benjo

On 06/03/2019 at 11:26, kodiakblair said:

Have I got this right,you think they cut out a square then drop in MDF pieces with the pickups already cut ?

That makes absolutely no sense. It would take the same time to rout out a big section as it would for the pickups. Then they'd be back with the router when the top was added.

 

Been a carpenter 35 years,the MDF pieces would be a huge waste of time and money.

Manton Customs sums up what I'm getting at

On 06/03/2019 at 20:01, Manton Customs said:

Unless I’m missing something, nothing would need to be inlaid. It’d be just a case of laminating enough thin (which means much cheaper) wood to make the central core. Then they can cut out the “tone chambers” with a jigsaw or similar. Then glue the top and back on. Not sure what type of tools they have there but for a small shop this would actually be quicker than routing out chambers, which would have to be done in multiple passes and still require a top to seal them. It would also save money as the timber wouldn’t be body blank prices.

Some 70s Gibson’s (known a pancake bodies) were made like this to save on costs of full thickness Mahogany.

As to whether or not it’s MDF, I can’t tell from the pics.

thanks for this. That's what I was getting at, didn't describe it half as well as you though! It's MDF in there man - I've given it a good prod etc

10 minutes ago, Aidan63 said:

if you put the B string back on and bring the strings back up to pitch and play it with pups and scratch plate off is the noise still there ?

I would expect that Adrian will answer any questions you have about the build if you drop him an email with some pics, when I enquired by email about a technical question he was forthcoming and helpful

It is, yes. And definitely seems to be coming from the body/bridge area. I will email him - good idea

1 hour ago, therealting said:

I still find it hard to believe they’d use MDF. It’s really heavy stuff, and the whole point of cavities is to make the thing lighter so this would work against that purpose. Plus, you just need a little bit of moisture through a screw hole or something and the whole thing would just warp. 

Yeah, maybe I should be careful spreading dirty words around. I might ask the boss direct.

14 minutes ago, therealting said:

I’ve definitely had guitars where the cavities looks rough like this. Harder to sand and polish those interior bits after finishing I guess! I’ve always thought MDF was heavier than wood and also absorbs finish poorly - but I’m definitely not a carpenter!

I think the top layer might be alder, then the MDF below. My guess at this point is they rout out a big section, then make the cavities with MDF inserts - but without stripping the thing / chopping it up I might never know. 

26 minutes ago, Drax said:

Weird. What bridge do you have fitted? Rogue springs on the fender style bridges can buzz, but you’d probably have spotted that yourself by now.. 

Thanks Drax - it's a Hipshot bridge. It does have those Fender style springs but yeah, I've checked them. Running out of avenues here! I've even checked that all the cavity shield tape is stuck down properly.. thinking maybe it's something inside one of these tone cavities that may or may not exist - I can't see through to any other cavities from the pickup routs.. The bass id mighty light tho, so I reckon they could be in there. It's just a bit of a bummer because the rattle kinda chokes the notes that it affects.. 

Thanks for your pointers on the buzzing. I'll investigate this further today

9 hours ago, therealting said:

Is it definitely not just a rough edge on a rout that was done in stages, shallow first, then deeper etc?

Thanks man, thats a good shout. I'm a carpenter so I get what you mean. But.. I'm pretty certain I'm looking at the top - then 3 layers of MDF laminated together - then the back (the bottom of the rout) ..I've had a poke around with the tip of a knife and it looks and feels like MDF in there. I've taken another couple of pics where its a bit clearer, I'll post them if you like. Wouldn't blame you if not tho..

Hi. Me again. Just had my Jake 5 apart looking for a buzzing/papery sound coming from the body area when I play low notes. Unplugged, that is. Anyway - looking into the holes where the pickups sit, it looks like the body is made of a few sheets of MDF laminated together (see pics - second one shows it best) ..the certificate that comes with the bass says it has and alder body with 'tone cavities' - can anyone shed any light on how these are constructed? If it's not MDF I'm looking at, it's definitely some kind of fibreboard. Also, still getting the papery/buzzing sound with everything removed apart from the bridge. Don't think it's the truss rod, what could it be? 

Thanks in advance, Ben.

Hi. Me again. Just had my Jake 5 apart looking for a buzzing/papery sound coming from the body area when I play low notes. Unplugged, that is. Anyway - looking into the holes where the pickups sit, it looks like the body is made of a few sheets of MDF laminated together (see pics - second one shows it best) ..the certificate that comes with the bass says it has and alder body with 'tone cavities' - can anyone shed any light on how these are constructed? If it's not MDF I'm looking at, it's definitely some kind of fibreboard. Also, still getting the papery/buzzing sound with everything removed apart from the bridge. Don't think it's the truss rod, what could it be? 

Thanks in advance, Ben.

Thank you everyone for your input on this. I took the bass to an excellent luthier here in Bristol. He took the tension off the strings and the truss rod - said the neck looked good, with a slight back-bow in it when under no tension. We then set it back up again with the same strings, then loosened the strings again before a final tune up. When he tuned it back up we were actually able to release the truss rod quite a bit - he said sometimes they can work better if you do it this way - so you're tensioning the strings against the rod, rather than the rod against the strings.. if you know what i mean. 

Also, he was impressed with the bass. Liked the weight and the slim neck. And how easy it plays. 

Anyway, I've currently got a good bit more adjustment in the rod, which I'm happy with. It also does seem sensitive to small tweaks. Might change to lighter gauge strings to see how much more that gains me, will update if i do.. but for now i'm happy I've got a good bit of headroom if i need it. I'm keeping the bass! 

Thanks again, Ben.

Thank you everyone for your input on this. I took the bass to an excellent luthier here in Bristol. He took the tension off the strings and the truss rod - said the neck looked good, with a slight back-bow in it when under no tension. We then set it back up again with the same strings, then loosened the strings again before a final tune up. When he tuned it back up we were actually able to release the truss rod quite a bit - he said sometimes they can work better if you do it this way - so you're tensioning the strings against the rod, rather than the rod against the strings.. if you know what i mean. 

Also, he was impressed with the bass. Liked the weight and the slim neck. And how easy it plays. 

Anyway, I've currently got a good bit more adjustment in the rod, which I'm happy with. It also does seem sensitive to small tweaks. Might change to lighter gauge strings to see how much more that gains me, will update if i do.. but for now i'm happy I've got a good bit of headroom if i need it. I'm keeping the bass! 

Thanks again, Ben.

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Thing is, if you are looking to buy something and there is something you don't like about it, walk away. They are not rare items, they come up quite often.

It's just this truss rod thing really - otherwise it plays and sounds lovely... need to find out whether its sortable..

@pierreganseman - thanks very much. One thing that is confusing -  this is a custom instrument that was made in August this year. It's being sold as used for a good price. Wondering if something odd is going on.. The instrument is spotless in every other way.. Looks like it hasn't been played

Just now, Andyjr1515 said:

Did you try turning the trussrod nut the other way?

Yes. Thanks for that though - i did initially turn it the wrong way - there's loads of adjustment left in that direction!

@White Cloud @Bassislife16 @therealting @Andyjr1515 - thanks very much! 

So it's either avoid this bass, or change to lower tension strings / do some work to the truss rod. If I were to look at the 'washer under the adjuster' option - would that solve the truss issue? Or  would I be then putting too much tension on the rod? 

*edit - something that is weirding me out a bit - the bass is being sold as used, but it's only a few months old. The certificate on the case says August this year.. 

12 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

My truss rod looks like that.

Not wishing to teach anyone to suck eggs, but you do know the Maruszczyk truss rod is backwards to other truss rods don’t you?

I do, thanks. Although i did wind it the wrong way first. When more relief appeared in the neck, then I found that video in their website which tells you.. Slightly off topic - do you have an experience of 'running' your bass with the truss rod maxed out? Mine is about 1/8 turn away from maxed right now. Is it safe? 

38 minutes ago, Aidan63 said:

The position of the adjuster looks correct it is in the same place on my Jake 4

I haven't had any creaks from my neck but I have only changed strings once from rounds to Maruszczyk Flats and it seems to be very stable, I have only adjusted the neck by 1/6 turn either way from where it was when I bought it,  it seems pretty sensitive to adjustment - 1/3 turn was about 1mm variance in relief around the 7th fret with the rounds that were on it - , D'addario exl 160s,  they are medium gauge, tensions will be on D'addarios site; since I set it up with the flats I haven't adjusted it - I only fully loosened the middle two strings to move them aside for good tool access, the outers I only loosen a little ( say a tone) before adjusting the truss rod so some string tension still on

I don't know what tension M's strings are but they are excellent value for money and I figured they should be right for it and I'm happy with them

Thanks very much, thats reassuring about the adjuster position! In that case it's maxed out for sure, i'll have a look at some lower tension strings - thanks for the heads up on the Maruszczyk flats. Ben

1 hour ago, therealting said:

45-130s aren’t super heavy strings. Sounds like the truss rod is maxed out. Creaking and pinging is probably sticky or narrow nut slots. 

Thanks very much therealting 

Hi all. I'm just trying out a Jake 5p.. wonder if anyone can help? The truss rod nut is about 15mm up inside the channel at the base of the neck (see pics) ..is that normal? There's some residual scuzz - glue or something - in there too. Could it have slipped? The nut is also maxed-out - it won't tighten any more - which is making me wonder if it's been abused.. The bass has 45 - 130 Ernie Ball Colbalt Flats on it which seem pretty high tension.. also wondering if the (quite thin) neck can handle them.. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Ben.  

*edit - the neck has a little bit of relief in it with the truss rod fully tightened*

**edit 2 - it's also making a creaking/pinging sound when I loosen or tighten the strings. Anybody experienced this? I'm wondering if it could be something to do with the zero fret or nut.. or indicative of something else.. dunno**

Hi all. I'm just trying out a Jake 5p.. wonder if anyone can help? The truss rod nut is about 15mm up inside the channel at the base of the neck (see pics) ..is that normal? There's some residual scuzz - glue or something - in there too. Could it have slipped? The nut is also maxed-out - it won't tighten any more - which is making me wonder if it's been abused.. The bass has 45 - 130 Ernie Ball Colbalt Flats on it which seem pretty high tension.. also wondering if the (quite thin) neck can handle them.. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Ben.  

*edit - the neck has a little bit of relief in it with the truss rod fully tightened*

**edit 2 - it's also making a creaking/pinging sound when I loosen or tighten the strings. Anybody experienced this? I'm wondering if it could be something to do with the zero fret or nut.. or indicative of something else.. dunno**