E-Bay Seller Hippo_House Neck Review

[PatrickSimsCustomShopUSA]

I purchased a neck from E-Bay seller Hippo_House two weeks ago. I got the neck in today and heres a review on it:

-Took 6 business days to get here from the day I payed. Not bad at all considering it came from the Netherlands (its been at the post office all week just haven't been able to go pick it up)

-Pretty good communication, although one thing I did not like is the tracking information was to a site that wasn't in English and I couldn't translate it, so I had no clue what was going on, if something had of happened the tracking information would have been useless.....also the seller doesn't understand alot of things you ask him (Minimal English skills) which can be frusterating. I asked him why the heel was too long (You'll see later in my review) and he didn't understand what I was saying, so I was just like forget it. If anything was wrong with it I would just fix it when I get it rather than trying to spend days trying to get him to understand what I was saying.

-Claims he does not make the necks, but rather his luthier. So this also hampers any questions you may have regarding it b/c he actually wasn't the one who made it

-Paid $179....shipping may have been free, can't remember, if I did have to pay shipping it wasn't enough to remember.....no more than $20.

- Quality- For the money I am VERY impressed and will probably buy another. If it wasn't for just a few very minor things the neck would be perfect.....and probably would make it one of the nicest "custom made" necks I've ever seen. The back of the neck is incredibly smooth.....theres not one sand scratch anywhere on the back of the neck or fretboard. It also looks and feels like they have put a satin low gloss clear on the back.....(looks and feels just like the back of my Prestige neck. Heres a pic of the back of the neck.....you can tell by the glare how smooth it is......



The scarf joint is also perfect, and looks exactly like how Ibanez does it, behind the nut and shaped correctly, I am very pleased with how nice this looks, as well as the shaping of the back of the neck (profile) and how smoothly the neck blends into the headstock. I would say the neck feels exactly like a JEM profile. The ends of the frets are rounded too, not alot, but just like the frets look on my Prestige. See pics









Also the inlay is absolutley perfect....and I am very picky about inlay quality. It is actually better quality than the inlay work on my employees Floral Jem. There is absolutely no gaps or gap filler around the inlay. The inlay is a perfect fit in the fretboard. Check out pic....



The fret work is also very nice....the edges of the fret board are radiused very nice and feel very good on your hand as you rub it down the neck. You don't feel any sharp fret board edges or sharp frets. Its not radiused too much, not too little, but what I consider just right. Pretty much again feels and looks exactly like my prestige neck (Fret ends and fret board edges) see pic above.

The neck appears to have a slight relief in it on the bass side, however is dead straight on the treble side.....so once I get it strung up I'm going to see if it will adjust out, other wise it might need some very very light fret work. All the frets are level, except the 12th and 13th fret seem to be just a hair low on the treble side......its so slight when my employee does a compund radius on it both of these will probably go away.

All the contouring, heel, fretboard, profile, headstock edges, etc is all very nice and very smooth, absolutely no complaints as far as fit and finish goes.

Now, the few things that I think could be better and should have been done.....

The ledge was not cut out for the locking nut....however it is slotted in the appropriate place. It would have been nice if he would have went ahead and done that, how much more work could it be? Although I do have to say he made that clear in the listing that it would NOT be cut out and that it would have to be done.....just don't know why you would spend that much time on a neck and not slot it. Its ok tho, I should be able to do it myself in about 15 mins. Although the avg person might would have to take it to someone. That makes it not "ready to bolt on"



Seondly, this is something I wish was better......the neck heel is too long....it should fit up prety much to the heel of the body....the shape is correct its just around 1.5" inches too far forward.....it could be sanded to the correct spot, however then you would get into his nice smooth finish....so I'm just going to leave it how it is rather than sanding it to where it needs to be and having to refinish it in a satin clear or tung oil it. See pics (Neck is not in body, but sitting where it would be if it were bolted in)

See pic........

[PatrickSimsCustomShopUSA]

Also the edges of the heel will have to be rounded, as they are still square, again no big deal, 10 mins of work, but will have to be done........



Lastly the neck won't fit into an Ibanez or Christopher Woods body.....it is just a HAIR too wide...maybe 1 mm too wide. It comes closer to fitting in a factory Ibanez body than Chris's tho....Chris's bodies have a little tighter fit than Ibanez's.....I will have to sand the inside wings of the body a little bit for it to fit....no big deal, another 15 or mins of work, the plus side is you don't have to worry about it being to loose in whatever kind of body you have, b/c its a little oversized, so once you sand it, it will be a real snug fit.....no big deal, but again not "Ready to bolt in"



The nut width however is perfect and right on the money.

So all and all I am very pleased with the quality, especially for the money. If these few little small issues were fixed it would probably be just as nice as a real JEM neck. Even with these few small issues its nothing that can't be tweaked with some light sanding....and personally even tho it needs these few things I think it is still much nicer than most of the other "custom made" jem necks. B/c its VERY nice in the things that really matter.....profile, fretboard radius, fretwork, inlay, etc........espesically inlay, b/c if thats screwed up you can't really fix it. Will I buy another, yes, especially for the price. Even tho I do have to do a little work, the frets and inlay and back of the neck are soo nice I think for $179 its a steal....especially considering I got it in a week.....(It was already made tho, I didn't have to wait for him to make it.....he sells them already ready to go, which is nice) So if your looking for a neck you can get right now, and things like fretwork, inlay, profile, smoothness, etc are very important to you and little things like light sanding of your inner neck cavity wings to get the neck to fit snug don't bother you then I would say this is the best neck I've seen so far. I have not seen Christopher Woods necks in person, although they look really nice in pictures, so I can't say this one is any better, and I haven't seen Legacy necks in person, although based on the pictures I have seen as far as fretwork and inlay quality go, and the aesthetics of the scarf joint I think this one is nicer, but thats just my personal opinion. I also think its alot nicer than the Monster Guitar Shop necks I've seen. I personally haven't seen any "Custom" vine inlayed necks that didn't have any gap filler or glue around the leaves or stem, so I found that pretty impressive.

Once again I'm not saying this IS the nicest "Custom" Jem neck you can get, I'm just saying its the nicest one I've seen in person.

Heres a few more misc. pics.......

[Ayrton]

Hmmmm...That body looks familiar.

You should relay all of that to the seller, and hopefully they will make the changes.

[PatrickSimsCustomShopUSA]

You got a good eye, that is your body I used for the test fit

I thought about relaying it to him....but not sure how much it would help since A) he isn't the one who makes them and B) he doesn't understand english very well.

[MCR]

I almost bid on one of his necks - but was skeptical about the listing - I guess now I should have. Anyway, I asked him why he didn't rout the neck for the locking nut and his reply was that his router was broken.

[Ayrton]

Originally Posted by SCS

A) he isn't the one who makes them and B) he doesn't understand english very well.

I wonder if you can get to the guy that is actually making them?

[the.godfather]

Looks like a nice solid neck.

Might have to have a look at their store.

[toneboy]

That's a great looking neck Patrick and you're right, the inlay is immaculate. I wonder if you just lucked out of it that's par for the course with that guy's necks.

[Lefty Robb]

Originally Posted by SCS

I thought about relaying it to him....but not sure how much it would help since A) he isn't the one who makes them and B) he doesn't understand english very well.

send him the pics and draw little arrows on it...so, unless he's blind, he should understand

[Brosa]

Originally Posted by Lefty Robb

send him the pics and draw little arrows on it...so, unless he's blind, he should understand

Let's hope that.

it's weird though. Every dutchman (or woman ) gets english class from age 6 until at least 16 years old. To speak english is one thing, but to understand it? That shouldn't be a problem at all. Maybe a dylectic person?

[JTM45]

Yeah,that does look like a very good neck for that price.
Nice score!

[Dee]

Yup, looks great, and I really hope the luthier can make the changes needed so these necks can bolt straight on. We really need a high quality neck maker, IMO. Not saying Chris Woods isn't good or anything like that, but he's always so busy I wouldn't even bother contacting him.

It's funny, all the Dutch people I know speak exceptionally good English. I would even go as far as saying one in particular speaks better English and has a broader vocabulary than I do.

[fettouhi]

Very nice neck. Wonder if they do lefties ?

Regards

André

[waylay00]

That's a superb looking neck.

[crevis]

I wouldn't call it a nice neck but it's pretty good for the price.