Grangur

Yes, it does work. I've done it. It's not hard, but PLEASE don't import all the stuff from the USA! It's all on-sale here in Europe.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1395351570' post='2401578'] Well just to let you know I've given myself a shake and spent a few hours playing. I made a little tune that I actually really like. And I've discovered I can play some songs without looking at the fret board which I never knew I could do. Also I've convinced a lass I'm dating to buy a guitar lol so that if she learns a little bit we can play together. Now I need to convince someone to buy some drums and there I will of formed my own band lol. So I'm going to try and carry on. And try accept certain things. Thank you all for the time to comment. I shall try not to be such a baby in future. [/quote] It's great to hear you're moving on and finding a new interest in the bass. As an ageing old git I don't envy the young of today. You have so much analysis in your lives. Everything has to be examined, tested and labelled. You say you have OCD. We used to call that "being a bit of a perfectionist". ADHD was simply being an "active child" or being "a show-off". Now you have a sexy way to describe it and a pot of pills to make money for some drug company. When I was young I was convinced I was going to be famous. As I got older I learned to accept mediocrity. I drive a car, but wont ever be an F1 driver. I like to write stuff, but probably wont ever be widely published, let alone write a best seller. I can't sing I can't kick a ball or play golf or cricket We started to have a family, but my sperm-count is naff. I will never be a great bass player. I'm not as good as Gary Mac and can only dream of being as good as Discreet. This is, I'm afraid, reality. Embrace it. Without the likes of you and me there would be nobody to buy the best-sellers or make the lucky folk successful. Enjoy your progress in all things you do. It may never be world-class, but it IS progress and its you making you better than you were before and expanding your ability. Better that than playing a video game, after finishing that what do you have? (And I used to own a games shop)

BTW, if anyone is interested in knowing more about setting up the TR, there's an interesting thread on Talkbass that relates to this and includes wheel-of-fortune TRs. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f18/just-took-my-bass-apart-look-truss-rod-what-429638/index2.html

Things have moved on again. It's all the fault of SubsonicSimpleton. I PM'ed him and he sent me a link telling about how to adjust the TR on a vintage bass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZtKzL3n0fgc So, I gave it a go and while it's not yet on the bass body I've adjusted the neck so it's almost flat. I'm anticipating that when the strings are fitted and it's under tension, it'll probably have a good comfortable relief. After this I've started re-assembling the neck. The saw blade has inevitably left a space in the wood that needs filling, so I used some of the off cuts of veneer from facing up the headstock. I don't have any clamps, so I used some of the skills learned over 30 years ago as youngster in the scouts and clamped it using wood off-cuts and string. Where I took out the fret wire the gap left would be wider than the flange of the wire, so I've filled it with 2 thicknesses of veneer. 1 piece goes the full height of the slot, to the top of the FB. The 2nd only goes about 1/2 the height. This will leave a space in the FB for the fret wire to go in. I'll probably have to glue it in place. OK, so it's a bit "Heath-Robinson" but what the hell, I've got nothing to loose.

I see he's also done a good cover for Sting's "The Shape of My Heart". Thanks Namefail, for posting this BTW. It's good to hear it again.

Well, I've done the deed. I've cut the neck open. The fret came out ok and I've sawn my way in there. As you can see in the pic above the metal nut had distorted and the thread was shot. So, this morning I went down the road and met a good guy called Dave at a local engineering unit and he re-threaded the end of the TR and made me a new, stronger metal bracket to screw into. The TR would have been slightly challenged to get to the old position. So I cut a new slot for the new end. Dave also got a bit carried away with threading the TR. So the thread's a bit longer than needed, but hopefully it'll be OK. (The slot shown above is slightly scewed. I've corrected this a bit since the pic was taken) The wood and the fret can now be replaced and all put back together. The fret wire is a bit low/thin though and I'm not sure about how good the frets are. So I recon a good move from now is to pass the re-assembly to a luthier, so the height of the wood, nut can be checked. Also he can re-fret the neck and do a good set up. After all, I messed it up in the first place by over tightening the TR when trying to get the action of the neck fairly flat. So a luthier would recognise when things aren't going so well and make any adjustments or fixes as it goes on.

[quote name='El Bajo' timestamp='1324655435' post='1476753'] I think if you sign up to Bassline publishing there is a tab available. Its definatly one I want to try out at somepoint. [/quote].. if you're interested.

The suspense of this is killing me!! If this goes on much longer I'll drive over to Hemel and do the job myself

Saw arrived today. Not had time to unwrap it yet, but can't wait to sink those teeth in there and uncover the demon within that neck. I've also got loads of veneer ready for making up the space cut by the saw too. So it's all looking good (ish) so far. What I don't know yet is if I'm looking at a small welding job, or a new TR. In some ways I'm guessing a new TR would be favourable solution.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1395347400' post='2401489'] Bugger me £25 quid for a saw lol but joking aside I do hope you get it sorted those saws do look good though [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0sI3VUeNyk"]www.youtube....h?v=q0sI3VUeNyk[/url] [/quote] Nice video. You've got me wondering now if I bought the wrong saw. The thing is I want/need one that will cut down the neck, through the first fret, so I need to have a wide-ish blade. I also don't want to get into the £60+ price bracket, because I don't imagine I'm going to be doing this very often. At least, I hope not. Thanks for the good wishes

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1395231064' post='2399933'] Under good old 'invitation to treat' legal rulings I don't think a shop has to sell at a price that's displayed so, if I'm correct, he could have refused your 'offer to buy' at the displayed price [/quote] I used to own a shop and the advice we got was a price on something in the window is "an invitation to treat". Once you're inside the shop price marking IS the contract offer price. Its also illegal to mark up the aale prices of goods if the buy-in price goes up. This is the reason why all the supermarket sellers don't price mark the goods anymore.

Japanese saw ordered yesterday. Hopefully, if it's here at the weekend I'll see if I can part off the first fret of the FB and see what's gone on in there. This is what I've got coming: http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworking-hand-tools-saws-ryoba-saws-ryoba-compact+jp1015

Ahhh... ok It doesn't look/feel crystalline to me. The damage I think I see is more like a stripped thread. It looks like there wasn't much thread there either, if that's what was holding it in the end block. Actually, if the TR wasn't doing much before it failed I recon I could be best opening it up and replacing the TR entirely. Maybe with something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/580mm-2-way-adjustable-bass-truss-rod-UK-stock-/161193308531?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2587deb173 Many thanks for your help BTW.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1395084025' post='2398499'] I think you've answered your own question right there! [/quote] I agree, my question has been answered - it's all down to personal preference developing during the time of owning a bass. Yet if you're suggesting that just because I've busted the truss rod in my neck, there will automatically be folk who want to sell me theirs, all I can say is, "Wow, such self sacrifice!"

http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r623/Grangur/BC-pics/GDR%20bass/GDR%20neck/TrussRod005_zps9ffea54c.jpgs this any good?

I may want to buy a neck because the truss rod has gonein of mine. If I cacan't fix it then I may replace it or sell the body.

Sorry if this is a stoopid noob question. But why do folk sell necks? I find it hard to believe anyone gets bored of a neck. Surely it has to be because there's something about it that didn't suit the owner? I can understand selling a fretted if you changed a bass to fretless, but I doubt this would account for there being as many about as there are. Are Mighty Mite necks so much better than a Fender/Squier neck perhaps. OR is it all the cheap copy basses, where folk fall in love with the body (after upgrading it?), but then want to get a respectable neck? I might be in the market for a neck. Should I buy second-hand, or get a Mighty Mite, or a Fender neck? Cheers Rich

More progress: After some jiggling I've got the truss rod out. This length tells me the securing location must be under the first half of the first fret. (Nearest to the nut). Probably the best way to access this would be to remove the nut and the first fret and slice the fingerboard off along the length to remove the fingerboard. I've spoken with Graham Parker - nice guy. He says to do this using a Japanese saw, with a fine blade. I've heard of folk steaming the FB off. I don't know if anyone here has ever had any success in doing this? I've not got a Japanese saw, but I do have a steam-iron. The other thing bothering me slightly is when tightening the rod, before it broke, it didn't seem to do much. When I put the TR back into the neck, it snags on what seems to be, sections of tubes inside. I don't know if this is right? I don't really want to buy the saw, do the work and then find the whole thing is shot to pieces anyway. Maybe I'm in for a new/replacement neck?

I've been taking another look. With the pups stacked together, making for a stronger magnet. On further trying with the truss-rod in, and then out. I think the problem lies under the 1st fret. I think I'll make further checks with a pipe/metal detector. In the pics where you can see the TR pulled out, that's as far as I can retract it without excessive trying. (How I SO wish I'd not been excessive yesterday.) When pushing the TR back in, and my ear against the frets, I can hear the click as the TR hits what I think is a nut. I can also hear the end of the TR rasp against what might be the threads of a nut, or something. I don't know if this gives a clue as to the problem?

Something I'm aware of on this is the actual wood of the headstock isn't pretty, and if the back wasn't good I'd be tempted to simply buy a good, new neck. Or simply sell off the body, but for the short time I was playing it, the tone of the bass is really bassy. That said, I guess if I were to change the neck the whole tone would probably change. The bass is, I believe, a Musima.

Regretfully, at this time, there's no skunk stripe. I've tried using a magnet/pickup down the front and rear of the neck and there's no sign of metal/grab anywhere, so I guess it's well covered. I've removed the tuning heads and tapped the neck against my palm and there is a rattle down near the heel of the headstock, if that helps. Is it possible the place we need to go in to access this under the veneer at the heel at the back?

Many thanks SS. Here are some pics. More can be seen at: http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/Grangur/library/BC-pics/GDR%20bass/GDR%20neck?sort=3&page=1 If any others would be useful, please ask. As you may guess, the headstock is now veneered to give a better look, but this can come off, of course if needed, but there's nothing visible in the headstock that would give any access to the other end of the TR.

Hi guys, I've bought a vintage East German P Bass with a beaut of a neck. The wood is all flamed up the back and it's nice and thick. Putting the bass together just now I was tightening the truss to get rid of some fret-buzz. I was working to the Fender measurements for the action - 0.38mm at the 8th fret. All was going well until.... snap! Rude words rang out the house and it's all gone pear-shaped. Does anyone here have any experience in replacing of fixing a TR in a wheel of fortune style neck? The whole bass didn't cost me much, so it's not worth spending too much I guess? Thanks for looking Rich

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1394965201' post='2397082'] I find green or blue big triangle ones the easiest, .88 or 1.0 Oddly , I find it really hard to play with a pick practicing at home, but once with a band and the drummer, can really dig in and keep it solid. [/quote] Hey! THAT's what I was wating to hear!! I can't play with a pick to save my life and now I know why. I'm not in a band!!! So, THAT's what I've been doing wrong all this time.