Andyjr1515

There was a guy at one of the bass bashes I was at a few years ago, maybe the South West one but could have been the South East one, who had an unusual but very effective strap arrangement. From what I remember, it was for just this kind of issue. If he's reading this, maybe he could chip in? For my tenor sax, I've just invested in a higher-tech strap than the general 'car-belt webbing and a hook' ones most of us use and it's transformed my ability to play - which was starting to get very difficult.

Yes - that matters a lot. Arthritis is a b****r. I have it in my hands and, for me, often I actually do use a neck heel button (bit like an acoustic) to tilt the guitar or bass body away from me a touch. It means I can't see the frets, but it means that my fretting hand isn't twisted as much as in the more conventional body angle. If you are able to try one out in a shop or a 'return if it doesn't suit' arrangement, I would have a look at some of the Ibanez short scale offerings - I think you would find that they sit quite differently to the types you've had in the past. And go for a medium weight rather than lightweight - the strain of a light but neck-heavy bass is worse than a heavier well-balanced one...

I think I am not alone in being surprised and bemused by the original assumption that a shorter scale = a propensity to neck dive. All other things being equal** then it is the exact opposite. The leverage effect of the headstock weight at the end of a bass neck is high. Reduce the length and you reduce the leverage and the probability of neck dive. ** But of course all other things are often not equal And so I started looking at the shortscale basses on the market, from a bass and guitar-builder's perspective. And that perspective is, from a neck dive point of view: Lighter body = greater chance of neck dive Smaller body = greater chance of being lighter = greater chance of neck dive Strap pin further back from 12th fret line = greater chance of neck dive Longer the neck = greater leverage from the headstock = greater chance of neck dive In line tuners = greater leverage from the headstock = greater chance of neck dive High-mass tuners = greater leverage from the headstock = greater chance of neck dive Greater number of tuners = greater leverage from the headstock = greater chance of neck dive Larger headstock = greater chance of neck dive And you can play 'swings and roundabouts' with the above factors. Or, if you like neck dive, you can play 'pennies on the scale'. The Fender P Bass has: A heavy body; a strap pin very close to 12th fret...and it balances So my assessment for @thebrig 's two basses that have given him problems is: Fender Mustang 30" (great bass, by the way!) Strap pin OK ; Short scale GOOD ; Small and light body BAD Conclusion: It should be OK, but the body is probably just that little bit too light and short (which affects also the back strap pin position). Solution: lightweight tuners will help reduce the neck dive Gibson SG Short Scale (iconic, but...) Short scale GOOD; Two a side Tuners GOOD; Strap pin Position UNBELIEVABLY BAD Welcome to the SG/EB owners self-help community I can guarantee, without looking at any reviews that the Gretsch G2220 Junior, the Epiphone EB-O short scales will also be bad, but that the Ibanez GSRM20 Micro is probably going to be good.

I haven't used Ghost stuff for bass guitars but I've used both Acoustiphonic and Hexpander units and piezo elements on a number of my own solid and semi 6 string guitars. Pricey but very competent - other than the 'collector block' that the connectors for each of the piezo wires plug into. Shockingly bad bit of tat that can (and does) stop the show. If they've changed that design/supplier then fine - it makes a good but flawed system great. If they are still supplying it, then shame on them.

Splendid job then and now

Great stuff. Looking forward to the next one!

OK - thanks One more question. If you hold down the G string at the 1st fret and 16th fret at the same time, approximately how much a gap is the bottom of the string above the 8th fret. Business card thickness-ish? Credit card thickness-ish? More than a mm-ish? In the meantime, I'll PM you.

Hi @PaulThePlug's cough has just disturbed my winter slumber - so I may as well wake up enough to make a cup of tea before entering the spring slumber. A couple of questions: - you have a good tech, if it's the one you mention in your 'For Sale' ad. The ad mentions the action and the seized truss rod but not how much bow (relief) there is in the neck. Has your man confirmed that it is the neck relief/trussrod adjustment that is causing the problem and high action rather than the neck angle? - is the fretboard gloss finished? - are you happy to (or would your man) take the neck off and send it by post and refit? There are some risks involved with taking off fretboards and replacing them - worst case it that it could end up as a scrapper, best case (without a full refinish which then starts becoming prohibitive) is that it would probably be visible that the fretboard has been removed (especially as the side dots appear to be drilled along the join) - but it is a possibility.

That's lovely! I will be watching with great interest. Love old basses and this is the tops!

As a hand arthritis sufferer myself (it's a b****r, isn't it!) and adding that I have modded most of my own basses and guitar necks as it's progressed, a few suggestions if they help. Yes - you are both spot on. The neck shape and width makes a BIG difference. And yes, a shorter scale tends to be much easier on arthritic hands - I personally struggle nowadays with full length basses. If your builder hasn't already taken the frets out, I suggest he considers a small change to the sequence. With reference to the width, I would suggest that the neck has a 'rough' narrowing BEFORE the frets are taken out. I just use the fine side of a shinto rasp, downwards from the fret side so that the frets are being pushed into their slots rather than pulled out of them. Maybe a bit more extreme than your builder would be comfortable with, but, personally, I do this with the bass still fully strung up so that I, or the owner if it's not my own instrument, can try it 'on the fly'. The advantage is that - whether the strings are left on or taken off - you can take a bit of width off and try it until the width feels 'right'. Once it does, your builder can then take the neck off and finish it properly but with the basic width now already determined. I did this on my own dreadnought acoustic quite recently. It went from unplayable to public performable in one afternoon. I'm sure that your builder will also suggest this, but I would take material off the neck shoulders either side of the neck centre spine before deciding to reduce the actual neck depth. So I'm talking about a 'soft' V to try first (shape 2 below). This sort is done by simply taking material off the shoulders, shown in shape 1, up to the dotted yellow line either side of the central depth of the neck : The reason is that, especially with arthritis, too thin a neck can be problematic and lead to cramp. You can always take a bit of thickness off later, but I would start with the the shoulders - I find that it totally transforms the feel of a neck

Top drawer

Here's the run through I recently did for a Basschat colleague. The diagrams aren't mine but I couldn't track down from the google stuff who it was I needed to acknowledge - so all credit to the folks who drew them! What is Neck Relief ? One of the first things that is done when setting up a bass is checking the neck relief. It is easy to check, relatively easy to adjust and can be the difference between a beautifully playing instrument and an unplayable one! This is what it's all about: 1. Bass necks are flexible and the string tension tries to bend the neck like a bow-and-arrow string does : 2. To play well, the neck needs to be 'almost' straight and so, internally, there is a trussrod fitted that pulls the neck in the opposite direction to counteract the string tension (I will explain 'almost' straight shortly). So, depending on the string tension and the opposite pull from the trussrod, it is possible for the neck to end up straight, or bowed upwards, or bowed backwards. Greatly exaggerated in this picture but like this: 3. The effect on the playability of the guitar or bass of these three conditions is shown below: Note the effect of back bow, in condition 'C' above. Buzzing from the middle of the fretboard. And back-bow is the most problematic because the strings will buzz at certain places or certain situations. And so the general rule for set up of the neck is: "Get it as straight as possible but without the possibility of back bow occurring." But, because weather conditions change, because we might use alternative tunings, because we might fit a set of different tension strings, and we never want back bow, then we change the above general rule a little, to become: "Get it as straight as possible, and then add a teeny bit of forward bow" And that teeny bit of forward bow, showing as a gap between the bottom of the string to the top of the fret is referred to as the 'Neck Relief' How do you measure the amount of relief of your bass neck? OK - now to measure the amount of bow on your own neck. And it's VERY easy to do. And ref below, near enough is good enough. We are going to use the string itself as our straight-edge. All you need to do: - tune the bass up normally - hold the G string down to the fretboard in two places - just in front of the nut, and just before the neck joins the body (see pic below) - while doing that, look at how big a gap there is under the string in the middle of those two points (usually around where the 8th fret position is) (marked with yellow arrow in pic below) From the side view, this is what you are doing (ignore the gubbins under the fretboard in this picture): Because of the length of a bass, this is easier if you have someone else holding down one of the two positions - or if you have a capo, use that at the 1st fret position to hold that end down. At the mid point (yellow arrow), there are three possibilities: 1. The string has a gap, and it is around or less than 0.5mm (approximately the thickness of a business card). Teeny gaps can be confirmed by tapping the string down to the fretboard. If it moves and taps, there is a gap. If it is rock solid, then refer to 3 below. This is the ideal situation. See A in diagram above or 2. The string has a gap underneath, but that gap is larger than 0.5mm / business card thickness. This is less than ideal. See B in diagram above or 3. There is no gap at the mid point - the string is hard against the fretboard. This is not good. See C in diagram above.

I'll post it later today

Yes -like that.

Oh my goodness!

Hi @budget bassist Yes - I remember the thread. You did a good job - nice 'tidy up'. As @Norris says, we could do with a shot from this angle (with strings on is fine) to be able to judge: But, as Norris also says, fret wear is generally seen as grooves that are created directly under the string and, unless you have had the whole fretboard re-levelled a number of times, it is unlikely that your frets are going to be too shallow across their full width. What is the difficulty you are having with your chords? - the pressure you are having to apply to hold the chords down? - buzzes when you are fully holding the chords down? - specific types of chord, such as bar chords? - something else? Oh, and what gauge of strings do you usually use?

Coming along nicely

Another splendid build. Can't wait to see the carve - a proper carve top is one of the few things I've chickened out of even having a bash at. Scary biscuits!

Yes, I agree with that. And I would venture to go further. My personal measure when I'm setting up a bass or a guitar is 'when you tap down on the fret, my ideal is "just perceptible" movement'. But there's a 'but' when it comes to trussrods. And that's mainly about who is doing the adjusting. Because many great bass players are not practical, confident, don't have the right tools or, frankly, don't have any interest in the mechanics of their instrument - and there's nothing wrong with that! So my general advice, for what it's worth, to anyone reading who regards themselves in that category is: - Don't use the truss rod to adjust action height. Its only job is to keep the neck straight under string tension - If your bass plays nicely without buzzes at an action you are happy with, then 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. - If your bass plays nicely without buzzes at an action you are happy with but you are curious, then by all means, have a look at how much relief (bow-and-arrow curve) you have using the methods described above and: if the relief (measuring the amount of curve) is no more than the thickness of a credit card, then either leave it alone, or learn how to/find someone who already knows how to reduce the relief somewhere between @Baloney Balderdash's business card and my 'perceptible gap'...the bass may well play better at a lower action height. if it is more than the thickness of a credit card, then learn how to/find someone who already knows to reduce the relief. As @Baloney Balderdash rightly says, less than this amount of relief would be better, but above this level then the bass's playability will certainly be being compromised. if there is no relief at all at the centre point and the string is hard against the 8th fret, then it indicates that the neck may have a back bow (a hump in the middle) and, if so, the truss rod will need adjusting. It needs loosening or the strings will tend to buzz, particularly around the lower and middle fret positions. Learning how to/finding someone who already knows how to adjust it will make the bass play better and, usually, allow you to lower the saddles and action. - But if your bass is buzzing in places, or action is too high, then learn how to/find someone who already knows how to check the relief. On a bass, in terms of set up everything affects everything and the set up should always starts with setting the neck relief. Once that is done, you can assess everything else. Hope the above makes sense. By the way, I answered a basschatter's PM query recently about setting the trussrod and how it works/what it does. In it I used some googled diagrams/pictures to illustrate and clarify what some of the terms we use mean. If anyone is interested, more than happy to copy and paste that here.

Yes - I remember seeing that one. Lovely job. Welcome back

On my own bass, I would go 'B' because when I add a bridge pickup I am usually looking for a tangibly different tone that can be mixed or used by itself for different genres and venues. Even here, I would still use a higher output pickup as suggested above because the signal strength really does drop off the closer you get to the bridge. If I didn't want so much the tone differentiation but wanted to primarily add depth of tone, then I would go 'C' with matched pickups.

That is, indeed, a thing of beauty. Lovely lines, great timber choices and impressive building

Well, if the gap isn't massive and the bass plays fine then I wouldn't worry about it. Don't worry about feeler gauges - they tend to push the strings up and give oversize readings in any case. Basically, with the 1st and 16th fret positions held down: - if the string at the mid point is hard against the frets, it needs loosening, - if the relief is up to the thickness of a credit card and it plays OK, then it's fine - if it's over, say 1.5mm, then you have a choice - if it plays fine you can leave it alone; if the action feels high to play in places even with the saddles at the right heights, then tighten the rod a touch.

If you are starting from a situation that the neck is strung up and the trussrod is already there or thereabouts, then it is unlikely that any 'seasonal' adjustment would ever be any more than 45 degrees to change a slightly high relief to a lower relief. When you say that it doesn't turn as far - do you mean that the resistance gets so great you can't turn it any further? With the G held down at fret 1 and fret 16, how much of a gap do you have at, say, the 7th?

You mean like this one? : Sorry for the bling, folks, but - in my defense - it was a pretty dull dinted black Squier when it started...