Jono Bolton Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 I think I already know the answer, but I thought I'd see what the consensus is. I put together a P Bass around Christmas time and took it into a local shop a few weeks ago to do the final setup on it. The neck is a new Fender 50s Road Worn Precision neck, and the only job I couldn't do myself was filing the nut slots. The nut came with guide slots in it, but I don't have the tools or the know-how to file them down. I picked the bass up on my lunch break today and tried it out briefly in the shop; it played ok and sounded good, so I paid and left. When I got it home and was able to give it a more thorough inspection, the G is really far in from the edge of the fretboard. On the other side, the E is really close to the edge. The spacing is fine at the bridge and the alignment of the neck to the body is good too. Does the nut need re-doing? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Looks a bit mad to me! The whole thing needs shifting over, try again I'd say 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamIAm Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 11 minutes ago, Jono Bolton said: Does the nut need re-doing? Something needs redoing! If I had produced that result I'd be well embarrassed ... and I'm almost a rank amateur! S'manth x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Mmm... Nuts, as chatted about before, equal space between, on equal space centered... Going by the String 'v fret marker at 7 and 9, if its not the camera angle, I'd start with slackening the neck bolts and see if there is some wriggle room... Or perhaps the bridge needs a nudge to the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 10 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said: Mmm... Nuts, as chatted about before, equal space between, on equal space centered... Going by the String 'v fret marker at 7 and 9, if its not the camera angle, I'd start with slackening the neck bolts and see if there is some wriggle room... Or perhaps the bridge needs a nudge to the right. I tried to get the picture as 'flat' as I could so there wasn't any camera angle-related distortion. The E is an even distance from the edge of the fretboard all the way down the neck, whereas the G is nearer to the edge of the neck at the heel than it is at the nut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 I'd give the neck bolts a slacken, and a wobble of the neck, similar sorted my Jazz Bitsa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Is the bridge centred correctly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 27 minutes ago, lemmywinks said: Is the bridge centred correctly? As far as I can tell, what's the best way to check? The body is a Fender CIJ PB70 Reissue, so it was already drilled for the bridge holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 It's probably not what I'd aim for, but if it plays well is it a problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigguy2017 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 From the picture it looks like all four string slots are 1mm towards the E side - way too much wood showing on the G side. It needs a new nut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 String spacing is fine, but it is shifted towards the low E strings. Definitely not okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Looks like the nut is slightly over towards the E side, but the big problem is the neck isn't fitted straight. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 51 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said: String spacing is fine, but it is shifted towards the low E strings. Definitely not okay. Yes, I probably worded it incorrectly; the spacing seems fine, but it's over to the left as you look at it. 49 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: Looks like the nut is slightly over towards the E side, but the big problem is the neck isn't fitted straight. What makes you say it's not fitted straight? It seems fine to me in the flesh, so it could just be the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Jono Bolton said: Yes, I probably worded it incorrectly; the spacing seems fine, but it's over to the left as you look at it. What makes you say it's not fitted straight? It seems fine to me in the flesh, so it could just be the picture. Because the amount that the strings are shifted by the nut doesn't add up for how much the strings are shifted overall. My best bet is that the neck is slightly shifted in the pocket as well, likely less than you can determine by simply looking at it, but enough to add up to that string shift towards the low E string together with the shifted nut slots. It's actually a fairly common phenomena, and easily fixed by loosening the neck bolts, giving the neck a nudge, then tightening the bolts again. You would however still have to get a new nut cut as well to fix the issue entirely. Edited January 26, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 I'd just take it back, lob it at them, say "You're havin' a bleedin' Turkish aren't you..." and get them to make another nut... Or better yet, get your money back and have someone else do it properly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Made in Mayfield, East Sussex by any chance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 1 hour ago, Jono Bolton said: Yes, I probably worded it incorrectly; the spacing seems fine, but it's over to the left as you look at it. What makes you say it's not fitted straight? It seems fine to me in the flesh, so it could just be the picture. The E string appears to get closer to the edge as you go along the neck, while the G gets further away. It may be an optical illusion made worse by the angle of the photo and the shadows of the strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 Just now, Stub Mandrel said: The E string appears to get closer to the edge as you go along the neck, while the G gets further away. It may be an optical illusion made worse by the angle of the photo and the shadows of the strings. I think it is the picture. The E is the same distance from the edge all the way down the fretboard, whereas you can see the G is closer to the edge of the fretboard at the heel than it is at the nut as you look down the neck: 21 hours ago, Jono Bolton said: I tried to get the picture as 'flat' as I could so there wasn't any camera angle-related distortion. The E is an even distance from the edge of the fretboard all the way down the neck, whereas the G is nearer to the edge of the neck at the heel than it is at the nut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokalo Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) I just replaced a grubby bridge on a 10-yr old Bass Collection Jive with a shiny Squier bridge. But it had a similar effect - turns out, the barrels on the Squier bridge are slightly smaller and each is a couple of mms closer to the E string side. Edited January 26, 2023 by Tokalo Added pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Guitarist Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 The nut is clearly offset to the e-string side, but I don't think that's the only issue. If the neck were positioned straight relative to the bridge then you'd see the E string coming in towards the centre of the fretboard as it goes from nut to the twelth fret. You don't see that, you see the strings running down with a consistent spacing, so the nut and the bridge are offset to a similar degree relative to the neck. I suspect the shop set the nut slots in a position to make the strings run evenly, if offset, down the neck. If the neck can't be adjusted into position by slackening screws it's the quickest cheapest thing to do. In an ideal world they should have got in touch with you, explained the problem and asked what you wanted to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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