Ski Lift

Basscataz · #1 07-24-2010, 02:09 PM

The neck of my fender jazz bass has a ski lift at the end of the fingerboard. It is really interfering with any sort of adjustments of setups I have done on it.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do to fix it? Someone suggested filing the frets down but I'm not entirely sure if that would be a good idea.

brendanbassist · #2 07-24-2010, 02:11 PM

Not sure what you mean by "ski lift". You mean a hump around the 15th fret or so?

Slowgypsy · #3 07-24-2010, 04:18 PM

The neck on my main player, Fender American 62 RI Jazz, developed a condition where the neck developed a slight bend upward right where the body ends, and where (I found out) the truss rod starts to become active. Almost as if the neck "hinged" slightly at that point.

Is this the same condition you're experiencing? 'Cause I had it fixed on my bass and now it plays the best it's ever been.

Basscataz · #4 07-24-2010, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

The neck on my main player, Fender American 62 RI Jazz, developed a condition where the neck developed a slight bend upward right where the body ends, and where (I found out) the truss rod starts to become active. Almost as if the neck "hinged" slightly at that point.

Is this the same condition you're experiencing? 'Cause I had it fixed on my bass and now it plays the best it's ever been.

Exactly like that. The fretboard bends slightly upwards around the 17th fret.

JLS · #5 07-24-2010, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basscataz

The neck of my fender jazz bass has a ski lift at the end of the fingerboard. It is really interfering with any sort of adjustments of setups I have done on it.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do to fix it? Someone suggested filing the frets down but I'm not entirely sure if that would be a good idea.

IF it's not too bad, you can deal with it with a partial level/recrown in that area. Oftentimes this is not the case, however, so you'll be looking at a partial fretboard leveling/refretting, at least.

I once cooked a mapleneck strat that had it bad, really clamped the hell out of it, but results from this aren't very predictable.

Mike Dimin · #6 07-24-2010, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLS

IF it's not too bad, you can deal with it with a partial level/recrown in that area. Oftentimes this is not the case, however, so you'll be looking at a partial fretboard leveling/refretting, at least.

I once cooked a mapleneck strat that had it bad, really clamped the hell out of it, but results from this aren't very predictable.

+1

It is not an uncommon issue

Slowgypsy · #7 07-24-2010, 07:45 PM

So I had this fixed on my bass, and so far I'm very, very happy with the results.

One of the folks I play music with is a luthier, and he told me that this is not an uncommon problem with bolt on necks. Granted, it only happens to a very small percentage, but enough of a percentage that it's a known condition.

He ended up removing the last 5, 6 or 7 frets, shaved the fret board down so now it's in perfect line with the rest of the fret board, and then replaced the removed frets with new ones, and did a basic level job.

Okay, he's a person I know and play music with, so the price he gave me was probably way below market. If the instrument is not particularly special (meaning expensive or vintage) you might be better served getting a replacement neck.

In my case this was my main player, a Fender American 62 RI Jazz that's got some age and mojo to it. For me it was without doubt worth the price paid.

Anyhow... that's how this problem got fixed for me, and from what I've found out, shaving down the fret board should really be a part of the solution for a permanent fix, not just filing down some frets.

walterw · #8 07-25-2010, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

...from what I've found out, shaving down the fret board should really be a part of the solution for a permanent fix, not just filing down some frets.

yep. if you just file down the frets up there, you could end up filing the last fret completely away before you got rid of the ski ramp.

a partial can do the job, but a total refret will allow the whole neck to be planed to perfection before the new frets are put in. after all, now that the neck has settled into this state, once you plane out the problems, you should have a rock-solid bass from here on out.

the same thing happened to my 62RI tele when i first got it about 9 years ago, and after i re-fretted it (planing out that ski ramp) it's been perfect ever since.

Basscataz · #9 07-25-2010, 02:29 PM

Ooo ok cool.. Thanks a lot guys. How much is a refret job typically?

Chasarms · #10 07-25-2010, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basscataz

Ooo ok cool.. Thanks a lot guys. How much is a refret job typically?

This goes beyond a fret job. The Fingerboard is going to have to be re-planed.

The frets will be removed, the FB corrected, the dot markers will have to be replaced and then the frets reset. If it's a maple neck, the finish will have to be repaired.

I'd set the over-under at $300 and probably bet the over.

Slowgypsy · #11 07-25-2010, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chasarms

This goes beyond a fret job. The Fingerboard is going to have to be re-planed.

The frets will be removed, the FB corrected, the dot markers will have to be replaced and then the frets reset. If it's a maple neck, the finish will have to be repaired.

I'd set the over-under at $300 and probably bet the over.

Everyones mileage will vary.... but.... I just had this condition corrected on my Fender 62 RI Jazz.... and the fix does NOT have to be this extreme. The only part of the fret board that really needs to be tampered with is area that attaches to the body. From the point that the body ends, this is where the "hinging" happens. Really... the last 5 or 6 frets are removed, that portion of the fret board needs to be "shaved down" and then the removed frets are replaced.

Granted... it's certainly possible that the "hinging" is so extreme that either a new fret board or complete neck replacement is in order... but... this is a known condition in a very small percentage of bolt on necks. And the majority of those necks that develop this condition will be able to be fixed with the above described procedure.

I'm not making this up.... I recently had this done on my instrument... I'm talking from experience. I'd strongly recommend you take your instrument to an experienced luthier and get their opinion. FWIW the procedure cost me $200.

narud · #12 07-25-2010, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

Everyones mileage will vary.... but.... I just had this condition corrected on my Fender 62 RI Jazz.... and the fix does NOT have to be this extreme. The only part of the fret board that really needs to be tampered with is area that attaches to the body. From the point that the body ends, this is where the "hinging" happens. Really... the last 5 or 6 frets are removed, that portion of the fret board needs to be "shaved down" and then the removed frets are replaced.

Granted... it's certainly possible that the "hinging" is so extreme that either a new fret board or complete neck replacement is in order... but... this is a known condition in a very small percentage of bolt on necks. And the majority of those necks that develop this condition will be able to be fixed with the above described procedure.

I'm not making this up.... I recently had this done on my instrument... I'm talking from experience. I'd strongly recommend you take your instrument to an experienced luthier and get their opinion. FWIW the procedure cost me $200.

just had this done on my 78 jazz. frets 13-20 removed, board taken down slightly, refretted, re-sprayed. i like my action with the strings laying on the fretboard and a straight neck, so it probably wouldnt have even been needed had anyone else owned this bass. but, i really like this thing so i had the work done.

i initially had him take the frets down to see if we could get away with that, but the frets on those 70's fenders are so low to begin with it introduced some other issues.

walterw · #13 07-25-2010, 06:46 PM

planing out my tele involved no dot replacement.

by re-fretting the whole thing, i could adjust the neck (in a tensioning jig) so that it was equally backbowed in some spots as it was up-bowed at the end, allowing me to "average out" the errors in the board above and below the straight line i was working towards.

this allowed me to then true it up without taking so much wood away from any one area, even though i also compound radiused it from 7.25" at the nut to 9.5" at the other end. all the dots survived just fine.

Basscataz · #14 07-29-2010, 12:55 PM

thanks a lot guys. I plan to get it worked on in the next week. thanks again.

Musiclogic · #15 07-29-2010, 01:07 PM

I think he meant ski jump....LOL good advice on the relevel refret, really the only way to cure it instead of a temporary fix.

joeyl · #16 07-29-2010, 01:25 PM

one of my Fenders is doing that too, since it is a non vintage of any prized era, it will get a Warmoth or USACG neck if it gets too bad.

narud · #17 07-29-2010, 02:28 PM

so i just bought some old 90's japanese fernandes j's to practice doing fretwork on. sure enough, one of them showed up with a pretty good flip. i play with really low action and with my setup, it was skipping notes in the upper register.

i know i need to pull the frets and bring the board down, but i figured id try bringing down the frets first and since ive never done this before itd be good practice. i had to bring down the frets considerably and still have to give it a little more on the last few frets (the rise started around the 13th fret) but it looks like this thing will play great even with this temporary fix. that and it was kind of fun learning how to do this.