Oh dear, it's gone pear shaped! Westone Warpage!

[PlungerModerno]

Oh dear, it's gone pear shaped!

Well it's had over 30 years to get to this state!

It's my lovely Westone Concord 1 bass, and it's got some issues. It's an '83/'84 as far as I can tell . . . [url="http://westone.info/concord1bass.html"]http://westone.info/concord1bass.html[/url]
And It even warns of neck warping!

This is it under string tension (D'Addario XL nickels, 95 - 40 balanced tension - very slick on a 32" scale!)


That's about a . . . um?


5 (ish) degree break angle on the A string. It buzzes on the open notes .

But I fixed it (horribly I might add - but it's up and running with:




A homemade plastic string tree. - As you can see it's not exactly matching!

In any case drilling into the headstock was a little drastic - but it's already taken plenty hits:



So I'm not a madman carving into a rare instrument in pristine condition.
At least it's been glued back together - but I think I can do better - breaking the join, re gluing and then re drilling the pilot hole for the tuner screw.
In any case there's two issues - the dodgy crack repair, and the deflection . . . which I should mention, doesn't lessen with the strings slack:



My plan is to:

A - redo the crack repair.
B - Explore options to fix the headstock angle - I'm guessing a kerf type slice on either the bottom or top could work e.g.

[Count Bassy]

Personally, as you've fitted a string tree and it works, I would leave the headstock well alone.

[PlungerModerno]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1423590896' post='2686766']
Personally, as you've fitted a string tree and it works, I would leave the headstock well alone.
[/quote]

That's not bad advice. I may settle for switching out the plastic for a metal tree. I know a hidden neck kerf (at least on the back) could be a good cosmetic solution to the warp in the headstock - but that would put the joint under tension. I'd need to do a test joint with similar woods and put it under heavy stress to know it would hold up to strings and smacks.

I'm pretty sure it's just wood glue in the previous repair - I'll have to re-examine it, and may just settle for a crack filler + partial refinish. All this is in the longer term.

[Twincam]

That nut looks knackered!!! and that it was causing the open string buzz more than the angle.

[PlungerModerno]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1424181753' post='2693530']
That nut looks knackered!!! and that it was causing the open string buzz more than the angle.
[/quote]

It's actually not quite as ragged as it looks! OK maybe it is rough but it's working as it should with the two string trees - no rattles, buzzes or issues with tuning.

How it came to be this way? Well instead of using appropriately small files (which I don't have yet) - as I was going to replace the nut anyway I just went at it with a small (but not small enough to do a neat job) rat tail file.

Actually the nut action was very high when I started trying to set this bass up and make it go - when I lowered the nut slots (roughly due to the oversized file) to a little over 0.5 mm clearance at the first fret - when I tuned to pitch I heard a huge buzz on the A string. Gently placing a fingertip where the string goes over the nut I could feel it move vibrating in every direction. Part of this was me widening the nut slot - but as I lowered the nut slot I made the break angle more shallow.

After cleaning up the nut with some sandpaper and the slots with a torch tip cleaner - I'm happy with the nut action.
Still want to tilt the headstock back - at least to parallel with the fretboard, under string tension.

That nut does need replacing ASAP. I'll have to grab a bone blank and a set fret files - it's not as if they'll only get used once!