If this is the problem, what is the cure?

[Grand Wazoo]

My SR5 neck is beginning to show signs of ageing, its a 2000 model and in the 2 pcs below you can see what I mean.


Pic one take with the flash shows various degrees of discoloration

Pic two taken without flash shows a disticntive dark line behind the nut and a larger band behind the 2nd position between frets 5 and 6, is this normal?

Can anything be done to restore it, or I will have to live with it?

Thanks

 

[the unrepentant]

If you use some light grade sandpaper or wire wool to sand down the neck nice and smooth you can reapply the gunstock oil and it will feel brand new Just a few quid from any gun shop

 

[steve21]

The lines get dark because that's where you keep your hands.

 

[fidooda]

dark line: that's where the unfinished part of the neck ends. all our EBMM are like that.

dark band: isn't it where your bass rests on the stand? i might be wrong, but that's the first thing i would check.

 

[bovinehost]

He's got a point.

The line up near the headstock is where the gunstock oil and wax finish ends and the poly begins. Quite normal. The band near the center of the neck looks like (this is a guess only) a mark from sitting in a stand.

In any case, sand it a bit, re-apply the oil and wax and you're good as new.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

The lines get dark because that's where you keep your hands.

I can appreciate that when it comes to the 2nd positions, but surely ~I never keep my hand or thumb behind the nut, and the bass goes back in the original case after every play and gets a lot of care and attention before and after being played.

In response to the first reply from the unrepentant, I've done the wire wool and gun stock oil thing but its not removing it and I am been very light handed with it with the fear of taking chunks out of the neck.

 

[maddog]

play more! it'll wear away eventually.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

play more! it'll wear away eventually.

you've got that right!! hehe, I am trying my best, if only you know how painful it is with a stumpy bone where you thumb used to be.... but no pain no gain I guess.

 

[Big Poppa]

Capt that is the firswt time the words "Stumpy little bone" have been strung together....


An eight year old bass will gain patina. Thank goodness it does. That is the mojo. If not sand it because there is white maple underneath. Understand that when you do that that depending on how deep the stain you will slightly affect the shape. You are seeing the effects of sweat, smoke, air pollutants and oil create a finish. It should be what makes it like butter.

 

[Duarte]

What happened to your thumb?

 

[Grand Wazoo]

What happened to your thumb?

I've got it caught between the chain and the rear sprocket of my motorbike while servicing it, and the sprocket teeth hacked part of it off, that happened only last March, so after surgery to remove the first part of the chopped bone and a couple of skin grafts all I have is half a thumb with a very thin layer of skin left on it and according to the consultant that operated I am supposed to wait for some flesh to regrow between the bone end and the skin but I doubt it will happen anytime soon so I am fighting to overpower the pain with a bit of determination.

You can have a look here but only click if you are not a squeemish person as it is rather graphic

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008214.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008213.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008212.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008211.jpg
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flvhttp://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flv



Skin graft donor area
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/skingraft2.jpg

 

[adouglas]

I agree about the source of the marks.

Check out the video on neck care at ernieball.com. It shows what you can safely do, including what grit of sandpaper you can use and how hard you can sand.

It's likely that if the dirt has gotten really deeply embedded, then it'll never get as-new clean. But consider this:

Dirt, wear and road scars = mojo. Real mojo is priceless. If you actually play your instrument mojo is inevitable. Sooner or later dirt will build up, wear will happen, dings will happen, knobs will get bent (er, strike that last bit )......

A certain large and famous guitar builder with a name that begins with the sixth letter of the alphabet charges really amazing amounts of money for guitars that have had artificial mojo applied at the factory.

Over the past couple of years they've released really heavily beat up guitars that are carefully and lovingly abused to display exactly, precisely the same crud and damage as those belonging to famous musicians. These instruments cost more than my car did. And I bought my car new in 2007.

Someone, somewhere, seems to think that dirt carries a premium, because these instruments (and their lesser "reliced" siblings) actually do sell. Probably not in large numbers, but they haven't abandoned the idea as far as I know, so it must be working well enough to keep it alive.

 

[the unrepentant]

I've got it caught between the chain and the rear sprocket of my motorbike while servicing it, and the sprocket teeth hacked part of it off, that happened only last March, so after surgery to remove the first part of the chopped bone and a couple of skin grafts all I have is half a thumb with a very thin layer of skin left on it and according to the consultant that operated I am supposed to wait for some flesh to regrow between the bone end and the skin but I doubt it will happen anytime soon so I am fighting to overpower the pain with a bit of determination.

You can have a look here but only click if you are not a squeemish person as it is rather graphic

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008214.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008213.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008212.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/04062008211.jpg
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flvhttp://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/?action=view&current=04062008016.flv



Skin graft donor area
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/skingraft2.jpg

Oh man that looks painful! I've seen some guys do some similar things on the mountain biking forums i used to visit when they'd catch their hands in their disc brake rotors, though not qute as severe as yours! (although some did come close to losing the ends of their fingers!!)

I wish you a speedy recovery though man. I remember when i broke my middle finger (a fracture or something, i never got it looked at, i just assumed it was broken because it was painful for months), and that hurt a lot!

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Well I have tried to source the reason for the wide dark band behind the 2nd position, many of you suggested it was my guitar stand that might have caused it so I taped some masking stuff around the affected area and place the bass on the stand but as you can see in the pics, the neck holder of the stand is nowhere near where the area is affected so it must be wear and tear, patina, mojo, voodoo, and everything else that has been suggested, Also I have tried to look at the inside of the original MM case but that can't be to blame as the neck area has a receptacle that runs all along the neck from the body to the headstock and there should be no reasons for this to mark one area alone and not the whole thing.

The Guitar stand is pictured here:

and here is the bass resting on the stand, see? no contact with the darkened area:

 

[T-bone]

I think it's from that black tape you have around your 4th fret.

Mojo man....work it.

tbone

 

[fidooda]

you need a new bass to help you stop worrying about your SR5

 

[Grand Wazoo]

you need a new bass to help you stop worrying about your SR5

there might be some truth in that statement, I would like to try a Sterling 5 HH next, ... see what they taste like, I tried a Bongo 5 HS already, I want to see if the Sterling is more up my street than the Bongo was. One thing is for sure, my next bass to keep this SR5 company will definately be another MM, let's face it, there is no other bass out there than Music Man is there?

I would also fancy trying one of these SR5 HH with the tone block, but I am too scared of the asking price.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Fran...you'll probably find that the wider line behind the fourth fret is oil build up from your hand. That's where the round part of your hand (from thumb to forefinger) would rest if fretting at the 5th fret. Same with line behind the area of the nut but perhaps it's not as wide becuse part of it is protected by the finish on the headstock (which is not oil and wax). My guess is that you use the 1st and 5th fret positions a lot (???)

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Rod T, I admit to you, I am not a bill board act, but I have been playing bass from a very young age, I also play a mean guitar but I am not that intersted in it, I use the guitar skills to teach my 15 year old son, despite the fact he is left handed, I have to turn his guitar upside down and work out scales and chords that way in order to teach him licks and stuff.

From 15 to 21 my dad payed for me to have classical tuitions on double bass played both with bow and pizzicato, so my left hand often is in the classical double bass position with the 1st and 4th fingers doing most of the work. I swear to you and everyone else I tend to prefer scales with a perpendicular flow rather than horizontal, as it is more comfortable to me, this is also why a 5 strings to me is the perfect media as it allows me to reach a low note without having to race back up the neck. As a result I don't really always stick in that one position where the dark mark is, people I play with always tell me I play a bit too busy for their liking and they would prefer a more minimalistic accompainment. I agree sometime less is more, but I like to wander about the neck a lot. I have to assume the dark mark is a a natural uneven wood ageing spot and I just have to try to clean it more and let natural agents take their effect. I love this instruments and I am not the type to buy and sell 100's of bass just to keep up with the Jones. I buy what I need and only what I really like. Thanks and keep up the good work with your excellent website. I have enjoyed reading it back to back.

 

[applemacintosh]

If it's not the stand that the neck rests on at that point, could it be your case?