Manton Customs

Sadly, there is no easy trick to be able to play like your bass heroes....other than practice and practice some more. I'm sure the likes of Mark King could play really well on a crap bass with a poor setup. That's not to say setup is not important...it is. But you may be overlooking the fact that you're already there setup wise...this observation is based on your other threads where you say your luthier has already setup and addressed the frets on your bass. By all means take it to another luthier, but don't expect miracles. I'd also add, there really isn't any way to accurately judge action by watching a video like that, a half MM is a big deal in setup, but certainly not visible in a video like that. There's also rarely a point in the video where he's not fretting/muting/popping a note, which also makes it difficult to properly judge. Again I'm not saying his action isn't low, I'm sure it is. But it's not going to be outside the boundaries of what any good tech/luthier can achieve.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1489327537' post='3256036'] We talked about a sunburst nitro relic p if you recall [/quote] I do

Oil if it's unfinished

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1489271707' post='3255707'] Manton customs? [/quote] Thanks for the mention . I'd be glad to help, pm me if you'd like more details.

Take it to a luthier, he'll be able to advise what's necessary. If its just the frets (level, crown, polish) you're looking at somewhere in between £50-£100 ish depending on where you go.

This distance is dictated by the basses neck angle. A Fender style bass has zero or very close to zero angle, unless shimmed. So there will be a gap roughly the height of the bridge between strings and body.

You're best bet is a very light touch and the 2000 paper on a rubber eraser as a block. Sand in one direction to create a uniform scratch pattern. 0000 steel wool will also dull it nicely, but great care would need to be taken that the pickups didn't attract all the steel wool dust. To be honest, I'd leave it alone. It's one of the drawbacks of a Satin finish...they will gloss up in areas which have a lot of traffic. So it will only return, either there or on other parts. If you aren't careful or experienced doing things like this you could make things a lot worse by burning through. If you did burn through you'd go down to bare wood before realising you've gone through the clear coat.

It's a fair way but you could post it if necessary, feel free to PM for more info.

Yes, I've done it before. It's reasonably straight forward, but you'd obviously need a refinish afterwards, which is the expensive/time consuming part. The key things are using the same species of wood to fill the routs and to make sure the fit is tight, also using a suitable glue which doesn't creep. If you don't do one of those you run the risk of the filled blocks telegraphing through the finish.

I like medium scales too, here's a couple I built last year. [URL=http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/Manton-Customs/media/Manton%20Customs%20Echo%20MK%20II%20Tele%20Bass%20Build%20progress/Finished%20Echo%20MK%20II%20basses/1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton%20Customs%20Echo%20MK%20II%20Tele%20Bass%20Build%20progress/Finished%20Echo%20MK%20II%20basses/1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1067.photobucket.com/user/Manton-Customs/media/Manton%20Customs%20Echo%20MK%20II%20Tele%20Bass%20Build%20progress/Finished%20Echo%20MK%20II%20basses/6.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u425/Manton-Customs/Manton%20Customs%20Echo%20MK%20II%20Tele%20Bass%20Build%20progress/Finished%20Echo%20MK%20II%20basses/6.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

If you haven't refretted a bass before I'd advise against tackling this one yourself. Simply fretting a bass with the slots already cut is a fairly challenging task for a beginner and your first fret job will not be perfect. Just look at some of the pics of bad refrets on here which were done by people who are supposed to know what they are doing!! Then take into account that you'll have to re-slot the board, which also takes practice and itd make it quite easy to ruin the board. Really this is not even a job for the average tech, it's a job for a luthier who has experience cutting their own fret boards. If you were to have a go at it yourself, you would need: Fret saw and depth stop Fret bender Fret wire Flush cutters Crowning file Levelling beam Abrasive Polish You'd also need to make a new nut, so a nut blank and nut files too. Assuming you don't already have all of those, it wouldn't be much cheaper doing it yourself than paying a pro to do it. If you do pay someone to do it then use someone reputable, I could see this in the wrong hands turning ugly fast! Hope this helps but I'm guessing it's not the kind of reply you were hoping for! Edit: Rich replied while I was writing that...none of it was directed towards him!

Lighter fluid is the best for this task as it'll leave next to no residue behind and will not harm the finish. Other products can make any future refinish work very difficult.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1486724141' post='3234078'] Being relatively rubbish at anything technical I don`t know if my fretboard is laquered or not. Aaaarrrrgggg! [/quote] It's pretty safe to say that if it's Maple it's lacquered/finished. Maple has to have a finish (unless it's baked) or it'll turn ugly very quickly. Satin Poly is often mistaken for natural due to to feel and the fact it's usually quite thin. As Rich says, don't use lemon oil on it. Lemon oil and Danish oil are two very different products and not to be used interchangeably. Danish oil is a wiping varnish which dries and builds a film finish whereas lemon oil is just scented mineral oil so does neither.

Thanks for sharing Annette

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1485886243' post='3227517'] I think radius can have an affect, but I'm not sure if it's enough to be significant. Think of a 5 string bass, as it has a string in the middle making this easier to visualise. The string in the middle is parallel with the neck, but due to the nut width being narrower than the neck pocket, the other strings fan out slightly. For any string at an angle like this, on a flat board, everything is constant, just like the string that goes straight down the middle. But on a radiused board, the frets get further from the string the higher you go due to the curvature. Take it to extremes and picture a baseball bat with 3 strings anchored to the same point at the 'nut' but widely spaced at the 'bridge' and you can see that on a bass this must have a similar effect no matter how subtle. [/quote] Yes, you are inadvertently referring to what I mentioned earlier . You're correct in your thinking and also that the difference is very minor. But it's still there. However what you're describing is no longer an issue if the frets have been levelled correctly-along the string paths rather than to the radius. Most factory basses don't have their frets levelled at all, so come as you describe with the frets plane following the radius rather than string paths. Again, the actual difference in action height is very minor, probably somewhere in the 0.25- 0.5mm area. I'd also imagine the OPs luthier has done just as I describe, as it's not particularly common to level with a radius block.

All finishes have their downsides. Nitro (cellulose) is a good choice as it's readily available in aerosols (I'm assuming you don't have spray equipment) in lots of guitar colours. It can punish you, but that's finishing! If the body comes out good enough for a natural finish you could look at doing an oil finish, which is much easier! If you go the Nitro route make sure you spray somewhere that isn't too damp or you'll get bloom (cloudiness). Also keep everything scrupulously clean...both the work area and the body itself or you'll have problems. Make sure you build up enough finish, a thin finish is nice, but if you haven't got much experience it's easy to burn through when you come to level the finish. As mentioned above, the prep is the key and it's best to give it a month to cure before wetsanding and buffing. There's lots on info on rattle can Nitro finishing on the Reranch website. It's an American site, but the info is good.

Not really, no. If you're luthier is leveling the frets correctly he will level along the string paths rather than exactly to the radius, this creates the same result (as far as action is concerned) as a flat fingerboard. If you're luthier is leveling with a radius block, then yes, the greater radius on the board will mean a (slightly) higher action... we are talking small amounts here, but it will be more susceptible to choking when bending. A cylinder is really not the optimal shape for a fretboard. Most luthiers will use a flat block or file, leveling along the strings paths. So I imagine yours has done just this.

Another vote for it won't help. It's most likely the neck profile that's causing your issues rather than the front to back thickness. The extra thickness heavier strings would add would be next to non existent anyway.

Yes, CITES have introduced new legislation protecting all Rosewood species. Meaning if you now sell a guitar or bass with a Rosewood fretboard outside the EU, or across states if you're in America you'll need to apply for a permit. Buying a bass within the U.K./EU will remain the same. I believe one of the reasons they did this was to protect Brazilian Rosewood (approaching extinction) as Indian Rosewood (the species most fretboards are made of these days) is actually very sustainable and one of the worlds most planted trees. They grow quickly too. But rather than further protect Brazilian Rosewood (which was already restricted) they have covered all species, as I suppose one species was being passed off as the other. I hope we will not see a great increase in the use of Ebony, as this is currently way more endangered than Indian Rosewood ever will be. So if that happens they will introduce restrictions on Ebony also. I doubt instruments with Rosewood fretboards will become any more sought after...possibly the opposite.

Not quite sure how the myth got started, I really can't see the logic in how it would cause "warping". Wood doesn't work like that .

[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1484175693' post='3213390'] Was just speaking to my friend who's a graphic designer and has access to automated routing machines and he said at first he'd do it but when I showed him the price of the blank plastic he said I should get it lasered cause he wouldn't want to risk it [/quote] Routers as Tbay suggested work fine. I would bandsaw close to the line, template rout, then rout the the bevel. Alternatively you could bandsaw/jigsaw up close to the line then lots of sanding! Have you tried "scratch it" they do custom jobs and would be cheaper than a luthier. http://www.originalscratchplates.com/

Yes

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1483624770' post='3208767'] You'd be surprised... even Warwick used them As for it being a bodge... we'll have to disagree. It may not seem that elegant at first sight, but it's highly effective with no drawbacks. Yes, you may argue that theoretically the contact neck/body is reduced etc etc. But I'm only interested in what works or doesn't work *in use*. And shims work. No question about it. [/quote] Bodge might be a strong term, but nobody builds a bass from the ground up to incorporate a shim. If you find a shim in pocket straight from the factory, it's simply because they make mistakes too. It obviously makes sense from a manufacturing point of view to simply add a shim when the alternatives would be hard work. There's nothing wrong with a shim if necessary on a used bass which has been around the block, but on a new bass I'd find it unacceptable. Once more it'll most likely get worse over time as the pocket typically pulls up at the headstock end over the years. This reduces neck angle and increases the problem. That's one of the reasons why so many old instruments wind up needing shims. If you really wanted to keep the bass you could sand/mill the angle into the neck pocket or neck heel. That's (one of) the correct fix (es) if you were building from scratch, but obviously not wise in this case when you can just send it back!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1482934769' post='3203608'] Thanks for your thoughts. They're always welcomed, by me at least. Or these where you can get them in the UK: http://www.tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=fender+fret+wire [/quote] Glad to hear it . Yep, Jescar wire as you linked is my preferred brand when it comes to fretwire also.

I really wouldn't choose SS frets for a vintage Fender. Ordinary Nickel silver frets will last a very long time for the majority of players and it's what the instrument would have originally came with. And yes SS frets will sound slightly different. I also believe it would negatively effect the value.