My 4003"s"
Moderator: jingle_jangle
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todd1
My 4003"s"
Hey Mark I've just gotten a 4003"s" in mapleglo off of e-bay and I have a few things I need to have done to it and and few questions as well. First off the tuning grip for the "D" string is loose on it's shaft. Is there anything i can do about this or do I need to replace the whole tuner? If I need to replace the whole tuner is it easy to do myself or would you recommmend having it professionaly done? Also, I don't see a difference in the tuners used by the 4003"s", the 4003, and the v63 in the parts diagram I downloaded from RIC. So is there a difference? I noticed on the fingerboard that at a certain angle I see green up against the frets and on the sides of the frets. How do I clean this off, if I can? How can I tell if the bass needs a re-fret? The fret before the last fret seems to buzz and give me all kinds of noise. The one thing I've noticed is that how much fun to play the plain wrap "s" is. It's got a thins slim neck that is easier to play than my 2000 4003, I'd say that's pretty good for a bass made in `92. hope you can help.
Schaller tuners for basses are fairly basic .
There are 4 screws that mount the tuner to the neck and there is one large screw that holds the shaft onto the plate .This aligns the shaft with the worm gear on the knobs shaft .
If ,when you have no string on the tuner,and the shaft wobbles UP and DOWN ,then you have a problem .
If the shaft wobbles within the tuner bushing ,then that generally is no big deal .
Just take a screw driver and tighten the screw ,or at least see if it is loose.
Next item ....green against the frets .
On finished fretboard instruments (Rick's and Fender's and Yamaha's and Ibanez' and all the other ones too numerous to mention)the point at which the finish and the fret edge 'touch' is one that is turns green.Why?
The fret wire is a brass alloy.There is NO silver in it at all (silver is soft) and at that edge the finish is piled up and was never sanded down .It shows a yellowing before the rest of the clear as there is more of it.
If you take the tarnishing of the fret wire and add the yellowing of the clear ,you get this coloring at that location.
To 'fix' this.....well you could use a new utility knife blade and score the clear at the corner/edge of the fretboard and the fret ,but the likelihood of slipping is high!
I would ,in my shop, use a propane torch to heat the knife blade and score it that way ,if there is a lot of finish.
If there is very little ,then a sharp scraper blade might do the job to remove this excess material.How ever .....chippage onto the flat area could be a problem.Again ...heat is the trick.
How to tell if a bass or a guitar needs a refret...
the wire itself was originally .040 /1mm or more in height.The width was .085/2mm to .115/2.9mm .
Crowning files can only do so much to maintain a crown/arch to the surface of the frets.Most factories do not have the time to recrown the fretwire after leveling .Some don't even polish the wire (Gibson) some don't level the wire (most Asian guitars) some grind the hell out of the wire and leave you with flat tops that are 2/3 the height of the wire !
When the one third to half the height of the fret wire is gone ....it is time to refret.
Buzz and rattle are relative to each player.
If it rattles when you are not plugged into an amp ,don't worry about it .
If it rattles when you pull on a string as if it was a bow and you are about to shoot an arrow,get a playing technique that works .
If it rattles ...check the truss rod(s).
Bass players have a variety of string attacks .
When I worked on Stanley Clarke's basses ...his action was -straight neck almost no relief and the string were about .040 off the tops of the frets .It buzzed everywhere for me .He makes it work!
Gerald Johnson (Sessions,CS&N,John Fogerty,Dave Mason,Steve Miller, etc) uses a Fender style P.Bass that I made him with a LH neck,maplefretboard,HEAVY gauge LaBella Flatwound strings and high action ....he thumps the bass like it was an upright.He gets no buzz at all !
At least when he is plugged in !
Buzzing is something that is subjective .I have no definitive answer for you on it .
Look at my postings on set up and then check out your bass.Then look to see if the bottoms of your strings have dents where the frets are .That will definitely cause problems .
Just grinding away at frets before checking out everything is a waste of time and money.
There are 4 screws that mount the tuner to the neck and there is one large screw that holds the shaft onto the plate .This aligns the shaft with the worm gear on the knobs shaft .
If ,when you have no string on the tuner,and the shaft wobbles UP and DOWN ,then you have a problem .
If the shaft wobbles within the tuner bushing ,then that generally is no big deal .
Just take a screw driver and tighten the screw ,or at least see if it is loose.
Next item ....green against the frets .
On finished fretboard instruments (Rick's and Fender's and Yamaha's and Ibanez' and all the other ones too numerous to mention)the point at which the finish and the fret edge 'touch' is one that is turns green.Why?
The fret wire is a brass alloy.There is NO silver in it at all (silver is soft) and at that edge the finish is piled up and was never sanded down .It shows a yellowing before the rest of the clear as there is more of it.
If you take the tarnishing of the fret wire and add the yellowing of the clear ,you get this coloring at that location.
To 'fix' this.....well you could use a new utility knife blade and score the clear at the corner/edge of the fretboard and the fret ,but the likelihood of slipping is high!
I would ,in my shop, use a propane torch to heat the knife blade and score it that way ,if there is a lot of finish.
If there is very little ,then a sharp scraper blade might do the job to remove this excess material.How ever .....chippage onto the flat area could be a problem.Again ...heat is the trick.
How to tell if a bass or a guitar needs a refret...
the wire itself was originally .040 /1mm or more in height.The width was .085/2mm to .115/2.9mm .
Crowning files can only do so much to maintain a crown/arch to the surface of the frets.Most factories do not have the time to recrown the fretwire after leveling .Some don't even polish the wire (Gibson) some don't level the wire (most Asian guitars) some grind the hell out of the wire and leave you with flat tops that are 2/3 the height of the wire !
When the one third to half the height of the fret wire is gone ....it is time to refret.
Buzz and rattle are relative to each player.
If it rattles when you are not plugged into an amp ,don't worry about it .
If it rattles when you pull on a string as if it was a bow and you are about to shoot an arrow,get a playing technique that works .
If it rattles ...check the truss rod(s).
Bass players have a variety of string attacks .
When I worked on Stanley Clarke's basses ...his action was -straight neck almost no relief and the string were about .040 off the tops of the frets .It buzzed everywhere for me .He makes it work!
Gerald Johnson (Sessions,CS&N,John Fogerty,Dave Mason,Steve Miller, etc) uses a Fender style P.Bass that I made him with a LH neck,maplefretboard,HEAVY gauge LaBella Flatwound strings and high action ....he thumps the bass like it was an upright.He gets no buzz at all !
At least when he is plugged in !
Buzzing is something that is subjective .I have no definitive answer for you on it .
Look at my postings on set up and then check out your bass.Then look to see if the bottoms of your strings have dents where the frets are .That will definitely cause problems .
Just grinding away at frets before checking out everything is a waste of time and money.
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!