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Worn fretless fretboard


bluesswing

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Hello guys and gals,

 

Stepping into this room from the guitar forum...I have an Ibanez Roadstar fretless bass from the 80s and a portion of its fretboard below the A-string (from C to D notes) is worn not allowing me to set action of that string low enough. What would be the best way to fix this problem? Some type of wood filler or putty? Thanks for yr help.

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I'd guess you need to have the whole board levelled down to the low spot, rather than fill the low spot up to level, if you know what I'm saying. :) .

Sounds to me like a trip to a luthier is necessary.

 

What kind of wood is the 'board?

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ooooooh, an Ibanez Roadstar from the '80s. A Roadstar or Roadstar II? I'm a big fan. Can you give us some more details -- what pickup types, woods, etc.? You may not know, though.

 

Perhaps you could post a picture of the worn spot? Jeremy's solution might work in the short term, and wraub's might be where you eventually end up.

 

Peace.

--SW

spreadluv

 

Fanboy? Why, yes! Nordstrand Pickups and Guitars.

Messiaen knew how to parlay the funk.

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Originally posted by Dr. Sweet Willie:

Ooooooh, an Ibanez Roadstar from the '80s. A Roadstar or Roadstar II? I'm a big fan. Can you give us some more details -- what pickup types, woods, etc.?

Yeah, Dr., I was also curious about that, for some reason. :D

 

B&S, do please share...

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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You are as good as the guitar guys!!

 

A mixture of rosewood sawdust and superglue.
This sounds good, I have an old Peavey guitar neck with rosewood fretboard so I can get sawdust from it.

 

I'd guess you need to have the whole board levelled down to the low spot, rather than fill the low spot up to level, if you know what I'm saying. .

Sounds to me like a trip to a luthier is necessary.

 

What kind of wood is the 'board?

I would hate to spend money on luthier here since this is not my main instrument...Jeremy's suggestion probably will work. The board indeed is from rosewood.

 

Ooooooh, an Ibanez Roadstar from the '80s. A Roadstar or Roadstar II? I'm a big fan. Can you give us some more details -- what pickup types, woods, etc.? You may not know, though.

 

Perhaps you could post a picture of the worn spot? Jeremy's solution might work in the short term, and wraub's might be where you eventually end up.

Roadstar II. It is all original, I don't really like the sound that much due to weak PU (one black PU with two rows of dual pole piece screws, 3-position switch for coil split??, vol/tone pots, 2+2 tuners, string tree for A&D strings, sunburst, arrowhead strap buttons). I'll try to get the area photographed and post here later, and indeed I'll probably try the sawdust/superglue method...

 

Thanks to you all!!

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Originally posted by blues&swing:

You are as good as the guitar guys!!

Don't offend us! :mad:

 

We're better! ;):D

 

Thanks for the details on your bass. Sorry about the dissatisfaction w/ the PU. Do you think if you had a different PU in there, you'd play it more and be generally more joyous?

 

Peace.

--Doctor Luv

spreadluv

 

Fanboy? Why, yes! Nordstrand Pickups and Guitars.

Messiaen knew how to parlay the funk.

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  • 1 year later...

If you'll pardon the butting-in of a walking guitar stand, ;) (O.K., I'm a cup-holder, too) :D

 

...I think that either undertaking a major project like the aforementioned "Jaco marine epoxy", completely covering the entire fingerboard, and shaped and sanded to a proper playing surface,

 

-or-

 

a complete replacement of the fingerboard altogether,

 

will be necessary to properly fix this.

 

(Either of the above would likely be best left to an experienced pro luthier, as wraub and BenLoy have also opined...)

 

If you decide to replace the 'board, and you prefer bare or traditionally-finished wood to epoxy covered wood or other alternative fingerboard materials like aluminum or glass, go with particularly high-grade real ebony or a similar particularly hard hardwood.

 

(Otherwise, go with the tone-wood of your choice and the aforementioned Jaco Pastorius-approved marine epoxy treatment, or whatever other non-wood material you decide upon.)

 

And/or consider flat-wound or roller-wound/ground-wound strings, instead of round-wounds. (I'm assuming that divot was dug-out by some big honkin' round-wound bass strings; am I right?)

 

Waddyall think?

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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