For Bovine

[giddy4geddy]

Jack-

Question 1:

Did you have to do any additional "tweaking" to your Bongo after taking delivery. Mine is set up real sweet straight out of the box, but it does have a little fret buzz (not bad) on the E and A strings hitting them open and fretted. I can tell that the buzz is coming from the fret just above where I'm placing my finger (or fret 1 hitting it open). Looking down the length of the neck, it appears to be pretty straight, so I don't really want to go screwing around with the truss rod. What do you think? Raise the saddles up a bit? The action on this bass is incredibly better than my previous, so I'm not too concerned about giving up some of that to get rid of the buzz, plus I don't think it'll have that much of an effect on these double humbucks......damn they're HUGE.

Question 2:

I've got some marks (4 of them) on the top side (top edge) of the neck about mid-way up the fingerboard. Each one of them is next to where the fret is in the fingerboard. I'll attach a picture so that you can see. I can't FEEL what it is because it's not raised up off the surface, as if it were a foreign substance on the neck. I seems to be embedded into the neck. Really weird. Is this a manufacturing thing or what?? I'm not freaking out or anything about it, but it's like a new car, I mean, I just took delivery and it already has a scratch, or whatever it is. I know it's hard to tell what it is without actually looking at it in person, but I thought I would ask anyway. You don't have these marks on yours do you?

OK, thanks for fielding these in advance.

Chris in Tokyo

 

[dlloyd]

Not Jack, but...

Did you have to do any additional "tweaking" to your Bongo after taking delivery.

IMHO, every bass needs tweaking after delivery. Differences in temperature, humidity, etc. will all have an effect on the wood in your bass and the way it compares with your string tension. I'm not as fanatical about this as some, but I set my basses up every couple of months to deal with seasonal changes.

Looking down the length of the neck, it appears to be pretty straight, so I don't really want to go screwing around with the truss rod.

It may be too straight.

I'm guessing the strings are fine, a capo is handy here...

Fret the E string at the first fret and the fret where the neck meets the body. From looking at pictures of the Bongo, that looks like the 19th fret. Measure the distance between the bottom of that string and the top of a fret half way between these two points (that's going to be around the ninth fret). This distance should be around a business card width or more. I typically use around 0.018" of relief. You can adjust this amount by tightening or loosening the truss rod. Slot an allen key into the truss rod capstan and push it to the left to give more relief or right to give less. Don't turn it too much (half turn either way will fix most problems), don't force it, don't turn it if you hear any nasty noises coming from it.

Truss rod adjustment is less scary than it reads written down, but if you're not comfortable with it, take it to a repair man. I wouldn't really feel that comfortable doing it for the first time on a Bongo.

Then adjust the bridge. Factory specs are for the strings to clear the 12th fret by 3/32". You might like more or less. I have slightly more.

Then adjust the pickup. Factory specs are 5/32" from the string. You may have to adjust this slightly... I have slightly more, particularly on the E string side. Too high and the pickups will interfere with your strings vibration. Too low and you won't get enough signal. Tweak the factory specs to suit the volume you get out of your strings.

 

[giddy4geddy]

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the input.

I don't really have any tools here in Tokyo to measure those kind of specs out. Is there anything that is about the the same thickness of 3/32"?? A penny? 5/32"?

 

[dlloyd]

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the input.

I don't really have any tools here in Tokyo to measure those kind of specs out. Is there anything that is about the the same thickness of 3/32"?? A penny? 5/32"?

Use a steel rule, they're cheap... never been to a Tokyo hardware store though, it might not be the case there

3/32" = 2.4 mm
5/32" = 4 mm

 

[giddy4geddy]

Any ideas about these marks on the neck?

 

[bovinehost]

Those marks, whatever they are....I have no idea. I'd like Jon to have a look and see what he thinks. I'll email him and ask him to check in on this one.

 

[bovinehost]

Okay, let's just say that it looks to me that those marks are from the top coat being chipped somehow. But if that were the case, you should be able to feel it, right? And you said you can't.

Weird. You can't feel anything, like a slight indention?

Let me know.

 

[Psychicpet]

Any ideas about these marks on the neck?

could it be that the frets/fingerboard have settled a bit after shipping and possibly put little cracks in the top coat but not enough to feel but just a visual thang?

 

[giddy4geddy]

Nope, I can't feel a thing. It's as smooth as a baby's bottom.

 

[bovinehost]

And you're in Japan, making it harder for anyone at EB to have a look at it. Hmmm.

Here is my suggestion, which is all it is, since of course I don't work for EB and can't guess what happened to make those marks. Email the international sales rep, Beth Wreden, at [email protected].

I do know this much from dealing with Derek and Jon and some of the other guys in San Luis Obispo - they will do what they can to make sure you're happy.

Hope that helps.

Jack

 

[giddy4geddy]

Thanks Jack. I'll sleep on it and decide what to do about it later.

I mean, I'm not pissed or anything, I just want to make sure that this isn't a production problem for EB since it truly looks as if it is IN the neck/fingerboard and not ON it. Someone else might not be as forgiving as I am about it and raise a big stink.