fingerz

I've never owned the DiMarzio's but I've heard them and think I would definitely consider those in your position. The Bartolini B Axis are also a nice 'single coil ish sounding' hum bucker - to my ear they are slightly smoother and more compressed but it depends what you're used to/aiming for. FWIW I came to the conclusion that single coils balanced reject noise well and sound better than lots of Humbuckers do so I generally stick with single coils. Sounds like you don't have the option, but worth mentioning.

The problem with doing it before is that when you come to clamp and glue the finger board to the neck blank, it can want to move even more so than normal. If it's square then clamping is much easier for a successful glue up. I also find it much easier shaping the finger board when it's glued to the neck beam, just more height from any work surfaces.

Emery paper/wet and dry is good cos it doesn’t squash like card can.

Hi, It's strange that it's one particular string. Do you string up in normal tuning? i.e. the D string is your second string? It's unusual for it not to affect all the strings. If you do touch one fret it's often a challenge to nail it without it effecting those around it. I would suggest taking it for a fret dress. They will grind all the frets down and re-crown them. They can also check for any high frets being pushed up by shrinkage etc. A 'high spot' is often due to a low spot in the fret before it, causing your string to choke on a certain note. The solution here, is to dress the frets to get them all nice and level again. Hope this is helpful, and not insulting! Cheers. Message me if you like as I don't follow threads as I get swamped! Good luck!

Look up Ed Miller in Cheltenham. He has serviced my Thunderfunk a couple of times just as routine. Very knowledgable and trustworthy. No fancy BS, if it's fine it's fine he'll give it a clean and sort out any corrosion etc. He's a good egg! That's the only tech I've used outside of London, but I hope that's helpful.

Yamaha don't make any 'bad' instruments in my opinion. For me that's something that no other mass produced instrument has struck me with. An amazing company, I have an old electric piano, when it had an issue the support offered from them was exceptional. I have an old TRB which I de-fretted and is now my fretless bass if I need one for anything, I've toured it a few times and used it on shows and recordings. To me it is improved as a fretless, and I trust it, it's a workhorse, 23 odd years old now. I think the OP's question about why they haven't ever really stood out is probably due to the lack of controversy around the brand. All others have played the 'all publicity is good publicity' card at some point and really tested brand loyalty. I think Yamaha have a lot of loyalty but it's never really been challenged. Their drum market to me is their strongest in terms of prestige, and again, IMO, their drums have the most 'character' of all their products. That's the thing that lacks for me in their basses, with all that amazing consistency, comes a slight lack of character, but if anyone asks me what bass to buy without trying, or knowing exactly what they want, I always say get a Yamaha. And on that point, Nathan East has recorded more bass and pleased more producers and artists than anyone, channelling all that talent and dedication though Yamaha instruments which sound phenomenal on all his work. So more fool me, but that's my five cents on the matter, they are one of the absolute top brands out there who just have been so good they've faded into the background a little bit, which we should commend them for!