Cleaning up my bass

[bigbassmike]

First of all, I'd like to say that this is a great site. I wish I had stumbed onto it years ago. I'm thinking of cleaning up my Ibanez Roadster. I got it new in '83 and it has been a real good one. I've neglected to keep it clean and have just played the heck out of it throughout the years. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to clean up some parts of the bass. Mainly the bridge and the frets. I feel the need to take the bridge off of the bass:



It is crudded up pretty good. I collect old Coleman lanterns and clean the brass parts in vinegar and it works well. Any other recommendations? Also, when I take the strings and the bridge off of the bass, what adjustments might I be looking at when I put it back together? Truss rod and action, maybe?

The frets have green stuff along them from all the sweat throughout the years:



How would I go about cleaning them up?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[bherman]

Originally Posted by bigbassmike

First of all, I'd like to say that this is a great site. I wish I had stumbed onto it years ago. I'm thinking of cleaning up my Ibanez Roadster. I got it new in '83 and it has been a real good one. I've neglected to keep it clean and have just played the heck out of it throughout the years. I guess I'm looking for advice on how to clean up some parts of the bass. Mainly the bridge and the frets. I feel the need to take the bridge off of the bass:



It is crudded up pretty good. I collect old Coleman lanterns and clean the brass parts in vinegar and it works well. Any other recommendations? Also, when I take the strings and the bridge off of the bass, what adjustments might I be looking at when I put it back together? Truss rod and action, maybe?

The frets have green stuff along them from all the sweat throughout the years:



How would I go about cleaning them up?

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike - I don't have a ready answer for your questions but one of the things I've learned from this site is that there usually is a ton of information available in archives from past threads - go up to the search pulldown and you'll be amazed what you'll find. Most of the time when I have a technical question I start there. Welcome, I've only been a member for a short time and this is a great site and a great community of players.

[bigbassmike]

Thanks for pointing out the search feature. I should have thought of that. I've found a lot of posts about cleaning the bridge and fretboard already. I'm guessing that I will have to do adjustments to the bass when put back together. I've never taken apart the bass and was curious where I would start when adjusting it again. I will do some more searches.

Thanks again!

[bherman]

Originally Posted by bigbassmike

Thanks for pointing out the search feature. I should have thought of that. I've found a lot of posts about cleaning the bridge and fretboard already. I'm guessing that I will have to do adjustments to the bass when put back together. I've never taken apart the bass and was curious where I would start when adjusting it again. I will do some more searches.

Thanks again!

One thing to consider - I used to do my own setup but learned recently (when I had a top-notch luthier set up my p bass) that its probably a good idea from time to time to have a pro setup. Its then easy to tweak yourself down the line. You'll want to make sure that its someone who really knows their way around basses (another thing about this forum - ask for local recommendations!)