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Post subject: string spacing HELP!
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:36 pm
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Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2011 8:36 am
Posts: 8
Hello,

I've been pulling out my hair over my '70s P bass!

No matter what neck is on the guitar, the G string rests rather close to the edge of the neck, and the E string rests further away from the (top) part of the neck.

I've tried 3 different necks, all resulting in the same thing.

The G string saddle (on the bridge) is crooked and naturally sits separated from the D string saddle.

*Please Note*
there is a bit of space where the neck rests in the body. The screw holes match up, and the neck cannot be forced further in - I speculate now (at this point) that this may be the cause of the issue. However, the original neck (and the others) result in the same conclusion. The G string spacing rests too close to the edge of the neck - compared to my other basses.


I've implemented a few remedies - all of which have done nothing.


-Adjusted the action of the bridge saddle (in a slanted fashion) angling it more towards the rest of the strings.

-taken the neck off and attempted to reset it (about 4 or 5 times)

-changed necks - 3 kinds - 2 of the C profile, one B profile

-physically forced the bridge saddle to be closer to the rest

Help?


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Post subject: Re: string spacing HELP!
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:31 pm
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
When a complaint arises where the strings don't line up correctly my first thought is a twist in the neck, or an improperly slotted nut. But the odds against all three necks each having the exact same issues is staggering, so a twisted trio of necks each twisted precisely the same or with an improperly slotted nut as the other two is probably not the culprit. That leaves the neck pocket angle as a possible suspect issue.

Have you tried a neck pocket shim such as a matchbook cover or a folded business card between the neck and body neck pocket interior under just where 2 strings pass the pocket? I'd try this first on the D&G side. If a shim seems to help some but doesn't quite remedy it then you are on the right track and should increase shim depth. If the shim under the D&G side makes it worse then just move the shim to the E&A side.

It actually sounds as if the angle of the neck pocket is no longer correct. While unlikely, it may always have been this way. It is more possible someone could have modified the pocket for some reason. One reason to modify the pocket perhaps could be trying to remedy a neck twist on a neck you no longer have because the person didn't realize the neck was twisted and just assumed they could fix it by modifying the pocket. If the neck pocket is obviously completely original and it was fine at one time there is one other possibility.

That last possibility is that the body has somehow changed all by itself due drying or aging over 42 years. The bodies are made of several different pieces of wood all bonded together, so it is conceivable that as one piece dried out either faster or more than the others this disparity caused a tiny warp in relation to the other pieces in the body. The result being a tiny angle shift in the neck pocket. I know that sounds like a long shot but it is a possibility too. Even a tiny bit of an angle change is magnified many fold when you attach a bass neck. That is why I suggested trying a shim to make a tiny angle change.

Photos of the issue might help including nut, neck pocket (with neck attached) front and back plus maybe the bridge but remote diagnosis even with photos is going to be tricky and probably uncertain.

If a shim doesn't correct or at at least improve the situation at all, then a luthier's help is needed to check the angles of the neck pocket routing and if angles are out of tolerance then they may want to slightly modify the pocket to correct it to a better angle.

I suspect that something developed to make the neck pocket angle out of tolerance. Such a pocket angle surely would have been caught by quality control or by the original dealer so I doubt it shipped like that.

Unless you have experience, some pretty advanced tools and angle measurement capabilities then any corrective neck pocket work other than shimming is absolutely and positively not a do-it-yourself fix.


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Post subject: Re: string spacing HELP!
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:44 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:01 am
Posts: 2842
It would not surprise me if the pocket was ever so slightly a tad crooked or if the holes are off. My 74 had the too wide pocket on the treble (G) side and i filed and sanded it to be flush like it should be. I think a good repair guy could fix it up but maybe it would need painted- it depends I guess.


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