HELP! growing scratch problem, getting bigger

[game_freak24]

hey guys,

i received my Stingray from overseas about 7 months ago. when i first got it, i noticed the smalllllllest little scratch under the neck where the body and neck meet.

i thought nothing of it, but over time, its been getting bigger, stretching out. i know because i've watched it slowly crawl over the woodgrain.

any idea how to fix it? open to any suggestions.

thanks

[Trevorus]

That is most likely a finish crack. That is a common stress point for bolt on basses. You may loosen the strings, loosen the neck bolts, and then reseat them snugly, but not too tight. Make sure the neck won't move, and then tune back up.

[game_freak24]

thanks Trevorus, will do.

will that "guarantee" that it wont get any larger? what about when i bend the neck just a little to get that soft wammy sound?

[Crazyeelboy]

So, you are bending the bass neck? My guess is that's your problem right there.

[game_freak24]

Originally Posted by Crazyeelboy

So, you are bending the bass neck? My guess is that's your problem right there.

not bending to the extreme of a Flloyd Rose or anything, not trying to make the note go up an octave haha just a soft bend.

still a bad idea you think? might stop then...

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by game_freak24

not bending to the extreme of a Flloyd Rose or anything, not trying to make the note go up an octave haha just a soft bend.

still a bad idea you think? might stop then...

Won't do any good to keep it up that's for sure.

You might also want to seal the crack.

BTW good old Floyd had also a better idea, too bad it meant the end of Q5.

Just my 0.02€
Sam

[Dee_01]

Neck joint finish cracks are common (especially on Ibanez guitars), and often they don't affect anything, only the finish. One way they can happen is in transit. Say you have a bass or guitar which, when cased up, the neck is held tightly but the body is allowed to moved around slightly -- this can cause NJFC's. I wouldn't be doing any neck bends, you'll only make it worse.

[game_freak24]

fair enough. looks like i'll never be doing a neck-bend again.

how would i go about sealing up the crack? just drop it off to my local guitar shop and they'll do it for me?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

The sealing is quite easy to do, if one knows the type of finish. Just enough dilluted paint/laquer/whatever to have a capillary reaction.

I usually seal the cracks in Gibson guitars with CA and sand and polish them with 2000 grit and wax.

It shouldn't cost too much in a guitar shop either.

Regards
Sam

[game_freak24]

sounds easy enough. might ask around, see if any of my mates can help me with it. otherwise i'll just drop by the guitar store. thanks for that T-Bird.

[alexei]

ill quote myself, because i posted in the other thread you have made in other section:

Originally Posted by alexei

i recommend this firt of all:
try to get a magnifying glass and look as close as you can inside the scratch/crack and try to determine if it is a fissure of the inside wood or not...

IF it is just a surface scratch, then you can think it of a look problem... forget about it, is not serious, but you have to deal with a scratch that does not look nice and will lower the sell value of the bass... i would not worry about it too much.

IF it is a fussure, or a wood crack, you SOULD WORRY, because, fissures concentrate tensions (stress) at the sharp end. At university i study a lot of this phenomenons. We can put phisics in simple words: stress concentration means that tensions are nos well spread around all the wood, but only in a simple spot... that means a lot more in a spot, and a lot less in the rest.
The problem is that "a lot more in a spot". Basses (and all things) are designed to hold a determined ammount of stress... not much more. Then wood at that spot breaks. But a fissure always has a sharp end, then it keeps breaking forever. That you could have seen it a million times in movies... fissures keeps breaking with time.

Then if it is a fissure EITHER you play that bass unworried until it breaks into an unusable pieace of trash, or you get some tools and drill a hole through the bodie and place a bolt from side to side to diminish the stress at that section.

Remember that you always have the chance that a fissure reachs a wood knot or some other irregular wood fiber and stops spreading. This thing barely happens in metal, but i dont know much about wood.

Hope this helps, best of luck!