chickenjames Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I had my Stingray set up by a shop last year, and I was a bit sad to realise that, when filing the frets, someone must have been a bit sloppy because there were quite a few file marks on the fingerboard. I frankly couldn’t be bothered to take it back, because it’s a bit out of my way and also even if they said sorry and fixed it f.o.c., any repair shop that’s capable of sending a bass back in that state is never getting my future business. I’d never paid anyone ever to set up any of my instruments and I don’t think I’ll be rushing to do it again. Anyway - point of the story is that actually it was quite easy to fix the damage. First if I tried putting insulating tape over all the frets but that proved to be a bad idea... after that I used a kitchen scouring pad and ran it back and forth in the same direction as the grain. And fairly quickly the scratches basically disappeared. I had some super fine sandpaper and fine steel wool ready and waiting but they never got out of the blocks. The reason that the tape was a bad idea is that it resulted in some parts of the fretboard being rubbed and others not, so in the end I just took all the tape off and that worked much better. I finished it all off with a sensible application of Dunlop lemon oil, and now we’re happy. Comments welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I’m glad it was easily rectified, if they had gouged your fretboard that would have been another issue, I’ve had similar experiences with some expensive basses being returned to me after a setup with marks on them , I tend to set my own up now . a good idea is to take pictures of the bass before you give it to the shop in case of any problems 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenjames Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 Thanks, I think you’re right. Next time (if there is one) I’ll know to check carefully before accepting the bass back. It’s just disappointing, I mean I know how to do the basic stuff like saddle height, check the intonation, truss rod etc, but I had thought that there might be some magic that a pro would be able to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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