Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

MetalManiac

Li'l Junior Member
I decided to shim the neck on my bass this morning. The laws of physics are not my freind. I took the neck off and on over a dozen times. each time id try and compensate to get the right string heighth and it'd be either tpoo high or too low, and I just DONT KNOW WHY..AND iLL NEVER KNOW WHY. I mean, Ive had pretty good luck shimming guitar necks, but this thing..I'd move it a tiny tiny bit itd be too high..off comest he neck move it a tiny tiny bit it'd be too low..over and over and over.
I also stripped the screwholes finally, and doweled them up and tried again and again and it wouldnt sit right and then I couldnt take it no more..So I sanpped, and smashed the guitar neck on the ground. I dont feel any better either.I know its not exactly brilliant.
The neck was a bit tweaked though anyway, but it was an old Japanese bass, and Ive never seen tighter tolerances in the neck pocket to neck fit on any guitar in my life- Warmoth and Fender are a joke by comparison..this thing should have had a vice to try and put the neck back in the pocket.
This is terrible, Im having a bad day already;

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Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

well that was dumb :eyecrazy:

Did you not think of adjusting the truss rod or the bridge saddle heights instead?
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

Man, that hurts just looking at it. Sorry, what CTN said above.
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

Yeah, I did all that. I had it working okay, but I wanted it to be better. Obviously I should have left well enough alone. I'll just sell the body and the schaller tuners.
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

You could make it like a Stienberger, or Warmouth neck and don't f&*^ with it untill you find a little more patience.
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

Ya know in all my years I have never, ever seen a Fender neck with stripped screw holes for mounting it to the body.

I am amazed that even you could be that destructive.

Take note...if you want to work on a guitar it helps to be smarter than the guitar you are working on...
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

Well now you have the opportunity to have a GHETTO-RIGGED BASS! :D

What you could have done to avoid this (Just trying to help):

You could have sanded the edges of the pocket to widen it, hence not making it so tight (but be very slow and check the fit after every few strokes). Also, use construction paper or thin picks for shims. Remember to make the strings 100% slack, capo at the 1st fret to keep tension on the tuners, completely take off neck/place shims/put on neck, tune up and check.

Now for stripping the holes, how exactly did you do that? The only advice I'd be able to give for that is to make sure you are screwing it in straight, don't rush, do it by hand; no power tools to screw it in, and use the right screws for the neck.
 
Re: Picture of my Amazing Luthier skills

Sweet! Now it'll sound exactly like a Gibson.
 
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