Bridgehouse

Keeping it is edging it at the moment. I need to play it tonight to see how I feel about it. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like

It’s back home. Been a long journey. I’ve opened the case and had a look so far - that’s about it. It’s as good as it was before if not a lot better - you just can’t tell it’s been sick and at the hospital. So... Basschat world. Do I keep it or move it on??

Well, for completeness then...

It did go a bit global on a Facebook group or three for a while...

Is it famous for how it looks or because of the truss rod failure tho?

Maybe. Who knows.. I’ll find out later in the week

I have no idea - it isn’t home yet

I see what you did there...

You feeling up my bass? Are you? Hmm? I’m going to start charging rent.

Absolutely not. And TFFT as far as I’m concerned. It is, however, brilliant for Paul Young covers. Word.

Meh. Coffee or GTFO. Tho the missus prefers tea.

I've not had the bill yet....

No need, I have the impact wrench plugged in and ready to go

Steady now - wasn't me guv'nor. I blame the rubbish German engineered truss rod. They are notorious for their cheap shonky engineering and use of cheese for metal..

It would appear it was a catastrophic failure of the rod. Jon's put a new style in and doesn't use that old style any more. And it means it wasn't my fault which is a relief. (and a bit surprising)

I know, right...?

You may all be wondering why it took so long... well, apart from Jon repairing in between his normal work so as not to delay any of his orders (we agreed this up front), he sent me through a full list of what he's had to do to repair it. Y'all ready for this? 1. Made a jig to rout off the fretboard. The phenolic is extremely hard so was a bit of a job to rout it off the body without causing any damage to the rest of the guitar, so i made a kind of giant mortice block to put the bass in so the router could be supported from above, the neck be adjusted from beneath to get it flat and the same depth to rout from. Steady work but it routed off ok. 2. Made another jig to re-rout the recess in the body for the new fretboard, so it went in cleanly and a nice tight joint. 3. Sanded up the neck surface to remove any last parts of phenolic and sanded up the body centre. 4. Made another jig to support the router so i could rout away the fillet of wood that sits above the truss rod in its cavity. 5. removed the truss rod, it came out ok, the small piece of the head veneer that was above it broke away (thought it might) but i glued it back. 6. Clamped and glued the headstock break, it went back together pretty well, slight delamination of the polyester basecoat but main thing is the crack glued up well. 7. Routed the truss rod channel clean and made a section of wood to glue in it. I enlarged the channel so the new piece was only glued into new wood. Glued it in then planed and sanded it flush with the neck face. 8. Routed a new truss rod channel, installed the rod and a new fillet of wood above it. Planed and sanded it flush to the fretboard face. 9. Made a new fretboard. Sanded up the phenolic then machined it to the correct taper to match the board taper, cut it square at the nut and left an overhang at the end of the body, made sure it was a tight fit in the body recess. 10. Measured up and routed the cavities in the board for the saddle units, just part depth so i could rout them deeper once the board was on without using a template. 11. Cut the fretboard edge slots for the fret position partial lines. Inserted wood, sanded flush. Drilled and inserted the side dots 12. Used masking tape to mask off the surrounding areas then Glued the board on with epoxy. The clamp of course has to extend from the nut to the bridge. 13. Carefully filed back the excess of phenolic to the edge of the neck (only a slight overhang) and sanded it into the shape of the neck. 14. Routed the saddle insert cavities deeper, routed the end of the board to the body shape 15 Set the bass on a jig and sanded the radius down the whole board, went through the grade and finished with the buffing wheel to a semi-gloss. 16. Drilled the string through holes. 17. Sanded the whole bass, flatted the lacquer back then masked off the board. 18. Sprayed new gloss lacquer over the entire instrument. 19. Flatted lacquer back and polished. 20. Cleaned up the board edge and then rolled the edges. 21. cleaned the nut slot and made a new nut. 22. Reassembled the bridge units, hardware back on and wired up the bass. 23. Strung up, cut the new nut, shaped, polished and glued it in. 24. Set it up and adjusted. 25. Noticed an earthing issue with the east circuit, so sorted that. 26. Made a new truss rod cover. It seems I really did gone and bust it proper big style...

Reportage? Nah. I'm minded to sod off for another six months and leave you all in suspenders... Of course there will be a full breakdown and clinical report.

I see you lot have been talking about me in my absence Well, I'm back - and it's due back with me this week.....

Life has been hectic.. been setting up 2 new businesses and moderating on another forum.. Thought I’d pop in to say hello. Remember the fretless Uberhorn? After an epic repair job which basically involved a rebuild and refinish.. it’s on its way back this week as good as new..

Yep!

For the record, I don’t look like a Shuker Uberhorn.

That'll teach you for either leaving your bass too close to the radiator or writing all that anti communist claptrap on the gulag wall

Well, I look forward to the new Sandberg "Siberia" range then.

Linky no worky....