Manton Customs

Yes, judging by your detailed description you unfortunately have a twisted neck. You could take some relief out, which may solve the lower frets buzzing, but there is no easy cure for the twist, it's the neck wood itself rather than the truss rod. The cure is either serious luthiery, or a new neck. There are a few methods a luthier will use to fix it, but none are cheap or 100% guaranteed to last forever.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1509660892' post='3400746'] Thanks again for taking the time to reply. Expert advice from professionals such as yourself on things like this make this forum invaluable. [/quote] No problem, I'm always happy to talk techy/building related stuff! [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1509661053' post='3400747'] Just Off Topic briefly... could you use this stuff to finish a bass body..? [/quote] Actually yes, but I haven't personally tried it on anything like a body. There's a couple of guys over on Talkbass who have though, they were using it as a wiping varnish (like Truoil) by thinning it and rubbing it on. So in place of a thin oil type finish, yes it's quite doable. The same method may work for a gloss finish, but it would be quite difficult to get the application right without creating flaws and witness lines. When applying it to a fretboard a common method is to use a damn round the fingerboard then pour epoxy, this method of application obviously wouldn't work on a more complicated shape like a bass body though. So it'd have to be done in multiple coats, which is likely to cause witness lines (hazy, cloudy, type patterns where one coats meets another).

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509645523' post='3400593'] How hard a finish is epoxy? How many hours of fretless playing with round-wound strings would you get out of it before the fingerboard needs true-ing up again and re-epoxying? [/quote] Decent stuff like West System is very hard and would withstand roundwounds for a long time. West System has a Shore rating of 83, which is apparently the same as a builders hard hat! It's pretty indestructible stuff.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1509637301' post='3400519'] Cheers for the advice folks. The luthier i contacted has also said he doesn't want to do it because he thinks removing the frets will damage the finish which, long story short, would take a lot of work to rectify and end up costing considerably more than the bass is worth, So, time for another look at fretless necks. [/quote] A wise man . The approach would be something like - Remove frets Fill slots True up fingerboard and completely remove finish due to the gaps the frets will have left and possible damage Apply a hard finish such as Epoxy Level the epoxy. So yeah, it'd be pricey.

Usually Maple boards are sprayed after the frets are installed, so if you defret you'll likely have bare patches where the frets used to sit. You'll also probably chip the surrounding finish removing the frets. It's also normal to have to sand/true up the board after removing frets...which will remove the finish. So you'll likely need to refinish the board after performing the defret. That's if you want it to look nice anyway.

[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1509493774' post='3399482'] The only set I could find were Stewart McDonald [/quote] https://tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/bass-nut-files-set-of-3.html?SID=18d4ba24e0d5c3cfcaae84d3e917e5d4

Which nut files are you looking at? The Hosco set have a 65 and a 75. So your D would be the furthest out but still only .09, which won't cause any problems.

A standard set will be fine, you're talking about a few thousandths of an inch. You really don't want nut slots too tight, or they will pinch the string and cause serious tuning problems. Also try and keep the file dead straight with no wobbling or change of angle, otherwise you'll cut an even bigger slot than advertised.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1508778550' post='3394370'] That's actually bubinga pomele, burl wood is basically rotting wood that happens to look pretty, but generally soft and unsuitable as a solid oil finished body. Can't say I've ever seen bubinga burl? [/quote] You're confusing burl (or burr over here) with spalted wood (which is rot/mould)

I do a few custom necks, feel free to pm or email if interested .

You'll likely get better results with plasticard/styrene sheet. It won't contract at a different rate to the fingerboard like Maple will, or stain from the surrounding oily wood like Maple can. It'll hold up better and is easier to work also. The contraction/swelling thing is less of an issue as you'll be coating the board, but thought it was worth mentioning anyway!

[quote name='Chewie' timestamp='1506871488' post='3381648'] What do you guys charge for a "fret job".......? [/quote] Around £70 if it's just a level, crown, polish and full setup that is required. Anything more than that would be difficult to quote for without seeing it.

.

Sounds like you've got what's known as a ski jump, sometimes a fret job will solve it if it's very minor and you've got plenty of fret material there. The other alternative would be removing the frets and levelling the board. Not a major job but not particularly desirable on a vintage bass.

Before you do any of that, how much lacquer have you sprayed? You need to have built enough finish to level in the first place or you'll burn through. It sounds like you hadn't intended on levelling the finish at all, so you may not have sprayed enough. If you can't find Micro Mesh or don't want to shop online you can use ordinary wet and dry paper, it'll be cheaper too. Start with 1000 grit and progress to 1500-2000-2500 then buff. The higher grit you sand to, the easier the final buffing will be. A trick to avoid the dreaded water induced cracking/lifting is to sparingly use either olive oil or mineral oil as the lubricant instead of water.

Yep, it's a relatively simple job. Though the pro level job will pay off when it comes to truing the board correctly after. Just as your frets have to be perfectly level on a fretted bass, your fingerboard needs to be on a fretless. Pro luthiers will have their own methods of doing this, whereas the less experienced will just go at it with a radius block! So as the others have said, pick someone who knows what they're doing!

Yes 1/4" US/imperial knobs. Not metric (6mm) http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/hardware-parts-c1/knobs-c39/fender-replacement-knobs-c40/wd-music-telecaster-barrel-knob-flat-top-aluminium-usa-fit-and-cts-pots-p4500 Also q-parts knobs will fit.

It doesn't look like shrinkage to me, looks more like it was defretted and took some chipping during fret removal. Yes, Ebony dust and super glue for the win. This would make it invisible.

[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1494321080' post='3294886'] This sounds more like the frets aren't lifting out of the slots, rather they're just sticking out a little bit. If you run your finger along the edge of the fingerboard it's a bit like a saw, right? If so, it's just that the wood has shrunk slightly, leaving the fret ends prominent. An easy job for any decent repair shop, then it most likely won't trouble you ever again. [/quote] Yep, this. it's called fret sprout.

No, it won't affect the tone. Unless the fretboard is also damaged it wouldn't need redoing. It'd be masked off. The binding would also be masked off from any colour coats. The differences between the finishes is a pretty broad subject so I'll leave that one out . Ricks use CV varnish, so if you wanted it as original as possible you'd need someone who has experience spraying that....I don't, Polys, Nitros, Shellacs and oils for me. CV varnish is usually pretty thick, so you might want to try getting a local luthier to give it a wetsand and buff to remove the scratches. This might just do the trick. But there is obviously a risk of burn through, in which case you'd need the respray which you were considering anyway. A neckthrough will be quite expensive to refinish and gloss black is a difficult colour to get right as it'll show every imperfection. Good luck .

[quote name='mark76' timestamp='1491850911' post='3275894'] I'm not surprised rosewoods's been CITEd. It's so ubiquitous (especially on guitars from Far Eastern manufacturers) that I'm surprised it wasn't done years ago. [/quote] It's actually pretty ridiculous, they didn't add the restrictions to protect Indian Rosewood (the Rosewood which 99% of all guitar manufacturers currently use). But it's to protect Brazilian Rosewood and a couple of other rare Rosewoods. So the easy option was to restrict all Rosewoods including the very sustainable IR. The knock on effect of this could be devestating to woods like Ebony. So there will almost certainly be tighter restrictions on Ebony soon also. Indian Rosewood is one of the most sustainable trees out there, grown in huge plantations. It's in literally no danger. Ebony is. Brazilian Rosewood is endangered and has been for years. Thats partly due to us guitar/bass player insisting that the original materials Fender/Gibson/Martin used were best and getting so stuck in the past that we can't see forward. There are other species of Rosewood also but the two above are the ones used most frequently in instruments....just most people stopped using BR years ago. Edit to say also that it's not that difficult to get the required paperwork (in bulk) for companies like Fender. So I'd be surprised if they stopped all together throughout the range

I doubt you'll find one specifically for bass. You could try looking for G&L ASAT plans... but I'm not sure they are any bigger than the guitar version. I use the guitar size, however the scale length is only 30" or 32" on my tele basses. You could of course still use the guitar size with 34" scale, it'll just mean the nut sits further away and effects the balance in a negative way. To be honest I'd think twice before using 34" scale, it'd take some substantial modifications to the body shape to make the bass balance correctly. The G&L ASAT even comes with the option of a metal extender to extend the strap button location where it needs to be. Which is hardly ideal! This one (below) at 30" scale balances perfectly, even with the vintage style tuners, but at 34" it'd neck dive. [url="http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/Manton-Customs/media/Echo.png.html"][/url]

The saw cut is most likely for the nut face, just as you describe. A pic would confirm that though. Cutting the nut slot out is not complicated, but can get messy if you aren't careful/experienced. It might be best to get a luthier to do it for you. But the basic idea is to cut a notch for the opposite (headstock) side to the same depth as the one you already have. Then chisel out the middle.

I havent seen that range of paints before, they look nice. Metallics/candies/pearls are quite difficult as you can't sand any imperfections out and you need to dust on the "sparkles" so good luck with that, looks like it'll be fun . You can use the West Systems Epoxy as a grain filler also. I haven't done much with 2K (I use Polys and Nitro) so I can't personally recommend a primer. It's also probably worth saying that I haven't used the west systems with 2k either, though I'm fairly sure it'd be fine. I previously thought you were shooting Nitro for some reason!

Yes, plastic wood is crap. Fill the screw holes with hardwood cocktail sticks to almost flush, but ever slightly below the surface. Then fill the remaining void with West System Epoxy. Don't use superglue as Nitro doesn't like it! For dents just use the epoxy, and apply masking tape over the top of the fill to hold in place. Remove the tape when dry.