Bass repair in Dublin

Royale with Cheese

Just after acquiring a new bass as noted in another thread here.

Going to keep my old bass (Warwick Rockbass Corvette Special Edition) as backup but it needs some repairs really. The main thing is that I would like the electrics rewired as the wire used originally is very flimsy and breaks pretty much every time you go to change the battery. I've lost count of the amount of times I've soldered the wires.

Also I get a good bit of fret buzz and a slapping sound of the string hitting against the fretboard when I'm playing. I've tried doing set up myself but I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to straightening the neck. I also suspect that perhaps the nut needs to be replaced as the strings are far too close to the fretboard towards the head of the bass.

A few other small things like one of the tone control knobs is loose, as is the input (no matter how many times i tighten it, it just comes loose again... causing the wires on the inside to break sometimes due to moving around).

So I did work experience in Waltons when I was younger and after seeing how they leave all their instruments in for repair just lying anywhere I'd rather not go that route. Anybody know the best place for repairs in Dublin, and roughly how much it'd cost?

Doctor J

Sounds like you might have the truss rod too tight. Generally instruments come with nuts set too high, so that combined with the buzzing suggests you might have adjusted it so it's pulling the neck back a bit.

Hold the E string down on the first fret and the last fret. See if there's a gap between the top of the frets and the bottom of the string between the 8th and 12th frets. There should be enough space to fit a thin plec. If there's a bigger gap, tighten the truss rod. If there's too small a gap or no gap at all, loosen it.

Adjusting it is simple enough, just read the setup guides in the resources sticky thoroughly before you start.

Royale with Cheese

I've never actually touched the truss rod myself, all I did was to try and raise the heighth of the strings at the bridge. Don't have the proper key to adjust it. I'll give it a go myself when I have the time but if I can't get rid of the buzz I'll just bring it in somewhere... the main thing is that I want the electrics rewired though.

Rigsby

Royale with Cheese wrote:

I've never actually touched the truss rod myself

A little is a lot with the truss rod. A quarter turn at a time is recommended, then check the gap between string and fret as stated above. A little time might be needed for the neck to settle.

Eoin Madsen

Rigsby wrote:

A little is a lot with the truss rod. A quarter turn at a time is recommended

The thing about the quarter turn at a time legend that got lost along the way is that you're supposed to let it lie for hours or days for the neck to change shape after each adjustment.

Rigsby

Eoin Madsen wrote:

The thing about the quarter turn at a time legend that got lost along the way is that you're supposed to let it lie for hours or days for the neck to change shape after each adjustment.

Overnight is usually enough.

Eoin Madsen

Generally, yeah. Depends on the instrument, and the climate.

My point was just that the actual purpose of only making small adjustments at a time was lost in the translation long ago. You can google about setting up truss rods and more than half the hits will have omitted this critical detail or gloss over it, forgetting that the people looking for information don't already know the information. The small adjustment is supposed to give the wood time to settle. It seems a lot of people have the mistaken impression that it has something to do with not breaking something.

In fact you can usually crank it a full turn or two before anything starts to snap.