prepping a bass for sale

[cloren]

I'm about to sell a beloved fretless music man-

any suggestions on ways to pamper it for the seller to leave a happy camper?

I was thinking about using lemon oil on the fretless fingerboard (pau ferro) - is lemon oil ok to use in this instance?

[kyral210]

I can't recomend this book enough:

How to make your electric guitar play great!

It goes over everything about setting up your guitar (also applies to bass) and will get your instrument in perfect condition for a great sale. Its really worth getting this book because the information is so valuable every bass you will ever own will play better and stay in better shape for longer.

My advice would include:

• Treat neck with raw linsead oil
• polishing finish with a good quality polish (I like Gibson personaly)
• Clean metal with lighter fluid (believe it or not) to remove rust and stains
• Boiling string to restor their vigour without shelling out on a new set
• Set the string hieght and pickup height, as well as intonition to make it play as good as posible

Fender have a very good setup guide:
http://www.fender.com/support/basses.php

I would also recomend a good quality youtube video showing the whole bass and some very good (direct input not microphone) sound recordings.

Anything else?

[Jake of Bass]

All that above there is great advice.

I use a product called "Lemoil" on my MM fretboard and it comes up great. Apply fairly generously, leave it for about 20 mins then polish with a clean, dry rag. You'll be amazed at all the gunk that comes off.

You might also want to clean it's case inside and out if necessary and totally polish the area around the bridge as this is notorious for built up dust and grime, so having it as clean as possible shows it's well loved. Check anything with screws and the pots (strap buttons, machine heads, tone/volume) - if anything is loose or wobbly, fix it.

Also, make sure your neck relief is at a good setting as a lot of people will check this first before even playing it. Have an amp on standby with a good setting for it so when he/she plugs it in for their first time it sounds great.