Members willsellout Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Well actually the file. I am gonna grab some lunch and then take the neck off and start the leveling. I got all my tools from Stewmac today..I hope it goes well, hopefully Kindness will be around in case I have Q's???? Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members justinbass Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Scary. I wish I had a bass I didn't care about so I could try this. I might buy an SX to experiment on. What tools did you end up getting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 14, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Scary.I wish I had a bass I didn't care about so I could try this. I might buy an SX to experiment on.What tools did you end up getting? I'll get into that in a bit. I absolutely care about the SB2 but the frets are all beat to {censored}. I took the neck off and am trying to get the thing straight. The frets are seriously worn. I don't think it's ever had this done. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbl Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Didn't you say that the action had changed due to weather changes? Have you adjusted that first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted November 14, 2007 Moderators Share Posted November 14, 2007 I'll be around. I'll PM you my phone number in case things get dicey and I'm offline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jugghaid Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Fret leveling and dressing isn't really difficult, but it is very detail oriented and time consuming in my experience. Or are you refretting altogether? That's a bit more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super Bass Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Have you adjusted that first? +1 !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 14, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Didn't you say that the action had changed due to weather changes? Have you adjusted that first? Yes it did change and I did do a full setup but was unable to get the action to where I wanted it. It had been needing to have the frets leveled for a long time...even before, it wasn't playing the way I wanted it to. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bbl Posted November 14, 2007 Members Share Posted November 14, 2007 Well, don't fret. (har har) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sludgebass69 Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Can I help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Well, don't fret. (har har) Good thing I'm not drinking! :thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members REMUS Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Good luck Dan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 OK..so all finished except for the polishing..which I don't really care about so in fact I am done. I did screw up fairly big thought and ended up removing a lot more material than I needed to. Turns out this sanding tool I bought..yeah I was using the wrong side..the non-flat side:(But once I pulled my head out of my ass it went along smoothly. The sanding went easier than I thought. The tools I used didn't leave much in the way of chatter marks so it took very little sanding to get the frets smooth. The crowning was the most time intensive part..it takes a long time to get the line to get really thin and then you have to proceed slowly so as not to take the crown down too far. But we will see when I get it strung up whether or not I actually did succeed. Everything loogs good though. I will be back with some pictures and a full report:D Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jugghaid Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 OK..so all finished except for the polishing..which I don't really care about so in fact I am done. I did screw up fairly big thought and ended up removing a lot more material than I needed to. Turns out this sanding tool I bought..yeah I was using the wrong side..the non-flat side:(But once I pulled my head out of my ass it went along smoothly. The sanding went easier than I thought. The tools I used didn't leave much in the way of chatter marks so it took very little sanding to get the frets smooth. The crowning was the most time intensive part..it takes a long time to get the line to get really thin and then you have to proceed slowly so as not to take the crown down too far. But we will see when I get it strung up whether or not I actually did succeed. Everything loogs good though. I will be back with some pictures and a full report:DDan Good job bro. Told ya, it's a slow tedious mofo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 OK, so a couple pictures of the process. I just finished setting the bass up and it's beautiful. I have the action set right around .65 and the neck is almost flat. It's playing like a dream so I musta done something right It could go lower but I want a little wiggle room in case I want to dig in a bit. Intonation is perfect, action is perfect, relief is perfect. It's a beautiful thing..and not all that difficult at all. So I spent a couple hundred on tools and for that, and a little of my time, I get to fix everything short of a refret or a busted truss rod or something. Thanks kindness for spending the time showing us how to help ourselves and being available to answer Q's! You live up to your moniker:thu: This is a shot of me making sure the neck was straight with my straightedge Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 This is me sanding down the frets with my special tool...oh yeah and I'm doing it wrong here..it needs to be up on it's side, the straight side:) The other shot is of me crowning the frets. This is the most tedious and time consuming part..but it's easy enough once you get the motions down. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 This is a shot of me sanding down with 400 and then 600 grit sandpaper. And then finished product..although not as shiny as Kindness would have it, I'm more than happy to have them a little tarnished:) It was fun...and I intend to do it again when my basses need it. I love having the proper setup tools as well. Based on Kindness' file I bought a Capo and a string action gauge. Both very good investments. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Derek5272 Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 This is a shot of me sanding down with 400 and then 600 grit sandpaper. And then finished product..although not as shiny as Kindness would have it, I'm more than happy to have them a little tarnished:) It was fun...and I intend to do it again when my basses need it. I love having the proper setup tools as well. Based on Kindness' file I bought a Capo and a string action gauge. Both very good investments. Dan Pictures backwards? In your avatar there are right handed basses, and in that last pic it looks like that's the neck for a lefty EDIT: Of course they're backwards! You're wearing an RWS shirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Pictures backwards? In your avatar there are right handed basses, and in that last pic it looks like that's the neck for a lefty EDIT: Of course they're backwards! You're wearing an RWS shirt. Yup, that's the way the Mac built in camera works:) Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Derek5272 Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Yup, that's the way the Mac built in camera works:)Dan No setting to un-mirror it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 No setting to un-mirror it? If there is I haven't figured it out?? Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted November 15, 2007 Moderators Share Posted November 15, 2007 Nice work Dan. I told you it wasn't that tough, just detail intensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members willsellout Posted November 15, 2007 Author Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 Nice work Dan. I told you it wasn't that tough, just detail intensive. Well it took a lot longer because I was using my straight edge sander/leveler wrong..I took off a lot of material on the first and last frets before I figured it out. It was a good experience though for sure and I'm happy that it came out the way it did. It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. For anyone interested these are the tools I used for the actual leveling: This is the leveler I bought. Yes it was more expensive but I also feel this shaved a little time off as I didn't have chatter marks. I used 220 grit sandpaper to level the frets, the used 400 and 600 to clean them up. This is the crowning file http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Shaping_and_crowning/2/Diamond_Fret_Files.html And I had everything else the Kindness had listed, the fingerboard protectors, sandpaper, andstring action gauge which, if you use Kindness' instructions makes a setup so much easier. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted November 15, 2007 Moderators Share Posted November 15, 2007 Leveling makes a huge difference huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members REMUS Posted November 15, 2007 Members Share Posted November 15, 2007 is it playing well and all set up right now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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