Disaster

[blazer3]

I"ve just refinished a cheap 80s precision copy and it came out better than i expected (it was my first refin) and i really love the look of the maple fretboard against the blue of the body,HOWEVER while ive been setting it up i"ve been struggling to get the action low enough for my liking without getting rattling on the lower frets (16 onwards approx) and when i"ve looked down the neck it seems to be bowing outwards from 16th fret onwards which makes the bass unplayable after the 16th fret ( sounds great up to that point ) and now the trussrod seems to be stuck solid and i cant move it anyway.

The bass was given to me and i only spent money on the spray and new pickups and electrics so the body is good to go but im pretty certain the neck as had it ( shame really as its a lovely looking neck ) the bass has spent approx 15 years in the guys shed untouched so weather conditions over that amount of time cant have been good for it.

I cant afford to take it to a luthier as moneys very tight plus is it really worth spending quite a few quid trying to get it fixed when a new neck would be cheaper ( i have a fretless neck spare so i might put that on )

Is it time to send it to the bass graveyard in the sky

[blazer3]

I"ve just had another look at it and it appears to be twisted as well .
Seems to be going from bad to worse, oh well, looks like its the bin for the poor blighter.

[Kiwi]

you can either sand the neck square or perhaps look at buying a replacement off Fleabay?

[Bassassin]

If the neck has a back bow, seized truss rod & a twist then I'd consider just replacing it, considering the bass was a freebie to start with. I suppose if you could get the truss rod loosened then it might straighten out, but a twist is pretty much unfixable, and you'll never get a perfect setup.

Cheap P necks come up on Ebay all the time & you should be able to find a replacement for not much cash. I've got a '97 Squier P neck in very good nick, but it's a rosewood board so probably not what you're looking for.

Jon.

[blazer3]

I"ll just throw the fretless neck on for the time being until i can raise the cash for an all maple one.
Thanks for the offer of the rosewood one but as you said its not really what im looking for as i wanna stick with the maple.

I had an idea that the neck was knackered but i didn"t wanna admit it to myself, its less painless because the bass was free, i would have gone berserk if i had paid good money for it.

Live and learn i guess, at least i"ve learned how to wire and refinish a bass.

[Bassassin]

It's all good experience.

As you're resigned to binning the neck, why not squirt some WD40 down the truss channel and see if you can get the rod loosened? I'd never suggest doing this with something halfway decent (WD40 contains solvents & isn't recommended around glued joints) but if you can get the bow out you'll at least have a playable fretted neck until you get a new one.

J.

[blazer3]

I"ve had a dabble with the WD40 and have loosened the trussrod quite a bit, i"ve managed to straighten out the majority of the neck but its still kicking up at the heel end, my action is now a tad lower and it plays a fraction better but i think this is the best its gonna be as i darent lower it any more and its still rattling on the heel end frets so i"ll just have to play away from these area"s.
Looks like i"ll have to get saving the pennys and do without beer for a bit

[7string]

Sounds like you have a "rising tongue" (the bass, not you!!).

If the fingerboard's thick enough you could be to do a partial re-fret on the last few frets. You'd have to remove the last few frets, plane out some of the fingerboard and then put back frets which are lower in height than the originals.

Or you get a replacement neck.