An important tip to new owners, based on my experience

[Grand Wazoo]

Read this carefully

If you have ordered a bass and it has taken the usual 3 or 4 months wait from the time you've ordered it until the time you've received it, and more over if you are in a country far away from where the bass was built, with different climate, chances are that unless the store who will deliver it to you will carry out a pre delivery setup, that when you take it home, you might experience a little buzz on some strings and you might think that the neck might need adjusting. DON'T ATTEMPT TO MODIFY ANYTHING YET!!! Don't touch the trussrod, don't fiddle with the saddles!

I'll explain why. These basses (and guitars of course, my apologies for not having mentioned them too) are assembled by the best experts in the business and have passed the highest quality checks, built at the ideal temperature, before leaving the factory. If no one has interefered with them from the time they left the factory until the time they got to your home, then any changes in action, and/or the eventual tiny weeny fret buzz are all due to these instruments travelling through different climates, thus resulting in body mass shifting in accordance with the temperature to which they had been exposed. This happened with my 25th that on arrival home "appeared" to have a low action on the E and B strings and and slightly high on the G and D strings. No panic - I knew what to do with it, as I did with my Bongo a year ago.

Follow these tips:

1. Climatize your instrument to your home temperature. Leave it out of the case and put it on a guitar stand and allow at least 24 hours for it to adjust to the new temp.
2. After the 24hrs period, remove all the strings and return moisture into the neck with a good dose of Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes Fretboard Conditioner, one whole sheet will suffice, just apply it again and again until the paper sheet has shed all it's content onto the fretboard, allow the moisture to sink in the wood and to dry naturally. Wipe off any excess, restring your instrument and tune to pitch.
3. Don't expect an immediate result but this time allow for another 24 hours to pass for it to settle to perfection, while in the meantime keep playing the instrument regularly and keep tuning it up to pitch everytime (shouldn't be that often) that the new strings bed in and go out of tune.

I guarantee you that this method should cure any gremlins and that your instrument will be perfect again, as it did with both my Bongo last year and again with this new 25th this time around.

I have never touched the truss rod adjustment nor the saddle heigths. Of course there could be exceptions but if your instrument has been shipped safely from the factory i.e. the box was not stressed during transport, (neither dropped nor stashed under too many boxes) there shouldn't be no reason for you to adjust it from the optimum factory setup. I trust EBMM now more than I trust myself and it has paid off, this 25th bass is bloody PERFECT. The action is as it should be and there's no buzz whatsoever.

Hope that helps

[Powman]

Good advice GW. My MM Sterling bass was already hanging up in my local guitar shop for weeks prior to me purchasing it. But the Bongo will be coming directly from California. So I will heed you wise counsel and not fiddle with it until it settles into my much damper southern Ontario climate.

[five7]

Step #1 Thanks God

[maddog]

So... what you're saying is to condition the neck and let it sit for a couple days to warm up and settle in?

Completely removing the strings of a brand new instrument seems a bit extreme.

[Musicman Nut]

Read this carefully

If you have ordered a bass and it has taken the usual 3 or 4 months wait from the time you've ordered it until the time you've received it, and more over if you are in a country far away from where the bass was built, with different climate, chances are that unless the store who will deliver it to you will carry out a pre delivery setup, that when you take it home, you might experience a little buzz on some strings and you might think that the neck might need adjusting. DON'T ATTEMPT TO MODIFY ANYTHING YET!!! Don't touch the trussrod, don't fiddle with the saddles!

I'll explain why. These basses (and guitars of course, my apologies for not having mentioned them too) are assembled by the best experts in the business and have passed the highest quality checks, built at the ideal temperature, before leaving the factory. If no one has interefered with them from the time they left the factory until the time they got to your home, then any changes in action, and/or the eventual tiny weeny fret buzz are all due to these instruments travelling through different climates, thus resulting in body mass shifting in accordance with the temperature to which they had been exposed. This happened with my 25th that on arrival home "appeared" to have a low action on the E and B strings and and slightly high on the G and D strings. No panic - I knew what to do with it, as I did with my Bongo a year ago.

Follow these tips:

1. Climatize your instrument to your home temperature. Leave it out of the case and put it on a guitar stand and allow at least 24 hours for it to adjust to the new temp.
2. After the 24hrs period, remove all the strings and return moisture into the neck with a good dose of Ernie Ball Wonder Wipes Fretboard Conditioner, one whole sheet will suffice, just apply it again and again until the paper sheet has shed all it's content onto the fretboard, allow the moisture to sink in the wood and to dry naturally. Wipe off any excess, restring your instrument and tune to pitch.
3. Don't expect an immediate result but this time allow for another 24 hours to pass for it to settle to perfection, while in the meantime keep playing the instrument regularly and keep tuning it up to pitch everytime (shouldn't be that often) that the new strings bed in and go out of tune.

I guarantee you that this method should cure any gremlins and that your instrument will be perfect again, as it did with both my Bongo last year and again with this new 25th this time around.

I have never touched the truss rod adjustment nor the saddle heigths. Of course there could be exceptions but if your instrument has been shipped safely from the factory i.e. the box was not stressed during transport, (neither dropped nor stashed under too many boxes) there shouldn't be no reason for you to adjust it from the optimum factory setup. I trust EBMM now more than I trust myself and it has paid off, this 25th bass is bloody PERFECT. The action is as it should be and there's no buzz whatsoever.

Hope that helps

Ok that's it, no more Dope for you, Oh and stay away from Jolt too.

[b-unit]

This sounds a little over the top but I can see how taking a fresh new instrument out of the case and immediately messing with the setup would be a little hastie. My Bongo 5 arrived last week and is playing and sounding just right without needing any adjustment. having said that, everyone has their own idea of the ideal setup and may feel the need to tweak the settings a bit.

[Grand Wazoo]

So... what you're saying is to condition the neck and let it sit for a couple days to warm up and settle in?

Is completely removing the strings wise?

No, you'd only need to condition the neck for a short period within the time it takes to change strings and...

of course it is safe/wise removing all strings for no longer than 1 hour even, you will at one point or another in the life of your bass (or guitar) need to treat the fretboard and there has never been any reports of the neck suffering any damage whatsoever from removing all the strings, (fret dressing or refret even, in the case of older basses) besides you would only need to leave the neck without strings for the time required to use the wonder wipes and then restring it right after. These necks are made of hardwood, not rubber. So yes it is pretty safe. I meant leave it restrung for 24hrs to settle to the new temperature at the intended pitch / tension. Trust me it works.

~~~

And @ MusicMan Nut, sorry pal, I don't do drugs nor alcohol.

[maddog]

Trust me it works.

No thanks.

Harm to the neck wasn't what I was getting at.

[Grand Wazoo]

No thanks.

Harm to the neck wasn't what I was getting at.

I see, perhaps there is a misunderstanding, please explain what you mean, thanks, exactly what harm to the neck are you referring to?

I am not sure if I made myself clear, when I received this bass it was almost stone cold frozen, it played well but it needed to warm up to my temperature and the fretboard looked very dry. After the treatment with wonder wipes, as I have explained, it is back to perfect conditions and it plays like a dream without me needing to adjust the action which initially was a bit low on the B and E strings and a little too high on the D and G strings, now that the wood is at the right temperature the action has improved. Surely it wasn't black magic.

Happy Boxing Day.

[maddog]

I see, perhaps there is a misunderstanding, please explain what you mean, thanks, exactly what harm to the neck are you referring to?

As I stated before, I wasn't referring to any harm to the neck so I'm not sure what harm to the neck I can clarify for you.

[Grand Wazoo]

As I stated before, I wasn't referring to any harm to the neck so I'm not sure what harm to the neck I can clarify for you.

Ok Tom, it's all good!

So there's no harm to the neck, none that I have experienced anyway so we are cool. See, I only gave those guidelines as "tips" I am not certifying that people must follow them to the letter.

Thanks

[bovinehost]

I don't think ham to the neck is a good idea.

[fly]

i like ham Jack.........really i do.

[Steve-O]

My personal philosophy is just play the thing for a day or two, and see if anything needs adjustment.

One thing I do think is important, though, is to let the package warm up to room temp before opening it if it's cold. I opened one right up in cold weather once, and it instantly became dripping wet from condensation.

[Aussie Mark]

I've had EBMMs fly across the Pacific, Equator and International Date Line, and upon arrival have been in tune, with no buzz at all. Maybe I've been lucky.