Fixing a fretless neck

[anzoid]

Just bought an Aria Pro II Magna series bass off of eBay for what seemed like a decent enough price. It's a fretless with maple neck and maple board - black 'n' maple... Considering its age it's in very good nick. It arrived today and... there's a problem.

The board, up near the nut has split away from the neck. The gap is probably less than 1mm over about 8cm on both sides of the neck (slightly worse on the bass side) from the nut down.
On the righthand side the board is flush with the edge of the neck, on the lefthand side the neck is about 0.5mm proud of the board - i.e. the board is narrower than the neck. The nut is also slightly mis-aligned but doesn't affect playability.

The bass arrived detuned so I'm willing to accept that the seller didn't know there was a problem prior to selling the bass if it's reasonable to think that the lack of tension could have caused this in transit. The bass was otherwise very well packed. For the money I paid I'm not looking for a big payout... or a battle - would prefer to sort the neck myself.

Plugged in the bass sounds very very nice - good tone and range of sounds from the PJ setup - it's a good cheap, very usable fretless.

Is this just a case of a bit of wood glue and a clamp - or do I send it back, ask for a partial refund?

(Edit to add: there's one bit of wear on the board through to raw wood - under the E string at the third fret position - it's had roundwounds on it... any suggestions for a cheap/quick patch material?)

Piccies:
[attachment=241975:aria_fretless-1.jpg] [attachment=241976:aria_fretless-2.jpg] [attachment=241977:aria_fretless-3.jpg]

Edited March 29, 2017 by anzoid

[LewisK1975]

Don't know for sure - but in the 3rd pic where you show the back of the neck, it looks like the headstock section is a different piece of wood to the rest of the neck? You can see a diagonal line where the different woods appear to join?

Perhaps there was a headstock break and that section was replaced? Could be that's how they were made in the first place, but that seems unusual to me....

The nut alignment should be easy enough to sort out, tap it off and re-glue it in the correct position.

Edited March 29, 2017 by LewisK1975

[anzoid]

As far as I know, from doing minimal research that particular "level" of Aria Pro IIs (i.e. bottom of the range) used a scarf joint on the neck which leads to that rather odd looking line. I used to have a Westone from the mid-80s that had the same feature. I think it means they're somewhat weaker than other typical neck/headstock joins - the advice I've read being: "put it on a stand, don't lean it against a wall"
The slight difference in colour would come down to ether hand-grime or the grain of the wood I guess.

I'll have a crack at removing the nut and re-aligning it... I've fixed nuts before based on advice from here so I suppose I shouldn't feel too worried

Edited March 29, 2017 by anzoid

[anzoid]

Further research suggests that Stradivarius violins had scarf joins on the necks - so my Aria is in god company
Wouldn't lean a Stradivarius against a wall either...

[Andyjr1515]

Scarf joints are actually done because it makes the joint much stronger and less likely to break at the headstock joint than a single piece. This is because the grain direction with an angled headstock. The best example is the Gibson range of electrics, which don't feature scarf joints but do have an angled headstock....which is one of the reasons there aren't many old Les Pauls or SG s around.

The crack is not overly serious but does need sorting - you don't want it to continue parting as the bass gets played more and maybe is now stored in different conditions than in the past.


You will find wood glue very difficult to get properly into the crack. Others will probably advise but personally, I would mask closely along the joint line to protect the wood and varnish and then use thin superglue which will "wick" into the crack. Then I would immediately tighten pre-prepared clamps until it was certain to have cured (usually within minutes but leave it longer just to be sure). As I say, others will advise too but that's how I would do my own.
By the way, before I did that, I would make sure the truss rod was working OK - because to replace the truss rod usually needs the fingerboard being removed...which is difficult if it's been superglued even over a short length.

Edited March 29, 2017 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

...oh, and take the nut off first so there's nothing stopping the fretboard from clamping down back onto the neck.

[anzoid]

Thanks Andy.
Will procure me some super glue, remove the nut and have a go at it this weekend (unless life intervenes... always a risk)...
Pictures will be posted and you can all laugh at how cack-handed I am when it comes to DIY

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='anzoid' timestamp='1490815543' post='3268322']
Thanks Andy.
Will procure me some super glue, remove the nut and have a go at it this weekend (unless life intervenes... always a risk)...
Pictures will be posted and you can all laugh at how cack-handed I am when it comes to DIY
[/quote]

Don't forget the masking tape - superglue can stain wood quite markedly

[stu_g]

I bought a bass a while back that had a crack in the neck, opened the crack up fired some superglue In it the clamped it wire wool to flatten it back has been stable ever since.

[Grangur]

I would remove the nut and see if you can get the Superglue to soak in from the top - where the nut sits. The wood may not be finished there, under the nut.

Also, to me the nut appears to be too short. It's not ending flush with the sides of the neck on both sides.

[anzoid]

The good - took the strings off and the nut fell off so readjusting won't be a problem. It is actually just about the right width when moved to the correct position.
The bad - truss rod "hole" for the allen key is totally stripped round No way to adjust it at all.
The ugly - the scarf joint is actually split which is why the neck stands slightly proud of the fingerboard on the bass side. Pressing it in does nothing...

So, could probably glue and clamp the fingerboard without too much hassle butu I'm feeling annoyed that this bass was sold as "good condition" when the truss rod is, basically, screwed, the scarf joint is knackered and I'm having to sort it out myself. Oh yeah, the condition of the fingerboard is worse than I thought at first glance - string tracks from roundounds all the way down - like silvery slug trails through to the maple.

Thinking I might just contact the eBay seller and either send it back or ask for a significant refund... would that work now I've taken it apart a bit?

Or do I just write the damn thing off?

Edited March 31, 2017 by anzoid

[Grangur]

I would definitely be after the seller for a refund/return.

[anzoid]

Ah well, mailed the seller for either return/refund or enough of a partial refund that I can get the truss rod sorted. Would £100 for fitting a new truss rod be enough?
Is this something I could do myself with the money? As it is the bass is pretty much a (large) paperweight so might as well experiment... Having looked at it, I'm supposing that gluing the split back up *will* change the neck's relief because you're putting that part of the neck back under tension, hence the need for a functioning trussrod (above and beyond the fact that a functioning truss rod is a fairly basic necessity...)