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Post subject: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass neck
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:10 pm
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Hello everyone

A warped spot around 7th fret is causing my Jazz bass to buzz heavily on the first few frets. At first I thought it was due to the age of the instrument (1989) but then I took it to a local luthier in Exeter where the guy told me it was the Knot (or grain patterns that looked like there was a branch coming out) which is a weak-point in the neck's construction.

It's a 1989 Custom Shop 60's Jazz Bass.

Does this happen often? I have never seen these type of patterns on a maple neck before, certainly not on a high-end instrument. And if is this is a Fender quality problem, will they repair or replace the neck if I'm not the original buyer?

I don't want to spend an arm and a leg to buy a replacement neck... :(

Thank you for your time.


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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 5:14 pm
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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:17 pm
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That looks like a flame maple neck, which usually is very desirable. The neck might can be heat pressed. The problem with that is finding a shop with a heat press.

Usually flame patterns mean the wood is denser and therefore less susceptible to warping, but if a real luthier told you that the flaming caused the issue then I guess he knows what he's saying. This is a somewhat unusual flame pattern but no two flame patterns are alike. This one does actually look like some sort of knot, but I'm thinking it is more likely a unique flame pattern.

Fender warranties in the USA cover the original buyer only.

I'm sure it can be fixed if a warped neck is in fact the problem without replacing the neck, but will require finding someone with the correct tools, like the heat press, and experience at addressing neck issues. I'm not convinced the flaming caused the issue, but it is possible. There are a multitude of neck issue causes, but I never heard of flaming causing neck problems before.

You said Exeter but I don't know if you meant Exeter UK or one of the many towns named Exeter in the USA such as in the states of RI, NH, ME or any of the other Exeters in the USA. If in the USA one shop I would check with in the northeastern USA is http://www.guitarspecialist.com/contact.htm but they are so busy they won't even look at till early April. I'd go ahead and contact them if interested in getting in line there. There are other shops capable of fixing it listed here: http://brotherdave.com/add_majorrefin.htm including Atlanta Guitar Works and Galloup Guitars but if in the northeast I'd probably go with Guitar Specialist. I know for a fact Guitar Specialist does neck heat pressing.

It could be that you need a second opinion by another luthier and you might as well make it one with a heat press because I really think it will probably need it.


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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:59 pm
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That doesn't look like flamed maple to me, but agreeb that It is an odd grain pattern. I thought CS necks were usually quarter sawn, or is that a recent upgrade?

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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:20 pm
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it's a really old neck. 89.


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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:02 pm
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It definitely appears to be an area of flame in the wood. Flame and curl in maple and other hardwoods like cherry, oak and others are both always perpendicular to the grain of the wood. This perpendicularity is clearly visible in the neck pics above, especially the first pic. The grain runs lengthwise along the neck and the flame is transverse to the grain. There's a lot of speculation about how figure develops in wood but there are some plausible theories including external forces inducing stress in the tree as well as genetics and disease. In particular, birds eye maple is thought to be caused by pest intrusions that heal up over time. A worm or insect bores into the tree and then the tree heals itself and closes around the wound.

I heard an as yet unconfirmed rumour several years ago that PRS had purchase some land which had hundreds of adolescent maple trees and that they had tightly wrapped thin steel banding around the trunks of the trees hoping to induce figure as the trees grew and were constricted by the steel bands. There are also methods of sawing timber that can enhance any figure that may already be present in the wood. Additionally there are places on the tree where figure is more likely to occur. One of those places is in the trunk very near branches. This would seem to give credibility to the luthier's speculation that there may be a knot in the wood.

If you do a Google search for some of the various hardwood associations around the world many of them have information about how figure in trees is formed. They will pretty much all agree that figure in wood is almost always a weakness in terms of strength. The figure shows up whenever the cells of the tree are folded over and therefore not in line with the grain. I did quite a bit of reading on this subject about 8 or 9 years ago and most of the info I found was on hardwood association's websites. There's a lot of them.

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Post subject: Re: Knot in the maple damaging my 60s Custom Shop Jazz Bass
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:50 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
It definitely appears to be an area of flame in the wood. Flame and curl in maple and other hardwoods like cherry, oak and others are both always perpendicular to the grain of the wood. This perpendicularity is clearly visible in the neck pics above, especially the first pic. The grain runs lengthwise along the neck and the flame is transverse to the grain.

Wouldn't this be evident when also looking at the heel and the headstock? I'm not a wood "guru" but if I was taking a multiple choice test, I would choose B. flatsawn maple.
:?

_________________
`12 Select Jazz bass
`06/08 American Std Jazz-blizzard prl
`12 Ric 4003 Fireglo


MB cmd 102p & 410hr
MB LM Tube 800

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab92/RaginRog/0164b2a08afb2dac99b8f82fcd6ac8c6_zps7f4874d4.jpg


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