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Limelight Bridge Rusted To Bits.


Hobbayne

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Right, back OT.

Instead of us all grumbling into the ether, I thought I'd do something useful and feed this back to Mark 'cos I know he doesn't do BC. This is what he says:

Quote

 

Sorry to hear people have had problems with the bridge - this does sometimes happen unfortunately.

However, there is an easy way to sort it out. If you get a good screwdriver on the intonation screws (the long ones) they usually undo OK - I'll be surprised if they don't - and take off the saddle. If you do one at a time you can make a mental note (or take a picture) of its position which will save you having to re-do the intonation. 

When it's off, you need to hold it in a gas flame (blow torch is best if you have one, or failing that your gas hob) and heat it up. When really hot plunge it into a jar of cold water and then try to move the height adjustment screws. Try back and forth first. Usually they loosen up easily, if they don't then repeat the process. This will definitely work - I've never been unable to free of the screws like this. The secret is to do it as soon you become aware the bridge is seized. If they screws are forced they can shear off, but using the heat method it always works.

Also, if anyone hasn't got the equipment to do this themselves I'm always happy to do it myself. They can just post it to me, and I'll refund the postage as well.

I just want people to be happy with their Limelights. This is far more important than trying to make every last £ I can, which has never been a motivation for me.

 

There you go 🙂

 

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12 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Right, back OT.

Instead of us all grumbling into the ether, I thought I'd do something useful and feed this back to Mark 'cos I know he doesn't do BC. This is what he says:

There you go 🙂

 

Can’t say fairer than that 👏👏👏

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1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

When it's off, you need to hold it in a gas flame (blow torch is best if you have one, or failing that your gas hob) and heat it up. When really hot plunge it into a jar of cold water and then try to move the height adjustment screws.

General advice is to avoid heating rusted fastenings too hot, as they will lose their temper and soften. Ideally don't let any bare steel discolour beyond a pale brown colour (this will only develop outside the flame).

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25 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

General advice is to avoid heating rusted fastenings too hot, as they will lose their temper and soften. Ideally don't let any bare steel discolour beyond a pale brown colour (this will only develop outside the flame).

If it's rusty, won't it already be a pale brown colour?

:|

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In some ways, I can't decide if this is awful or utterly hilarious. Sure, getting a bass that you can't intonate properly is awful. That shouldn't happen. Then again, paying good money for a bass that has been reliced so much that the hardware was probably pulled out of a skip in 1981 and doesn't work because it's nothing more than a cube of iron oxide is hilarious. 

I guess that's what you get for an "authentic" relic job? Loads of rust, ulcers and tears.

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Just now, Wolverinebass said:

In some ways, I can't decide if this is awful or utterly hilarious. Sure, getting a bass that you can't intonate properly is awful. That shouldn't happen. Then again, paying good money for a bass that has been reliced so much that the hardware was probably pulled out of a skip in 1981 and doesn't work because it's nothing more than a cube of iron oxide is hilarious. 

I guess that's what you get for an "authentic" relic job? Loads of rust, ulcers and tears.

There's some proper drama students here, isn't there?

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1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

There's some proper drama students here, isn't there?

Just drama queens my dear boy. I welcome tips on my prose style from such practiced scholars such as yourself.

In truth, I find it sad that someone's got a really nice instrument that can't be adjusted. It just seems like a bit too far down the line of relicing to me.

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Just now, Wolverinebass said:

Just drama queens my dear boy. I welcome tips on my prose style from such practiced scholars such as yourself.

In truth, I find it sad that someone's got a really nice instrument that can't be adjusted. It just seems like a bit too far down the line of relicing to me.

As I mentioned earlier, it's eight rusty screws.

I've been though it, and I'm happy to report there were no tears, or PTSD. I'd actually forgotten about it until this thread.

Still, I guess it could be Limelight's equivalent of the 'Barefaced handle'.

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4 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

As I mentioned earlier, it's eight rusty screws.

I've been though it, and I'm happy to report there were no tears, or PTSD. I'd actually forgotten about it until this thread.

Still, I guess it could be Limelight's equivalent of the 'Barefaced handle'.

That was my point. Obviously the facetiousness didn't fully come over. It's not a big deal. Like, you've chosen a relic bass. This stuff can be easily fixed. Let's not start stocking up on Gaviscon as the solution has been clearly stated by Limelight and seems reasonable. 

Much like the barefaced handles nonsense a few years ago, now for 2020 we'll have #rustedlimelight as Basschat's new customer service issue.

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Quote

Sorry to hear people have had problems with the bridge - this does sometimes happen unfortunately.

However, there is an easy way to sort it out. If you get a good screwdriver on the intonation screws (the long ones) they usually undo OK - I'll be surprised if they don't - and take off the saddle. If you do one at a time you can make a mental note (or take a picture) of its position which will save you having to re-do the intonation. 

When it's off, you need to hold it in a gas flame (blow torch is best if you have one, or failing that your gas hob) and heat it up. When really hot plunge it into a jar of cold water and then try to move the height adjustment screws. Try back and forth first. Usually they loosen up easily, if they don't then repeat the process. This will definitely work - I've never been unable to free of the screws like this. The secret is to do it as soon you become aware the bridge is seized. If they screws are forced they can shear off, but using the heat method it always works.

Also, if anyone hasn't got the equipment to do this themselves I'm always happy to do it myself. They can just post it to me, and I'll refund the postage as well.

I just want people to be happy with their Limelights. This is far more important than trying to make every last £ I can, which has never been a motivation for me.

That sounds like a lot of effort for a problem that shouldn't have existed in the first place. Surely the whole point of a "relic" is that it is just cosmetic, and doesn't actually affect the functioning of the instrument in any way. You don't get relic'd basses with massive fret wear or crackly electrics, so why is a non-functional bridge deemed to be OK?

In the end it's just a BBOT bridge, so do what everyone else would have done before old Fender style instruments were deemed to be valuable, and replace it with a new functional part. There's a brand new BBOT bridge with threaded saddles on eBay right now for less than £7.00 including postage. Of course it's new and shiny, but that's how a proper old bass which has had failed parts replaced would look.

Edited by BigRedX
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17 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Right, back OT.

Instead of us all grumbling into the ether, I thought I'd do something useful and feed this back to Mark 'cos I know he doesn't do BC. This is what he says:

There you go 🙂

 

Thanks for doing that WOT. I wasnt gonna bother Mark its just a minor niggle.

Athough me or the guitar tech could not get anything to move even after soaking them overnight.

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1 hour ago, mikel said:

You really paid extra to have a reliced instrument, so it looked old, and it ended up like that, after only a year? It simply makes me even more bemused re the relicing thing.

The relic thing can be a bit marmite. Either you like it or you dont.

However, It did end up like that I,m afraid.

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4 hours ago, mikel said:

You really paid extra to have a reliced instrument, so it looked old, and it ended up like that, after only a year? It simply makes me even more bemused re the relicing thing.

AFAIK you can't buy a non-reliced Limelight bass -- which seems a bit odd but there it is.

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