Andyjr1515

Just a quick question. Have you worked out at all where the actual buzz is happening (ie fretting at 7th and above, ear close to the strings with ear starting over the 8th fret and, while still plucking the string, moving your head/ear up the fretboard to the top)? It's just a hunch, but it is a VERY common occurrence, especially on basses, that the neck 'kinks' from where it meets the body, simply from the physics of the string tension and flexiblity of the neck. Folks talk about ski-jump and get all hot under the collar about shims, etc, but ALL of my many bass and guitar builds over the years have been through-neck and so shims play no part in the discussion or phenomenon. And quite quickly I started routinely adding a progressive fret height reduction from the neck/body attachment point to the end of the fretboard (I think the common term is fall-away). Have a listen up the fretboard as I describe above. My money is that all of the buzzing is actually happening on the higher frets.

Looking forward to seeing this. Jon is a true luthier's luthier...

Oh...and do have a look directly underneath to make sure that there are no cracks showing in the neck - there isn't a huge thickness of neck wood at the bottom of the slot here.

According to the Schecter website (very comprehensive!) the Jeff Loomis JL-7 is fitted with a two-way truss rod. When you talk of a shim, I'm not sure what or where you mean. Basically, with a two way, the trussrod bends independently of the neck and works by bending in the horizontal slot in the neck. As such, yes, there is the tendency for the nut end and the heel end to dig into the bottom of the slot as it tries to straighten the neck. Generally, the neck obliges before it actually damages the wood, but if it is a particularly stiff neck, or if you are trying to adjust with the strings under full tension, it might well. But there doesn't look like it has done structural damage and so, if you are able to get the relief you need, I wouldn't worry about it (but do remember to loosen the strings before you tighten the rod )

Splendid news. It looks great - very pleased it plays OK now too 😊

Have just pm'd you

Hold fire before taking material off the heel - unless I've misunderstood what you mean by the heel! Something doesn't sound right. If you take the neck off and remove the shim that you've added and then bolt the neck back on, does it return to the excessive action height as before?

Are those frets hard down or just buzzing? If it's the latter, then it would be as effective - and it would mean retaining the full (and impressive!) improvement in action - to file the buzzing frets a touch. I use nail file emery boards from a supermarket and can run through with you how to do it without wrecking anything. If they are absolutely hard down, you could still do that but probably safer to adjust the shim a touch as you describe.

So, the various options we have discussed. Option 1 This is where a single, long, wedge-shaped shim - or a series of progressively thicker shims - lift the whole neck to the bridge position. In order for the bridge to drop and result in the lower action, the protruding wedge of neck needs to be flattened back down to the level of the body top Option 2 This is where the extended neck is cut into two, cutting through just after the fretboard ends. Then, with the addition of a couple more neck fixing screws (that can be hidden under the existing back plate), the shim or shims only need to be under the heel of the neck and the pickup chambers and bridge are unaffected Option 3 Similar to option 2, with the neck being cut to avoid having to disturb the bridge, but this time the cut is made at the pickup chambers. There may need to be some more wood removed in front of the pickups, but probably not Option 4 This is where there are no shims involved, but the bridge area is routed so the bridge can be sunk into the top, lowering the action. The disadvantage with this one is that the strings may then start fouling either the bass top near the bridge or, more likely, the pickups. Hope this helps clarify.

I think I found it. I was over my image allocation on the forum here. I've cleared some so can now attach the new ones

As there has been so much confusion, I've done four drawings of the options discussed so far...but just found out about Imgur stopping working in the UK. My whole Basschat portfolio of photos were on Imgur! No matter about that - anyone know/remember how to post an image (small jpeg) nowadays?

No problem in theory, but a couple of extra factors to consider. The first one that springs to mind is that, whether or not the shim was at the back of the cut, nevertheless the shim or gap thickness will be higher the further back the extended neck you go. As such, you will still have a wedge of centre block wood from the end of the fretboard to the cut - and so some planing or sanding would still be needed if you wanted the centre block to be flush with the body between the cut and the fretboard. But yes, that would work too. As the saying goes, (all types of) guitars are made up of a bunch of compromises held together by hope...

It's not an easy choice. If I add skills/ experience and tools to the equation then there are significant pro's and con's for both approaches. 1. The problem with lowering the bridge is that it really has got to be lowered a LOT. And you have to be confident with a router or chisels to go as deep as it will need to go. 2. The problem with shimming is that, depending where the shim is, the resulting wedge of neck that will now stand proud is over quite a long length. And ideally you have to be confident in planing/sanding to get that right. Not for the faint-hearted. There is, also, a third option - and it would probably, and reasonably, scare the word-not-allowed out of you. But, now I've had a good look at the unconventional design and construction of the bass, I think it would be the one I would personally do. So, for what it's worth: 3. I would cut the neck through at the end of the fretboard. I would take the back plate off and then add two extra screwholes in the neck pocket about 2 cm from where that cut point is, clamp the neck back in its original place and drill into the neck for two extra fixing screws. These holes would be countersunk so these two new neck screws would sit flush with the body wood. I would then add a shim underneath that 2cm neck overhang and add the two extra neck screws (with the neck now able to move more like a conventional bolt on neck and the shim needed would be quite thin). The two new screws, flush with the body wood would then be hidden under the refitted back plate. - bridge unaffected - pickup unaffected - nothing to see at the back - two teeny cut marks at the fret end - great action Answers on a post card....

I'm sure there are loads of 'it depends if...' there, but very interesting observation 👍

Personally, I wouldn't do that on this bass. I would do exactly what @Hellzero suggests. If you try to lower the bridge as a whole, you will need to chisel/rout both into the neck extension AND the body sides to accommodate the two bridge 'wings'. I would shim it under the bridge, say 1mm, bolt the neck back on, sand/chisel the neck extension back flat with the body, string it and see where the action is. If it's still too high, take the neck off again, add another shim, bolt it back and flatten the bridge wedge again. Externally, the bass will look exactly the same as it did originally - which is not the case if you try to sink the whole bridge into the body.