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Post subject: New FB-58, first impressions (to be continued)
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:50 am
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Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:38 am
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Location: New England, USA
Suprising, not bad at all.

I finally broke down and purchased one, and last night I had a chance to open it up and start a little tweaking. It came not set up, so I didn't feel uncomfortable at all with disassembling the entire instrument. Tone ring to shell fit was suprisingly good, loose with the internal tone ring surface in contact with the shell before the outside - small void in the laminated shell in two spots on top, but not unreasonable. Shell was not finished with poly or any other sealer which was suprising. Coordinator rods were loose, but I adjusted them for an action of about .125" unstrung at the 12th fret (my preference) as a starting point. Heel cut was not bad but may need some fitting with light machining or sanding, but again no big deal.

Didn't like the feel of the head, so I replaced it with a standard USA Remo. Flange looked suprisingly robust and similar to the original Mastertone style with the die casting sprues in almost exactly the same places. Fit of flange to rim was excllent. Brackets were also very nice, bracket nuts were a little strange (smaller) but adaquate. Tailpiece and tailpiece-to-flance bracket were poor attempts to copy a classic 4-hump clamshell, so I replaced that with an 'old-style' Presto with the standard L-bracket screwed into the shell.

Tuners were loose, but easily tightened. Only complaint here is that the peg-head is so thick (thicker than a standard Mastertone) it deminished the string barrel height on the tuners. Not a show stopper, but anoying when re-stringing.

Changed bridge to a Wadsworth Crowe spacing, again my preference and GHS Crowe Stage-Set strings. Reassembled instrument, set bridge, but didn't have time to tune or play.

One glaring item I will repair prior to tuning and playing is the flange depth in the resonator and the resonator nuts. The flange should really sit about .250" lower in the resonator to conform a more standard Mastertone design, and be able to fit in a standard banjo case without applying pressure to the tailpiece and upperneck. I will also add 4 L-brackets and standard resonator nuts.

Looks good so far - to be continued !


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Post subject: Re: New FB-58, first impressions (to be continued)
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 2:04 pm
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Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:38 am
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Took the FB-58 to it's first BG jam today. Everyone liked the tone and it held up well, although I'm still not happy with the tone of the G string during a 2-4 slide, or a B-string during a 3-2 pulloff. Hammers seem better on all strings.

Still a work in progress - but a good buy never the less for anyone who wants a Mastertone style 5-string and is willing to do a little work to set it up properly. Definitely a decent maple neck.

One new thing I noticed at the jam was the nut is off center by about .020" - causing the high D to slip off fret ocassionally when down the neck. This is a serious and I will repair. Also the neck near the peghead is just a tad too thick so that a standard capo cannot be stored there like on a Mastertone. If I decide to 'speed neck' the backside of the neck I may remove just enough material to fix this.

Prior to the jam, I got the resonator milled out to position the flange properly (to Mastertone specs) - HUGE difference in tone from that single modification. More lower frequency and better note separation on the D & G strings. Had to reposition and redrill the 4 flange nuts, and the threaded inserts - but that went fairly quickly. Tone is still a little clanky, I think based in part to the tailpiece being really oversized in both mass, connection to the stretcher band, and material selection (sounds like too much steel in the mix to me). Presto and rim bracket are on order.

Also corrected the installation of the tuners (wow) - all were installed incompletely and crooked because the second pilot hole was missing on all 4 tuners. There was actually a .031 to .062" gap on each tuner on the backside of the peghead - amazing how that got through QA, assuming there was any.

Anyway, here are the modifications to date:

1. Lowered flange in resonator to Mastertone standard.
2. flattened (lapped) top of rim for 360 degree intimate contact with tone ring.
3. Added flange L-brackets to rim, discarded stamped brackets provided
4. Re-fit neck to rim, and adjusted coordinator rods
5. Corrected tuner installation on peghead (added pilot holes to all 4)
6. Replaced head with Remo USA frosted medium crown
7. Tap tuned head to G#
8. Replaced bridge with Wadsworth 'old piano' 5/8 Crowe spacing
9. Replaced strings with GHS 10,11,12,20w,10

I'll post an update once I get the new tailpiece installed, and decide whether or not I'm going to clear coat finish the rim and add a speed neck finish.


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