Do maple necks get more stable with age?

[Downunderwonder]

When I was in London the first summer it rained every day in June.

[mattbass6]

I have an ‘86 MIJ Precision with a maple board, and the neck does not move. I once didn’t play it for 8 years, and when I did start using it again last year, the strings were still in tune and the neck relief hadn’t shifted. Amazing bass. 

[SumOne]

5 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

When I was in London the first summer it rained every day in June.

 

You must have been unlucky because I think London gets an unfair reputation for always raining (or an old reputation for being foggy/smoggy). The smog was due to industry and coal burning that stopped over 50 years ago and it's not really all that rainy on average: 

 

Compared to European cities London has fewer rainy days and less rainfall than places like Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Dublin, Hamburg, Helsinki, Moscow, Munich, Moscow, Oslo, Paris  https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Europe/Cities/precipitation-annual-average.php none of them particularly have a cliché of always being rainy. Any time Paris is in Films it's sunshine, cut to London and it's grey and raining.

 

 And compared to the other places "(London has 557mm or rain per year and) 106.5 days of rainfall per year on average.....There are more rainy days in Miami (at 135) and Orlando, Florida (117) than there are in London. New York City clocks in at 122 days and 1,268mm of rain (over double the amount of rainfall of London). Washington DC, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, and Mexico City all have more rainy days on average in any given year than London. https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/climate/rain-much-london-well-not-much-really/ And Auckland is on more too at 136 days and 1,210mm or rain (over double the rainfall of London). And likewise, no film is ever shows Miami or Sydney or Rio as a rainy scene - always sunny apparently.

 

I think it's something Londoners need to realise that as far as cities go it's always quite comfortable temperatures and isn't really all that rainy. I don't hear it being a thing that people in Sydney or Rio or Paris or Auckland are always complaining about how rainy it is there but it seems to be a London mindset that it's a rainy place and everywhere else less so.

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by SumOne

[dmccombe7]

CIJ Geddy only when changing string manufacturer or gauge. Otherwise pretty stable. I always check it when i change strings tho just to be on safe side.

My 89 Thumb NT4 has never been touched since i bought it in 89 as far as i can remember. My Sandberg i've had 2 yrs and never done it.

Obviously we dont see the same extreme's of weather / humidity here. (always cold, wet and windy 😄)

Dave

[dmccombe7]

Changed my strings on the CIJ Geddy there and low and behold the neck is very very slightly out. Its a bit more straight than i would normally have but its not giving me any fret buzz so i'm gonna leave it for now and see how it goes with it at rehearsals on Sunday. Altho i love this bass i haven't been using it in bands in recent years as it just didn't quite cut thru the mix but used it with the punk band and WOW it was sensational with a really nice grindy tone almost Geddy like. Using the studio EBS HD360 head into the Ampeg 810 with the gain 12 o clock but the amp distortion knob at mid-point added a bit of additional hi-mids and i was sold again. Only my 2nd rehearsal with this band but they loved the jazz sound and couple of guys that heard us playing commented on the sound. Asked what bass i was using and they had never heard a Jazz make that kind of tone in a punk band but agreed it fitted in really well. I was chuffed. Was using the Markbass nickel long life strings which had a nice gnarl from them but the tension was slightly less and causing a bit of fret buzz at top 1-3 frets so went back to D'addarios and all good again. MB strings back on my Fender P/J.

If i had more time i might have tweaked the neck and kept the MB strings on as i did like the tone from them. That's a possibility for future.

Dave

[Downunderwonder]

5 hours ago, SumOne said:

Auckland

Don't mention Auckland! It's always raining but there's a perpetual water shortage.

 

Some people like to complain.

[2020Jazz]

12 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Off topic:  During one of our overlong US road trips we rested up for a couple of days in a guest house in North Conway, NH; the house had a big communal lounge where upon one evening we were approached by an engaging elderly American chap (I can see him distinctly; baseball cap with some warship emblazoned on the front, comfy shorts, walking shoes, chequered pastel coloured cotton shirt, socks pulled up mid-shin), who had heard us talking and asked where we were from - not wanting to get down to specifics, we just said we lived about 45 minutes west of central London. 

 

He actually said, 'London fog' out loud and asked us how we coped with it.  Honestly didn't have a clue what he was on about, I recall my mum talking about the smog of her youth but that was about it.  We said that well, atmospheric conditions aside, London isn't really any more foggy than anywhere else, but he was insistent and his line of enquiry went more or less, 'No you have it wrong, it's foggy all the time and you don't know what you're talking about.'

 

At least he didn't ask me whether I knew his grandmother or anything.  She probably lived in the other street.

 

Anyhow, back on topic now.

I met a wee lass from up North in Spain, and flew from there to London, tubed to King's Cross, and caught a train to Newcastle. Spent 2 weeks over Christmas '85 in Coundon, Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Geordies are great fun, even though I never understood a word any of them said.

[2020Jazz]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Changed my strings on the CIJ Geddy there and low and behold the neck is very very slightly out. Its a bit more straight than i would normally have but its not giving me any fret buzz so i'm gonna leave it for now and see how it goes with it at rehearsals on Sunday. Altho i love this bass i haven't been using it in bands in recent years as it just didn't quite cut thru the mix but used it with the punk band and WOW it was sensational with a really nice grindy tone almost Geddy like. Using the studio EBS HD360 head into the Ampeg 810 with the gain 12 o clock but the amp distortion knob at mid-point added a bit of additional hi-mids and i was sold again. Only my 2nd rehearsal with this band but they loved the jazz sound and couple of guys that heard us playing commented on the sound. Asked what bass i was using and they had never heard a Jazz make that kind of tone in a punk band but agreed it fitted in really well. I was chuffed. Was using the Markbass nickel long life strings which had a nice gnarl from them but the tension was slightly less and causing a bit of fret buzz at top 1-3 frets so went back to D'addarios and all good again. MB strings back on my Fender P/J.

If i had more time i might have tweaked the neck and kept the MB strings on as i did like the tone from them. That's a possibility for future.

Dave

Spring for a set of Roto Swing Bass strings and try them.

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, 2020Jazz said:

Spring for a set of Roto Swing Bass strings and try them.

I started off on Rotosound strings in late 70's but this thought did go thru my head when i realised the tone was almost like Geddy's.

My memory of them was quite twangy sounding tho which i'm not a big fan off hence the nickels.

The MB strings had a mid tone i've never come across with strings before and i've tried quite a few of the big named strings. Rotosound, D'addario, LaBella, Sandberg, Elixir, Elites and probably some i've missed.

 

Maybe i should give them a try again.

Dave

[NancyJohnson]

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I started off on Rotosound strings in late 70's but this thought did go thru my head when i realised the tone was almost like Geddy's.

My memory of them was quite twangy sounding tho which i'm not a big fan off hence the nickels.

The MB strings had a mid tone i've never come across with strings before and i've tried quite a few of the big named strings. Rotosound, D'addario, LaBella, Sandberg, Elixir, Elites and probably some i've missed.

 

Maybe i should give them a try again.

Dave

 

We seem to have travelled the same road, but would say you should never look back.

 

We are creatures of habit and one bass aside (which has a test Markbass LongEvo set on it), the rest of mine are wearing Elixir Nanowebs; we change things for a reason, be it cost, feel, tone (*subjective) or longevity.  If the LongEvo strings were a bit easier to obtain (and at a more competitive price) I would probably move over them.

 

Personally I'd never go back to Rotosounds unless I was getting them for free and changing them after every session, which is I suppose what ol' Ged does have the luxury of doing.

[2020Jazz]

Update, I took the '20 apart and yep, it was back bowed. I went counter 3/8ths of a turn and set the ruler on it, it was straight. I let it sit for 2 days and rechecked it, it has a teeny bit of relief now. I came back 1/8 clockwise and will let it sit a day or 2 to see what it does. Here's useless but interesting pics of it apart. I am rather befuddled by the two 'top' (bottom in the pic) holes in the heel. There's nothing in the pocket that would cause the circular indentations. Any thoughts?

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by 2020Jazz

[PaulThePlug]

the indentations may be a result of tooling, such as a drill stop depth, perhaps the fluted part of the drills for the neck holes are a certain length with a larger outer? and a little over zelously applied on those two...

Edited October 5, 2021 by PaulThePlug

[2020Jazz]

35 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

the indentations may be a result of tooling, such as a drill stop depth, perhaps the fluted part of the drills for the neck holes are a certain length with a larger outer? and a little over zelously applied on those two...

I think you're right, Paul.

[2020Jazz]

Here's the fretboard with the cheesy inlay stickers applied. I can't find any that are just black. Still better than the "aged MOP" dog pee stained looking inlays.

 

[warwickhunt]

"Update, I took the '20 apart and yep, it was back bowed. I went counter 3/8ths of a turn and set the ruler on it, it was straight. I let it sit for 2 days and rechecked it, it has a teeny bit of relief now. I came back 1/8 clockwise and will let it sit a day or 2 to see what it does."

 

Are you doing this with the neck attached to the body and then leaving it under tension with the strings on?

[2020Jazz]

2 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

"Update, I took the '20 apart and yep, it was back bowed. I went counter 3/8ths of a turn and set the ruler on it, it was straight. I let it sit for 2 days and rechecked it, it has a teeny bit of relief now. I came back 1/8 clockwise and will let it sit a day or 2 to see what it does."

 

Are you doing this with the neck attached to the body and then leaving it under tension with the strings on?

No sir, unattached. I aim to reassemble and string it up tomorrow, and check the relief.

[Dan Dare]

17 hours ago, 2020Jazz said:

There's nothing in the pocket that would cause the circular indentations. Any thoughts?

 

An old joiner's trick to ensure that two pieces of wood mate really flush together is to slightly countersink the holes in the piece that the screws are screwed into. It avoids the threads pulling a slight cone shape from the holes, which causes the pieces to have a minute gap between them.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Dan Dare

[Downunderwonder]

20 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

the indentations may be a result of tooling, such as a drill stop depth, perhaps the fluted part of the drills for the neck holes are a certain length with a larger outer? and a little over zelously applied on those two...

Javier to his mother, Chuck to his friends.

[PaulThePlug]

@2020Jazz Mmmm...

I kinda like the look of that neck...

Jazz Nut ✅.. Mapel Board ✅.. Block Inlays ✅.. Black Hardware ✅.. A bit like this!

Edited October 6, 2021 by PaulThePlug

[Stub Mandrel]

On 29/09/2021 at 15:59, SumOne said:

 

You must have been unlucky because I think London gets an unfair reputation for always raining (or an old reputation for being foggy/smoggy). The smog was due to industry and coal burning that stopped over 50 years ago and it's not really all that rainy on average: 

 

Compared to European cities London has fewer rainy days and less rainfall than places like Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Dublin, Hamburg, Helsinki, Moscow, Munich, Moscow, Oslo, Paris  https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Europe/Cities/precipitation-annual-average.php none of them particularly have a cliché of always being rainy. Any time Paris is in Films it's sunshine, cut to London and it's grey and raining.

 

 And compared to the other places "(London has 557mm or rain per year and) 106.5 days of rainfall per year on average.....There are more rainy days in Miami (at 135) and Orlando, Florida (117) than there are in London. New York City clocks in at 122 days and 1,268mm of rain (over double the amount of rainfall of London). Washington DC, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, and Mexico City all have more rainy days on average in any given year than London. https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/climate/rain-much-london-well-not-much-really/ And Auckland is on more too at 136 days and 1,210mm or rain (over double the rainfall of London). And likewise, no film is ever shows Miami or Sydney or Rio as a rainy scene - always sunny apparently.

 

I think it's something Londoners need to realise that as far as cities go it's always quite comfortable temperatures and isn't really all that rainy. I don't hear it being a thing that people in Sydney or Rio or Paris or Auckland are always complaining about how rainy it is there but it seems to be a London mindset that it's a rainy place and everywhere else less so.

 

 

 

 

Back in the 80s I got a job in Bridgend and the first day we went and got me waterproofs on the company account.  Later I moved to Warwickshire and didn't wear a raincoat for 18 months.