donslow

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Noticed a highway 1 precision has just come up in the classifieds on this very site.....

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1494014662' post='3292680'] Nothing that a couple of cans of Halfords matt black couldn't fix! [/quote] Ha ha that was my first thought....

[quote name='Yukimajou' timestamp='1493970701' post='3292172'] Thanks for the tip. I see reverb.com has one listed, but it's in the US, and the seller has, shall we be kind and say, modified it. [url="https://reverb.com/item/4833050-fender-american-highway-one-precision-bass-2003-custom-finish"]https://reverb.com/i...3-custom-finish[/url] [/quote] That is monstrous.....

FWIW one of my main p basses (depends who I'm playing with) is a highway 1, made in USA, painted in Mexico, assembled in USA I love mine, badass bridge, American standard parts, greasebucket tone circuit (if that's your thing) alder body, thin satin finish cheaper than American standards but pretty much same instrument bar a couple of minor differences i.e. No string though body option but then it does have a badass II on it.....!! They don't come up for sale VERY often but they do appear, I bought mine used for £450 which is about the going rate Worth a lookout for your budget I would say.....

Cheers guys for the advice and offers, hopefully I'll get my teeth into this and then find an excuse to buy another bass.......to practice on of course ;-)

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1485729635' post='3226274'] It's quite a big subject, donslow, so probably need to answer in stages. Ref the basic definitions, levelling is where you file down high frets - or high spots on a fret or frets - so that they the same height as the other frets down the fretboard. In doing this, the bit that you file off is the top of the semi-circular profile - you start off with a nice rounded hill shape and you end up with a flat-topped hill! Crowning is simply recreating the rounded hill shape, without taking any more off the height. And yes, if you are levelling across the whole fretboard, you are absolutely right that you need to use the truss rod to straighten the neck before you start. Otherwise, you will be filing down frets that are only 'high' because of the curve of the neck. If the neck is as straight as possible to start with, you are now only filing down frets that are higher than their adjacent ones. [/quote] Mostly as I suspected so many thanks for clearing that up Are there any recommended tools / equipment for doing this job at all?! There seems to be such a myriad of options, it's easy to get lost

So in recent times I've started to teach myself how to maintain and setup my basses to as close to pro level as I can, I think I'm getting somewhere and am pleased thus far with what I have learnt This is where you guys come in, the bit(s) I get stuck on Frets!!!!! Can anyone help me out and explain, in English, what the difference between levelling and crowning is and how to do each properly?! Another thing that gets me, I've seen videos on how to level frets which seems simple enough but I'm confused, they say to run a flat edge to see which frets are higher than others but I wonder, if the neck needs a bit of relief to be setup properly, the straight edge wouldn't land on all frets regardless of how high or low they would be, as the Frets where the relief lies would be lower, does this mean a truss rod adjustment to straighten the neck is in order first?! Any useful lessons / tips / advice will be greatly appreciated Many thanks in advance