Ventures II Slabs.) It also seems that the Slab model is 1 5/8 inches (1.625") thick at its thickest, but I'm not 100% sure of that. The tapering of the comfort contour (which I read somewhere is both on the front and back) tapers down to 1". (Quoted in the 3rd quote down, by Dino Boreanaz.)

I have a Ventures I template, and it reads 14" from the Low E to High E side. It seems as though Mosrite just took 1/4 inch off the diameter, and extended the neck pocket out to make this Slab model. Pretty simple.

Thread 1:

viewtopic.php?p=68507#p68507

Dino Boreanaz wrote:Not sure if this will help as it's not a Mosrite, but my Hallmark Johnny Ramone measures right on 13 1/2" wide. The headstock is 7" long from the zero fret and 2 5/8" wide across the top.

Lordwhimsey wrote:Thanks so much Dino, that's exactly the information I need! Could I be a pest and ask you how thick the body is? Current best guess is 1 5/8" (42mm).

I hope to get a Hallmark Johnny Ramone eventually but until then I'll have to make do with my shoddy attempt!

Dino Boreanaz wrote:You're welcome. Your research is spot-on once again ... the body measures 1 5/8" thick. There is some tapered belly/forearm thinning which appears to be equal on the front and back sides taking the thickness down to 1" at the edge of the top-side lower bout as best I can tell given the roundover radius all around.

Thread 2:

viewtopic.php?p=66186#p66186

maxkat wrote:Hi Brendan,
you're right, a slab Ventures II body is smaller than a Ventures Mark I body: about 13 1/2" x 17 1/2" – hope that helps.
Cheers
Max

- Austin

Craig Broadbooks owns both a Slab model and a Carved model, and he was willing to give measurements off the Slab.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3294258 ... 666630832/

(Go down to see his replies.)

As it turns out, Craig told me that the neck is slightly thinner on a Carved model than it is on a Slab model, which is a detail that I missed earlier, sorry. I know you started work on the replacement neck for the Eastwood already, but I don't know how far you got with the width yet.

Craig: "The carved V2 is just a little narrower width wise, about 1mm at fret 0 and 2mm at fret 12. Thickness-wise they are very very close. The differences are really where the neck thickens at the headstock and the body. That’s it."

So, the Slab has a wider fretboard than the Carved model, but the thickness (neck depth) is the same, except at the headstock and at the neck heel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the measurements of a Slab neck that he gave me in that Facebook comment section.

These measurements in millimeters are what I was given, then I calculated them into thousandths of an inch. They could have been rounded up to the nearest MM, so it appears that the neck measurements between the Slab and Carved Ventures II Models could be the same.

Width of Fretboard:

Fret:
0: Just short of 40 Mm (1.574 in.) (TBH, this is probably about 1.560, as noted below on my Carved Model.)
12th: 48.5 (1.909 in.)

Neck Thickness:

23mm (0.905 in.) - 1st fret (The Volute is near here.)
22mm (0.866 in.) - 2nd to 13th frets
23mm (0.905 in.) - 14th fret (It starts tapering to the Neck Heel around here, but it probably starts at Fret 13.)
28mm (1.1023 in.) - 15th fret (Neck Heel area)
29mm (1.1417 in.) - 16th fret (Neck Heel area)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Austin

101Volts wrote:Craig Broadbooks owns both a Slab model and a Carved model, and he was willing to give measurements off the Slab.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3294258 ... 666630832/

(Go down to see his replies.)

As it turns out, Craig told me that the neck is slightly thinner on a Carved model than it is on a Slab model, which is a detail that I missed earlier, sorry. I know you started work on the replacement neck for the Eastwood already, but I don't know how far you got with the width yet.

Craig: "The carved V2 is just a little narrower width wise, about 1mm at fret 0 and 2mm at fret 12. Thickness-wise they are very very close. The differences are really where the neck thickens at the headstock and the body. That’s it."

So, the Slab has a wider fretboard than the Carved model, but the thickness (neck depth) is the same, except at the headstock and at the neck heel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the measurements of a Slab neck that he gave me in that Facebook comment section.

These measurements in millimeters are what I was given, then I calculated them into thousandths of an inch. They could have been rounded up to the nearest MM, so it appears that the neck measurements between the Slab and Carved Ventures II Models could be the same.

Width of Fretboard:

Fret:
0: Just short of 40 Mm (1.574 in.) (TBH, this is probably about 1.560, as noted below on my Carved Model.)
12th: 48.5 (1.909 in.)

Neck Thickness:

23mm (0.905 in.) - 1st fret (The Volute is near here.)
22mm (0.866 in.) - 2nd to 13th frets
23mm (0.905 in.) - 14th fret (It starts tapering to the Neck Heel around here, but it probably starts at Fret 13.)
28mm (1.1023 in.) - 15th fret (Neck Heel area)
29mm (1.1417 in.) - 16th fret (Neck Heel area)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Austin

Thank you Austin!

- Matthew