Any suggestions if this can be saved? It is a neck I received for free upon replacing it for a customer. The wood was missing and the rod is missing the adjusting nut. The truss rod had pushed the inlay out as well as the wood damage . I wasn't sure if it could be a structurally sound repair. I have no idea of the neck rigidity or action with strings. I wont be online because of a previous dr. appointment but I figured it would be a go…
The Elders are correct .It is a 1976 neck. I was presently working on a different neck , a 1965, so it was on my mind. Thanks to all for the suggestions. My initial instincts were what Doug had reco…
Hello,
I have on my bench and es-125 with a concaved belly in the top where the bridge sits, I was able to fit a feeler gauge under one of the braces in the area, the brace above the bass side.
The back of the guitar is loose for a stretch of roughly 5 inches.
My thought was to take off the back and address the braces and somehow address the warp in the top.
Any thoughts on how to unwarp it or better approaches to the whole job?…
Hey all, My father-In-law would really like to make a rickenbacker 4003. I’m based in the UK and I can’t find a suitable template/templates for this. I wasn’t sure to post this in the CNC forum but thought I’d post it here first. I have tried crimson but no luck, but they’ve mentioned many people have asked about them. Thanks for any help it’s much appreciated
Hi everyone - I recently ran into trouble making new nut for one of my necks that needed to be trued and re-fretted. I roughed in the nut as usual and then, with the bass guitar fully assembled and strung up, I started cutting the slots to depth. I use the StewMac digital nut slot depth gauge and have had good results in the past. I marked the nut's lowest points (radiused) using the guitar nut scribe tool (first time using this!) and c…
That's actually not how that tool was intended to be used. That is essentially plotting a like to the top of the fret. With a bass, you would need much more than that. When James and I came up with th…
We at F Bass Inc have been crafting boutique basses out of Hamilton, ON since 1978 and we’re looking for a Master Builder to join our small but mighty team. Applicants must have a sharp eye, strong organizational skills and the ability to problem solve in creative ways. Someone who genuinely loves crafting custom instruments and appreciates the little details even more so. If you pride yourself on precision and creativity and get a kick…
This jazz bass has come in with a cracked and separated fingerboard near the nut. I believe this is an early Bi-Flex but am not entirely sure or familiar with them. The truss rod is functional and tightens up when turned. Top of the walnut plug is missing and the washer appears to be crooked or dislodged. Not sure what purpose that washer serves. This is probably the thinnest bass neck I’ve ever seen and it’s no wonder that this fingerb…
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Good call Ian, I can definitely get strings on there. I suspect it won’t do well under tension. It’s incredibly thin, neck has pretty much a shallow v profile. Hardly any fingerboard too. Might need a…
Hey everyone, I have a Vaccaro bass guitar and I'm getting a lot of open note buzz on it. In truth, the bass could stand a refret but that may or may not be in the cards. Additionally, the truss rod nut is stripped. I'm also wondering if this nut is designed to come out? I imagine it is but it's kind of funky. A 1/4" Allen wrench is still too small to grip it. So the questions: 1. How would you deal with the zero fret and the nut? The st…
The divots in the zero fret almost look intentional, though that doesn't make sense since one of the big advantages of a zero fret is that it can be levelled together with the other frets. Are the fr…
Looking for some guidance here – I have a 1973 Jazz Bass with maple fretboard and fretboard binding in for a re-fret. The finish is of course built up thick and crackly along the frets, and although they’re not seated too nicely, the first few came out really tough and chippy even after scoring the finish really well. I’m aware that Fenders were fretted sideways until 1982, but because of the binding, pushing them out sideways is not an…
Ok perfect. I use the newer StewMac fret pullers with the slightly narrower jaws than the older type in your video you shared. Are those your preferred pullers?
Hello, I am building a bass VI for a customer. As with a Fender Bass VI he wants a control plate with 4 slide switches. 1 on/off switch for each of the 3 pickups, but with the 4the switch he wants to control the phase of the middle pickup. Any suggestions as how I should wire that? thanks!
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if you use a regular jaguar pickup, remember to solder a ground wire in the claw like a tele neck 3 wire pickup
I work in guitar repair for over 20 years and this strange buzz happen only 3 times and i really going crazy. Five years ago a all parts strat neck in G string, change string, leveling frets twice thinking i made a mistake, in some point i made a rudimentar neck jig to tried to repair that neck. Work in that guitar for 3 weeks and string heigth like 3.5mm and yeat, buzzing with not so hard picking just the G, even in other tuning like F…
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Thanks Ian! It’s a brand new guitar, client contact the dealership and it’s in process to return and get other one. I really want to open and understand why this happened, not know why it’s a big bumm…
Hello friends - I am a bass guitar builder who is considering building a neck-through Flying V-style guitar with a 25.5" scale length and a Floyd Rose tremolo bridge. I have not built any neck-through instruments and would appreciate any guidance on where to begin with respect to laying out the design, in particular, getting the neck angle right and the headstock angled properly. Any resources are welcomed and if someone has any interes…
Hi all, I got a cheap Facebook marketplace guitar (“Olympia by Tacoma”) to try my hand at a bridge re-glue. The removal went okay, though I definitely learned a lot and will do better next time! The finish wasn’t masked in the bridge area, which is to say the bridge was glued to the finish, not the wood. I don’t know if that made it more prone to tearout or if that’s entirely explained by my lack of finesse with the pallette knives. Any…
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Thanks, Ian! Missed your note somehow. That Frank Ford article is great, such a clear explainer. My rasped-spruce + Titebond wood paste filler is in place and has been curing a few days. I'll sand it a…
Im going to attach some photos of a 000-style guitar from Potomac(I believe an Eastman product) that has some top cracks and deformation around the neck block from what I assume to be a shift of the neck block. How do you all approach repairs like this. Im thinking that pulling the neck and somehow pushing the block back into place from the inside is about the right course of action, but if anyone has some advice, Id appreciate it! In th…
Pulling the neck would probably be the best move for absolute bullet proofedness. Chances are high that this was put together with some kind of titebond variant and the joint between the top and the n…
Has anyone had any experience using a color dye in TruOil? And if so, how did it work for you? I have been dying an electric bass body with Rit black dye, but once the TruOil started going on, the color started moving around leaving lighter spots. Any thoughts or advice?
Friends - My "go-to" truss rod for my basses has been the rod sold by LMII; however, since they are now out of business, I am evaluating what other rods are suitable for bass guitar necks. The attached photos are all showing truss rod lengths from the front edge of the nut slot location on the blank. One photo shows my last LMII rod (23 1/2" in length) vs. 2 other rods, one longer (23 11/16") and one shorter (22 1/4") -- all measured f…
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I think that the 22.25 is fine to run. It lands over the neck pocket and those last few frets are getting sanded down to create a fall off anyway. Have you ever thought about changing the design and…
I need some advice on replacing some saddles. I have been restoring a "dumpster dive" 1972 Gibson SB-400 bass, with a Multiplex bridge. It has nylon saddles, one of which has a crack. The screws upon which the saddles ride are not removable, as the end has an enlarged cap (see picture). How do I replace the saddles without destroying the screws? I repaired the cracking nylon saddle by supergluing two layers of fiberglass wrap (used for f…
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I had a discussion with Joel Wilkens about the nylon gibson used for nuts and saddles and he had concluded that modern nylon formulations were not as tough. He recommended using 20-30% "glass filled"…
Hey all, I am really enjoying digging through the looth group. I have not yet watched all the ding kings vids or read all the amazing comments and articles here, but I've been appreciating some of the loothing for dollars stuff, seeing other people's intake sheets, discussions about dealing with customers, and it led me to this question: How do people deal with customer expectations, liability, and the inevitable accidents that can happ…
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@member some really solid perspective here, thank you. You're so right regarding the bit about some of the more abusive customers being the most obsessed with cosmetics, to paraphr…