christofloffer Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 right, question one is a (i would assume) simple one. i just got given a new bass, a yamaha rbx260. must say, i am rather liking it so far. its very different to my first one but not in a bad way at all. i think its all pretty good set up wise, it is certainly playing nicely but like i said its very different. the pickups are wonky, not sure if that is normal as i have not had a precision before. they are higher in the centre and slope off in opposite directions. it seems to be no issue whilst playing and its nice and clear through the amp. my main question though is about the tuners. they were unscrewed for delivery and swung in to avoid damage, which was fine but they have a rattle. the washers under the nuts on the peg side are loose. to look at i would assume its just a case of tighten the nut up but i am not sure. i am a mechanic by trade and i am only too aware of how much damage can be done by over tightening. so do i just try and nip them up or is there a procedure to follow? second and possibly more foolish question. the old bass is not very good. it was a present but its basically worthless in money terms. i always said that when i got a better bass i would play around with the old one. i have always found the idea of a fretless tempting, but i dont really have spare funds for things like that at the moment. so it got me thinking how feasible it would be to simply file down the frets to the height of the fretboard. would that work? its obviously appealing to have a free fretless, but if it kills the neck then its not really worth it. it has a bolt on neck so it could be changed later if i dont get on with it. i'm not diving into anything, just mulling it over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowieBass Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 I've never heard of tuners having been unscrewed and rotated in the manner you describe - I assume you've got them in the right orientation now and they're securely held in position via screws into the back of the headstock. There should be no play with the hex nuts on the face of the headstock so tighten these up using a sensible amount of force - beyond finger tight but you clearly don't want to start compressing wood under the washers. The usual route to create a fretless from a fretted neck is to pull the frets out and then fill the slots with a strip of veneer or a strong filler - YouTube is your friend here... http://youtu.be/115gvPzHMqw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 To nip up your tuners get the correct size socket out of your set (you're a mechanic -> must have a socket set), pop the string off for a second, then just tighten the nut by hand - don't use a wrench. That should avoid mashing the nut (as might happen if you use pliers) or over-tightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christofloffer Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 well they tightened up nicely. i thought they might but its always better to ask in my opinion, it all too easy to dive in and make a mess of things. now i know in future too. they are all the right way round, he had just taken the little screws out of the back (with the strings slacked off) and rotated them in behind the head so that they werent stuck out. the only niggle now is that it has round-wound strings on, feels very strange after the flats on the other one. different scale lengths though so i cant swap them over, besides i might just leave them on. perhaps try out half-rounds instead, its a little zingy for my tastes as it is but maybe it would be better to meet halfway and leave the flats on the other one. hmmmmn, decisions decisions................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 If the strings are very new they will lose a fair bit of the zing just with playing. Embrace the difference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grangur Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 You asked about the wonky pickup. To make the bass easy to play and give good intonation, when setting up, the strings are all adjusted to be the same height above the curved finger board. So this puts the strings at different heights in a curved shape, following the radius of the finger board. The next step is to set the pups at the right height from the strings. As the strings are in a curved shape, the precision pup can be set so that too is curved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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