LowMoFo

Hi all, A couple of months ago I bought a new Ibanez bass, and have only recently (outside of the seller's returns policy!) decided to adjust the neck relief. I cannot turn the truss rod in either direction, even with the strings removed, and am obviously very reluctant to apply more force to it. I've read that necks can leave the factories with stuck truss rods, but can be lubed with a drop of penetrating oil. I've also read that such issues require the attention of a tech, or replacement of the neck. For reference, when un-strung, the neck has a very slight back-bow. When strung & tuned, the neck is absolutely straight. Any suggestions please?

Hi all, I hope you're all well, and not too affected by Boris's BS... Having struggled to get a decent brush-on coating, I switched to SprayMax, a 2K poly in a rattle-can. All of which went well, until it came to wet-sanding & buffing... SprayMax gasses off in 10-15 minutes, and cures in 24 hours. To be safe, after 6 coats, I waited 5 days before grabbing the wet & dry, which is when the problems began. I started on the neck, with 600grit on a cork block for the headstock & heel, and without the block for the neck. I went 600/1000/1500/2000/3000/5000, and finally 7000. At this point, it looked beautiful. We're talking baby's backside, and already quite shiny. The following day, I did three applications of Meguiar's M105 cutting compound. Exactly the same procedure with the body. All of this was done in the garden, and it looked stunning. However, when I ran out of daylight, I brought it all inside, and continued working under a daylight bulb, and quickly started to notice what looks like tiny pores in the poly, in random places, which suggests (to me) that I've either sanded through the upper coats in places, or exposed previously hidden bubbles. They only show up from certain angles, but now I can't unsee them. I'm wondering if I should continue with the compound, or go back to wet-sanding, followed by more compound, or whether I should just key it and start again. And I am yet again seeking your opinion/advice. I've attached photos of the surface, firstly a close-up next to the earth strap hole (about 10mm long), to hopefully give an idea of scale. The second shows the patchy nature of the pores. As always, ANY info/recommendations are greatly appreciated. All the very best, Simon.

Oh ok, that’s good to know, flapper it is. Thank you for the advice & heads-up.

Ok, cool. Thanks for the info, Matt.

That’s a cutting disc, same principal as a circular saw, but thanks for getting back to me.

Hi all, I’m struggling to find an angle grinding disc for wood, with a 22mm arbor, max diameter 115mm. I’ve been all over Amazon, eBay and Screwfix, all without success. The only ones I’ve seen either have a 16mm arbor bore, or if 22mm, they’re for steel or stone. Am I looking in all the wrong places, or missing something obvious? Cheers guys

Guys, you rock! I followed your advice & went DI from the driver to the interface, and it works perfectly! Tried recording a passage with the driver on & off, shows up well in the recording. Awesome people of BC, I owe thee all pints!

Heheh! Me too. Thanks loads though for trying.

I can indeed.

The pedals are going into the active input of the amp, exiting through the headphone socket into the interface. And yes, I have input monitoring switched on. This is most confusing. There is probably a v simple solution, but right now it is well beyond my simple brain... Thanks guys.

Thanks for the replies, the driver I'm using is a Behringer BDI21. There is no pass-through output. Yes the effect pedal is before anything gets to Logic Pro. I neglected to mention that after the pedal, and before the interface, I'm going through my amp to eq prior to logic pro as the inboard eq just confuses me. The reason I'm using pedals rather than inboard processing is simply that I don't understand Logic Pro enough yet.

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is being posted in the correct category, but here goes... I'm trying to record a bassline into Logic Pro X, and am somewhat stumped. The chain goes like this: Bass - Driver pedal - Interface - Laptop. When I record (or even just play) the signal is dry. How & why does Logic Pro strip the signal of the effect? This also happens if I use say a chorus pedal instead of the driver. I know there are send/returns, plugins & all that, but I want to know how to record the driven signal, not the dry one. I am an absolute simpleton when it comes to home recording, the last time I went anywhere near this was almost 30 years ago, so please could any answers/suggestions be simpleton-proof? Thanks all!

Hi all, Very many thanks for your ideas & suggestions, certainly a LOT of helpful stuff for this one and for future projects. I've decided to go down the brush-on route & see where that takes me. It may work, or I may be seething again in the not too distant future, time will tell I guess. I have to say, I'm enjoying the learning curve still, and once again, thanks heaps to you all for helping such a noob!

Hi, the elbow grease isn't an issue, but thanks for the heads-up. Andyjr1515 has also been kind in sharing his technique, which we know works v well, so time for a deep breath & give it a go. Thanks again Sam.

Hi Sam, Thanks for your reply, I'm inclined to agree regarding too much too soon, more fool me for following the instructions on the can to the letter. I'm gonna go down the brush route, I've waited this long so a few more weeks is not gonna be too testing. Thanks again for your advice, sir!

Dammit! Had a nasty feeling this may be the case. Thanks for the quick response. I don't have a good enough compressor or gun for a two-part clear coat, so do you have any recommendations for alternatives please?

Hi all, I'm struggling with my build still, so I'm turning to you in search of ideas/suggestions. In August, I clear-coated the beast using Rustoleum polyurethane from rattle cans over spirit stain. Both the body and the neck were hit with five duster coats on day one, then two more duster coats and three thicker coats, on day two, then they were put aside for six weeks each. Came back to them, and the clear coat is still pretty soft. I began wet sanding, 800 though to 2000, putting it aside for a day between each grade to aid gassing off. It's now been 8 weeks or so, and it is STILL soft. For example, if I lay the neck on a towel, it marks the clear coat, just under it's own weight. I'm told quite a few people use this product, so would love to hear about their experiences please, i.e curing time. I see three options available to me: 1) Leave it alone for what'll feel like eternity. (much twiddling of thumbs) 2) Strip it & start again. (Grrrrr!) 3) And this is what I'm wondering, can I apply something to the clear coat to assist in it's curing? I've been reading about gently applying denatured alcohol in such circumstances, or using blush remover, but apparently blush remover will have no effect on poly. Learned low-enders, I need your wisdom please!

Hi Pete, skimming through this glorious porn thread, paused by chance to read your post, am part way through a fretless 5 build, and have bought a set of D'Addario Chromes for it, so was particularly pleased to read your impression of these strings. I now have even less patience regarding finishing this beast!

Funnily enough, so do I. I am indeed going through the grades, and not skipping any on the way, just seems daft. So I've ordered some Meguiar's M105 cutting compound, for use with cotton hand-buffing pads, hoping that'll be ok. Thanks again for your recommendations and advice, all very much appreciated. 🤘

Ok that's great, thank you for that, if I'm sanding to 1500 grit, should I just go to medium & fine compounds, or still start with coarse?

Whaddup, lords & ladies of the low end, So I'm now into wet-sanding the beast, and am almost at the point where I can start to buff, which I intend to do by hand, as I'm an absolute buffing novice... The clear coat is poly, and I intend to wet-sand to 1500 grit, so now I seek recommendations as to suitable brands & grades of compounds please. Any & all advice is greatly appreciated, as always.

Never heard of anyone using olive oil before, but v interesting to note. I've seen people recommending using baby oil, but don't fancy that idea. To be honest, the swift evaporation of naphtha is exactly what was steering me towards it, but the fumes kinda dictate outdoor usage, which also doesn't appeal. The olive oil is becoming more appealing, the more I think about it. Thank you for your tips and advice!

FWIW, I had buzz in a few spots on my (also unlined) fretless, caused by 'trenches' worn into the fingerboard after 36 years of use. These trenches were located at points where 'popular' notes live. I faffed around with relief, saddle heights etc, but the buzzing stayed. In the end I tapped the nut off & gently sanded the fingerboard down to where the trenches were either gone, or too shallow to have any effect. Nice. So if you haven't already, loosen the string & hold it away from the 9th 'fret' as you hold it up to the light & check from various angles As for the setup, I have my nut slots down to where G & D are level with the fingerboard. A & E slots are VERY slightly above the fingerboard to allow for the increased movement in the thicker strings. Drop the saddle heights and it will sound like a fretless. Higher saddles will make it sound like an upright. Btw, this was done with the neck set straight - super-slight backbow, so once strung & tuned it has a nice slight relief, and sounds way better. Best of luck.

Hi Chris, yes I have. Quite a lot in fact, but opinions vary as you can imagine. The one question I can't find an answer for is the pre-soaking one, hence my asking on here. YouTube quests produce the same lack of info on that point.

Greetings all! So the neck is about a week away from being cured, so I need to pick thy collective opinions/preferences for the next bit please I've seen people recommend wet-sanding with soapy water, others say naphtha, others say different mineral spirits. Using naphtha apparently makes it harder for the un-lacquered bits (tuner holes etc) from swelling, as it evaporates before soaking in, which makes sense. I've read very little (only one or two accounts) about using other spirits for wet-sanding. So now I'm wondering which methods are preferred by fellow BCers And if soapy water is NOT recommended, should I pre-soak the wet&dry in naphtha/spirit first, or still soak it in water? Or am I over-thinking this again..? Good people of BC, hit me back please!