nilebodgers

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1508873429' post='3395076'] .... I've been trying to fix up the basses at my son's school. They're Encore E4 p basses mainly. The lowest I can get the action on them is 3.5mm. Any lower and even the lightest of playing they buzz, rattle and choke. I don't rate them at all, there are so many issues with them. I find the 3.5mm almost unplayable. [/quote] They probably need some degree of fret levelling, but having that done commercially will cost more than a brand new Encore given they are under £100 new!

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1508850596' post='3394844'] I use a 5p piece. They vary in thickness slightly but I've found one that is as near as makes no difference, 2mm thick [/quote] A standard 2p coin is 2.03mm when new - pretty much ideal for a quick action check. (a hair over 5/64)

Wow - some of those actions are incredibly high! I've just finished resuscitating my old Yam BB1100s and it plays great with 12thou neck relief (0.3mm) at the 7th fret and 80thou at the 17th fret (2.03mm). That is with a 250mm fingerboard radius, all level frets and circa 23thou 1st fret action. I don't have a light touch, so I wouldn't want to go lower as I hate fret buzz (I don't mind a bit of string slap on the last fret when digging in though).

MMs don't have the truss rod adjustment at the headstock either...

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1508246220' post='3390796'] If the pot is large - it acts as a heat sink... so removing blobs of solder can be a lot more problematic than you imagine. Additionally, the longer you keep the heat on pot, the more likely you are to damage the pot. Tricksy! The worst was when I was trying to unsolder some ancient solder from a JD pickup. That's like the world's biggest heatsink known to man. At least the likelihood of damage there was greatly reduced in that case. [/quote] A higher wattage iron makes it easier - I have a 50W Weller TCP and that can heat a localised area on a pot very quickly indeed. A solder-sucker and/or de-soldering braid can get the old stuff off cleanly. I've managed to steer clear of lead-free solder up to now, last time I did anything professional in electronics was 2002 and we were still using lead (at least for small-scale production). I've got a big supply of standard 60/40 tin/lead for my personal use which will probably see me out :-)

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1505131440' post='3369644'] Welcome to the forum... Some great old school gear you have there - get it all working properly and you'll be in heaven with the tone. If you need any help with the work on the neck, check out the builds section or contact Terry Chapman in Stevenage for a repair - his details are in the luthier thread in the repair section. [/quote] Thanks. I know Terry - he set up a couple of guitars for me before I had the skill+tools to do it myself. He's a good bloke. (I fiddle about with 6-string a bit too)

Hi Folks, Just about to start firing up my old bass after a very long lay off (15+ years) from playing in various dodgy amateur bands. A career change meant I was working on the production side with pro musicians on a regular basis and being exposed to their playing meant I couldn't bear to pick up my own instruments as I was so rubbish. And then life got busy... I am getting twitchy to start playing again so I just dug my poor old Yam BB1100s out of storage - oh dear, neck like a hockey stick and badly corroded frets. Needs a bit of work before I can play it. I've got pretty handy at instrument teching though, so not a problem. Here it is - [attachment=253352:yam_bb1100s.jpg] My ampage is pretty old / random too - a Trace GP12SMX 4x10 combo that I have never played through (long story - it's in a flightcase, great condition, sounds fantastic but is too heavy to lift), a Peavey 410TX (heavy, very battered and sad looking collecting spiders in the shed) and an old TC RH450 (a blown-up warranty write-off that was fixed later) that I got for free recently. I'll fix my bass up and see if I can make the Peavey+TC work as an amp solution until I see if the playing is going to stick. Might need a modern smaller lighter cab if I'm playing seriously as my back isn't what it was. Lightweight amps+cabs weren't a thing when I was playing before, so I'm keen to see what can be done now. I used to like my Yam bass though, I bought it s/h after A-B-ing one against a USA Jazz and USA Precision (at the old Wapping London Bass Centre) and it played and sounded better than either IMO. Of course, it's worthless now - a USA Fender would have appreciated in value in the 18 years I've had it. Looking forward to getting going again - especially with all the youTube stuff around these days which makes learning & working things out massively easier.