A festive conundrum for you

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I bought a new Lake Placid Blue Fender Vintera bass VI recently, and as I already have a Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI (also LPB) I knew exactly how I wanted to set it up. My plan was to add a shim, put a set of LaBella flawounds, adjust the truss rod, oil the fingerboard and all the little jobs required to make it my own. The bass had been sitting in its gigbag for several weeks whilst I put off this job, but I finally got around to it yesterday and the bass is now perfect.

 

In the process of setting it up and making all the adjustments I used several tools, and I made the tool shown below from the same card as I used for the shim. I used this for a specific task as part of the overall job.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only person to use such a tool, but I don't recall seeing anything similar documented anywhere.

 

The card is about the thickness of a good quality business card and came from the inner packaging of a d'addario micro soundhole tuner I bought for an acoustic guitar.

 

How obvious (or not) is the purpose of this tool?

 

Please post what you think this tool might have been used for.

 

edit - changed the pic to include a ruler

Edited 18 hours ago by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[tauzero]

A height gauge for mice?

[Jackroadkill]

Does it make a Bass IV good for metal?

[Dad3353]

A test piece to check that your Stanley knife can still cut cardboard..? 

[Steve Browning]

You place it over the bridge of your nose to give the impression a solid piece has embedded itself in you. You will also require tomato sauce.

[Steve Browning]

I'm going to say bridge height.

[Cliff Edge]

It sits around the truss rod adjustment to prevent the tool damaging the surrounding woodwork? Caveat I don’t know where that is on that bass, it just looks ideal for the job on my basses. Merry Christmas. 

[ezbass]

15mm spacing jig?

[Piers_Williamson]

Template for a mousehole in the skirting board?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

2 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

It sits around the truss rod adjustment to prevent the tool damaging the surrounding woodwork? Caveat I don’t know where that is on that bass, it just looks ideal for the job on my basses. Merry Christmas. 

The truss rod is at the neck heel, however unlike the JMJ mustang there is no cutout in the body & pickguard to facilitate an easy adjustment using the StewMac truss rod tool (pic below) so you have to practically take the neck off to adjust it — a bit of a hassle if you don't get it right first time, and probably the reason why the bass has sat in its case for a few weeks before I got around to setting it up.

 

The improvised card tool in question was not used in this process though.

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[tauzero]

Looks like it's 14mm across flats - were you making a spanner for the tuners?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

4 hours ago, tauzero said:

Looks like it's 14mm across flats - were you making a spanner for the tuners?

 

A spanner made of card? — I may be stupid, but I'm not stupid.

[tauzero]

57 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

A spanner made of card? — I may be stupid, but I'm not stupid.

 

Well, you never know...

 

I thought I'd have a look at a Vintera Bass VI and see if that inspired me, and it did occur to me that it would be the right size to put over the retaining nuts for the pots so that when you put the knobs on, they'd be spaced a card thickness away from the control plate so they'd be a consistent height and have adequate clearance.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Well, you never know...

 

I thought I'd have a look at a Vintera Bass VI and see if that inspired me, and it did occur to me that it would be the right size to put over the retaining nuts for the pots so that when you put the knobs on, they'd be spaced a card thickness away from the control plate so they'd be a consistent height and have adequate clearance.

 

We have a winner! Well done!

[Downunderwonder]

A must have for those with broken eyetrometers.