Andyjr1515

Well done, @mrbacco Looking forward to the next one

Yes - almost certainly this ^ Usually an easy fix - just a case of desoldering two wires and swopping them round.

Splendid!

No - there's definitely a radius. This is an original 60's one I worked on a few years ago: And here's a modern replacement bridge...pretty much identical to the original ones: And looking at these, yes - 14" looks about right

I agree with @Paul S above If it was me but with your preferences, I would go the Sterling Stingray Shortscale. Knockout - well made, versatile, great modern soundscape.

According to this fairly detailed review, it is 14", although visually I had judged it flatter than that: https://performerlife.com/epiphone-viola-bass-vs-hofner-ignition

Never too late for anyone saying nice things, @BassTool Thanks!

This ^ Personally, I wouldn't lower the saddle any more. Because it is a top string through bridge, the break angle over the saddle is quite low to start with...and that may be contributing to the buzz (although Doctor J's method should confirm this or not).

Yes - this ^ My guess is that it will work fine with just a tweak of the intonation. I think it is unlikely that the nut slot size will be an issue unless you do bass string bends like Clapton does on his electric

Hmmm...I'd never considered that but I like it! Well explained too, @BigRedX

Absolutely splendid!

Yes - of course! Just drop me a line if you want to pop across again anytime.

I've been messing around with strings a little and have come across a set that I think suits the tonal dynamics pretty well. It is a mixed tension set from Savarez, their Corum Red/Blue set. The bass three strings are high tension and the three treble strings standard tension. I think it balances out the resonances from the strings. Although this set will allow me to tune one or two semi-tones lower, I think the 'three semitones above standard' still suits best. Here's a second set of short demo sounds in different styles, again recorded directly into my little Zoom H2n recorder. Thanks for looking/listening!!

It's extremely difficult to tell without seeing the instrument and the problem is that it is possible to snap a rod or round the hex - and then you are pretty much stymied! That said: The slack feeling is when there is no tension rod at all. From the point that you can feel the nut stiffening, that is when the rod is starting to try to bend the neck. And the nut does stiffen considerably - it surprises folks who haven't adjusted one before. And that leads me to a question we haven't asked - have you adjusted a trussrod before? If so, then it's probably best to trust your instincts that if it feels too tight to turn and yes - tackle the action height from the bridge end. If not, then the basics are: - when tightening a rod, do the adjustment with the string tension off. That is, slacken the strings before trying to adjust - make sure that your hex key is the right size for the hex nut - 'near enough is not good enough' - with string tension off, then from the point that you feel significant resistance of the nut, there will often be at least two quarter turns before the required 'back bow' is achieved, and sometimes more. So if, from the point of feeling the initial resistance, the nut doesn't turn at all, then either you are not pushing hard enough...or it's stuck. And there's the difficulty...not possible to tell from afar which it is. - assuming that the nut, while feeling very tight, does turn. Then - although a bit of a pain - it is important to do no more than 1/4 turn before tightening the strings to pitch again and measuring the relief. If it's closer but still not close enough, slacken the strings and give it another 1/4 turn Coalville isn't so far away from Duffield (around 3 miles north of Derby) - I'm more than happy to have a look if you want to pop across with it sometime. PM me if you want to do that and we can sort a convenient day/time Hope this helps! Andy

This is a better way of measuring the neck relief. From the heel onwards to the dusty end, the neck doesn't bend and so measuring from the last fret will give a misleading result. But yes, 2mm is a bit high. Ideally, it wants to be a 'just perceptible' gap although 0.9mm would probably be OK. And yes - for most guitars, clockwise on the truss rod will bend the neck towards a back bow to counteract the 'bow and arrow bow' effect of the string tension, thus leaving (ideally) the neck 'almost' flat. So, is the 2mm relief with the truss rod fully tightened as you describe, using the midpoint between the 1st and 14th? And, if so, if you then loosen the trussrod by, say 1/4 of a turn, does that gap increase to greater than 2mm (in both cases with strings tuned up to pitch)?

Sounds like a good plan

Yup - I use slices of credit card for my personal bolt-on guitars and basses. I don't use paper-based card as I feel that, even after an initial crushing, there could be slight continuing crush happening over time that would slightly loosen the bond. Although the latter is no problem if you occasionally check that the screws are still tight. And, for my own instruments, to add a touch of extra neck angle then I am happy to put a 20mm length at the appropriate end because I don't think you can hear the difference. That said, although I generally don't make bolt-ons, for a customer I would usually use 1/64" or similar plywood, filling the whole pocket and sanded into a wedge because they may think that they can hear a difference. And maybe they can

Just to clarify why screws inserted into end grain give a weaker joint weaker than screwed into cross grain, it is all about that in pretty much all timbers the fibres themselves are very strong, but the bond between all of the fibres is relatively weak. Think about splitting wood for a fire - a wedge sitting on the end grain and hit with a hammer will split the log easily. But turn the log round and sit the wedge on the side to try to cut through the fibres themselves...the hammer will just bounce off. And this is what the force of a tightening screw will do. If the plug has the fibres along its length, then this is what the screw threads are doing once the joint is secure and you start tightening the screw fully: The fibres are running vertically and the upward force from the thread faces will split the bond between the fibres at the dotted line shown all around the screw. If you keep turning the screw, it will simply pull all of the wood trapped in the threads out If the fibres are running horizontally, then the upward force from the thread faces is now having to try to break the strong fibres themselves, not the weak bond between them: In this view above, yes, some of those fibres are split by the thread. But if we look end on what those fibres are doing around the screw... Uncut fibres, now seen end on. are completely surrounding the thread. And under normal screw tension, they simply will not fail. So: - If you are going to plug, then use a cross-grain plug, preferably larger than the screw thread outside diameter you are going to use, re-drill your pilot hole and use the screw to cut its new thread - An insert will be going into the original cross-grain wood and so is already going into cross grain wood. And the insert has a wider thread, spreading the forces over a wider area, which is also a good thing. As such, that is also a good solution

Fascinating!

Thanks, folks Last but one job was intonation: And then back in its case to wait another week before giving it a final polish: I also did a short sound file demonstration. My hope is that you agree that this does not sound like a ukulele

Pretty much finished. While I still have to... -wait a couple of weeks before the final polish - intonate the saddle - sort a couple of fret high spots ...nevertheless, I think I may as well post the finished pics. Here are some of the 'pretty much finished' pics: When I've sorted the fret high spots, I'll record a couple of demo pieces so you can judge how it sounds

Excellent! Great exercise too - a proper workout

And another, slightly longer, clip I particularly like the harmonics at around 35secs

Here's a very short clip of the guitar played by superb guitarist Matt Marriott

Thanks, folks! Always much appreciated I have some video of it being played - when I get a moment, I'll get it clipped and downloaded (might be a few days!)