Manton Customs

If I'm understanding right- you are asking should you file where the nut sits, or the nut itself to reduce its height. If that's the question then the answer is file the bottom of the nut.

String type/gauge is a good suggestion and I'd look here first. But if they are the usual brand which you use on your other basses some possibilities could be: 1, Tighter radius compared to your other basses- If the frets are not levelled correctly (along the string paths) this will make it difficult to obtain a lower action. It's perfectly possible to have a tight radius and low action, but the fretwork needs to be right. 2, Playing style - perhaps you dig in a bit more with this bass. 3, Fretwork. There doesn't necessarily have to be one or two that are quite high causing big problems, just a few small discrepancies would be enough to necessitate raising the action. So if you get a (good) luthier to perform the fretwork then set it up, that'd cover both 1 and 3.

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For the neck, I'd sand with 400 to smooth the edges of the remaining finish then just build up layers of finish to fill the void (shoot just that area a few times first). Though after you've smoothed it out it may not bother you enough to warrant respraying. That's all assuming it's fairly minor (as it seems in the pic) and not missing actual wood. If it's missing wood get some system 3 epoxy, mix up, apply to the neck then stick masking tape over it to keep it to the shape of the neck and prevent running. Then respray. For the wiring a Les Paul diagram should get you very close. Id test the bridge pickup with a multimeter first though.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1470297659' post='3104794'] This all seems rather chicken and the egg to me. If you adjust the truss rod without setting the action to a comfortable level (buzz or not) then you are surely going to get a false measurement when measuring the amount of relief because you're measuring it to the string. So the relief surely has to be set in the context of the desired string height. [/quote] No you're not going to get any false reading. You've already been given the answer to this on the previous page by Moon Bass Alpha. You fret the string at the first and last fret, this remove the bridge height from the equation. You are literally using the string as a straight edge. This must have been covered in the videos which people have helpfully posted. It may be a very good idea to take the bass to a local tech or luthier.

Thank you

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1470253150' post='3104552'] Yes, I think the MTD Kingston Artist 5 is going to be very close, but again not through neck. How do you define the position of the sweet spot with a longer scale length? PM me if you have a measurement and I will check mine to see where it is. Have to say it does sound very stingray 5 like. [/quote] 87% of the scale length if I remember correctly. What's your budget?

[quote name='pineweasel' timestamp='1470139672' post='3103499'] They used hornbeam for the central core for many years. I read that it was dropped because it was too stiff, curiously! [/quote] Yep they did. I heard they could no longer source it though rather than it being too stiff. Either way Hornbeam is great stuff, kind of the native equivalent to Ebony (in hardness not colour!) I've used it for fretboards before and it works great. And yes Shedua [i]is[/i] Ovangkol, just another name for it

Top wood will make little to no difference on the tone of the bass, others will have a different opinion, but I'd advise you to pick the wood on looks and weight. The weight probably won't come into it much unless they use particularly thick facings.

There's not a lot you can do to make it lighter that will reduce the weight considerably. There's little things you can do like replacing the tuners with light weight ones, replacing metal knobs with plastic, changing bridge etc, but none of it's going to equate to much weight loss Chambering would offer a fair weight reduction, but you'd need to think of a way to cover the chambers afterwards. This could be as simple as a larger pickguard (or adding one if it doesn't have one), or simply chambering under the existing pickguard if it isn't already so. If you went this route it wouldn't be particularly expensive.

That kind of dulling usually comes out very easily with a polishing compound, try meguiars ultimate.

Wood glue will not stick to brass very effectively. CA or epoxy work best on metals. Re-drilling is not necessary unless the hole is actually damaged.

Jescar wire is the best around in my opinion.

You can paint over poly (ester or urethane) with nitro no problem. It actually makes a great base for it as it should be dead flat. Just lightly sand the existing finish with 400 on a block. If you mask everything off and plug the tuner holes before spraying you shouldn't have any problems getting colour on areas you don't want it. CAR is a bi*** though! Good luck and remember to not sand your colour/metallic coats.

Your 70s neck would have had a Poly finish, there isn't really a decent poly in a rattle can, so I second the motion for Nitro if your going to DIY. The neck in the pic doesn't have too much of a tint to it and clear Nitro will naturally yellow/Amber even before it ages. So if you're going to use any tinted lacquer go easy on it! The basic procedure would be to spray as many coats as desired of the tint (i.e not many) then follow up with multiple coats of clear. Leave several weeks, wetsand and polish. If it's a Maple fingerboard like the pic it makes things a little trickier as its a pain wetsanding and buffing in between frets! It's still a job you should be able to complete yourself, but it may be a bigger job than you anticipate and you'll probably pull some hair out!

Yes, as I said in the other thread, there is plenty of material there in that pic .

Cutting the contours would not be an expensive job and take a couple of hours maximum. However the bass would then need to be completely refinished, which would not be so cheap! Alternatively you could have a "spare" body made just as you like it and keep the original untouched. Then if you ever sold the bass you could put the neck back on the original body. This wouldn't be cheap either but it keeps the original intact with original finish.

If that's the worst of it then there is enough material there for a fret job.

Any chance of some pics of the frets?

Can you post pics of the frets? It has to be pretty bad before a refret is necessary. A fret level and crown to get it playing well shouldn't effect the resale.

It'd most likely be the E string is not making contact with the saddle where it should, therefore not having enough compensation. So it'd be a case of filing the saddle as mentioned above to get it how it should be. The E string nut slot being too high would definitely throw things out also and could have been the culprit, but that would (arguably) not be so easy to forgive!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1467647739' post='3085131'] Manton Customs may be along in a minute. He may have some words of wisdom to add. [/quote] And here I am . Better late than never I hope. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the rubbing back method as long as it's done well. It is one of the recognised ways of achieving a satin finish even when starting from scratch. As mentioned it may periodically shine up in high traffic areas, but this also happens to actual satin finishes (ones with flatteners in) to some extent also. The only small downside is that in certain lighting conditions you may see very very fine scratches, it's these that diffuse the light creating the satin finish. An oil finish is a bit of a no go on Buckeye, being so soft it needs a bit more protection than just oil. When people do an oil finish on buckeye they usually pre treat it with epoxy. Doing this would be a bit of a pain and unnecessary when you already have a nice hard finish to work with. So my advice would be to get a pro to rub it back to your desired level of sheen, or a pro to spray a few coats of satin, the latter would be a bit more expensive! And yes, that's a veneer accent line.

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1467054257' post='3080872'] EDIT: Nothing wrong with a shim! You should be able to get a bolt on necked bass with low frets, a slim neck (front to back), and low string height and have the grub screws not stick out a bunch and tear the hand when muting. The same bass should be able to run higher action, [u]and[/u] either a thicker neck or taller frets (e.g. going from a fretless neck to a fretted neck with jumbo frets) - the only way to do this without using different length screws or having them scraping hands is to use a shim (use long grub screws but use a shim with the first setup (w/ thinner neck) to have a positive neck angle that will keep the grub screws close to or below the surface of the saddles). This is based on BBOT or other similar styles of saddles. IMO of course! [/quote] There's nothing wrong with a shim if it's necessary to get an instrument playable (or on a parts bass), but if one is required on a new bass built from scratch then there has been an obvious miscalculation and the neck angle/relation between neck and bridge has not been set correctly. Neck shims are an after thought to fix poorly executed planning, a fix, or as in this case the assembling various parts. The scenario you're describing is not a particularly common one (switching back and forth between necks). However if the neck angle was correct in the first place and the necks are chosen sensibly, then there would be no issue switching between them without a shim, as all you would be talking about is the height of the frets. The correct neck angle/shimmed neck should result in a straight edge laying a long all frets and resting on the bridge at it's lowest position.

I like veneer if a shim is necessary as it's still a wood to wood contact and it will not compress too much. Just a little at the rear of the pocket should give you the necessary neck angle. obviously I'm not talking about on my builds, or something would be seriously wrong if I was resorting to neck shimming! Edit: Howie beat me to it!

[quote name='JuliusGroove' timestamp='1467023215' post='3080468'] Hi guys, I've got the Tony Franklin signature precision which I absolutely love, except the fact that The strings just seem to be a little bit loose when tuned to standard. They are hard to slap as there is no stability, and I feel like it is making the overall time more trebley. Problem is I love low action for all the quick stuff, but I've heard this can have an affect on string tension and tone. I've got a babicz bridge on there (previous owner put it on) if that could be causing any issues. Any advice? [/quote] No, the action height/setup will not effect string tension in any real way, a higher action may slightly increase perceived tension on your left hand as you'll fight to fret a note and it may slightly increase break angle. But the actual tension in the string will remain the same. To increase this tension the answer is as the others have said, a heavier gauge set of strings or a stiffer feeling string.