slight split in neck near nut

[WalWarrior]

Hey Guys - anyone ever see or hear of this issue? I just picked up nice vintage pre EB MM Stingray, and when changing the strings, I noticed a small split in finger board near the nut just over the truss rod, running lengthwise between the A and D strings. Very small split, It appears there is a slight buldge there as well. Just under the crack it looks as if the truss rod could have caused this. Is there is anything to worry about? The bass plays well, and otherwise looks to be in great shape. I'm gong to take it to a luthier to see if he can check out the truss Rod and treat the finger board. Any thoughts? Thanks for your input. Take care - DM

PS - I'll post pics later when I get back to the house.

[depalm]

Pics would be good.
It seems to be a common problem that use to happen on necks with the "bullet" truss rod.
A friend of mine has two 70's JB with this same problem and got the rosewood fretboard replaced in one of them.
I'd take this instrument to a good repair man.

[WalWarrior]

Originally Posted by depalm

Pics would be good.
It seems to be a common problem that use to happen on necks with the "bullet" truss rod.
A friend of mine has two 70's JB with this same problem and got the rosewood fretboard replaced in one of them.
I'd take this instrument to a good repair man.

Ah - thanks for the info. It does have a bullet truss. I'll take it to a top guy I know, also what's weird, when playing the bass its sounds like it has a shielding issue, A hum, when I flip the bass forward ( pickup towards the floor ) the hum goes away. I'll hafta open her up and see if there is something obvious. Thanks again - Dennis

[RMay]

Originally Posted by WalWarrior

Is there is anything to worry about? The bass plays well, and otherwise looks to be in great shape. I'm gong to take it to a luthier to see if he can check out the truss Rod and treat the finger board. Any thoughts? Thanks for your input. Take care - DM

PS - I'll post pics later when I get back to the house.

You will get the best input from people you can actually show the instrument to in person. Pics will help immensely towards correctly diagnosing the root cause of the bulge and crack in the fingerboard.

Yes, there is cause for worry. Your post describes the crack between the nut and fret 1 is with the grain. Is my understanding correct? The bulge in the fingerboard is an indication that the bullet nut had been socked down far enough to compress the wood. This can be an expensive repair if in fact it is a combination of both the truss rod adjusted past the maximum lead to the bulge + crack in the fingerboard. Check the neck for a bow and twist. That is good news that the bass plays well, though the fingerboard crack should be repaired ASAP. I'll wait for a pic before I continue further.

[WalWarrior]

Thanks for the reply and the info RMAY. I noticed this when attempting to set the bass up with lighter guage strings. I just received the bass two days ago. I took it to a local luthier who concurred with your thoughts that it may be an expensive fix. I've got one other luthier lined up to look at it for a second opinion tonight. The bass played fine with the heavier string set, just not my cup of tea playing heavy guage setups. If it can be fixed without much hassel I'd like to keep her. Worse case, I'll send it back. Shame, it's a nice instrument. Thanks again for the input. Take care- Dennis

[Caca de Kick]

Aw that really sucks to have happened. It's pretty rare to happen on a Musicman, but was more common to see on the mid 70's Fenders because the bullet nut was alot closer to the surface of the fretboard making the area thinner.
Hard to say on the repair, I've seen inexpensive glue repairs, but on the same token it can be more involved too. Good luck.

[WalWarrior]

Originally Posted by Caca de Kick

Aw that really sucks to have happened. It's pretty rare to happen on a Musicman, but was more common to see on the mid 70's Fenders because the bullet nut was alot closer to the surface of the fretboard making the area thinner.
Hard to say on the repair, I've seen inexpensive glue repairs, but on the same token it can be more involved too. Good luck.

Yeah, it's a shame. I bought this from a Talkbass member. The seller seems like a real good guy. The way the bass was setup with heavier gauge strings didn't bring any issues to the surface. It plays great with that setup. He told me he rarely played this instrument and didn't notice it had this issue. It's only when I changed his strings that came with the bass to a lighter gauge of my preference that I noticed this issue. I'm gonna take it to another Luthier tonight for a second opinion and see if this can be remedied so I can set it up with .30-.90 Funkmasters. If not, I'll set it back up the way it was when I received it and ship it back to the seller. You think he'd have a problem giving me my $ back, as this bass won't work for me given its current issue? I hope he doesn't. I had no idea this bass had this issue and discovered it upon initial maintenance.

Thanks for all comments. Take care- Dennis

[WalWarrior]

UPDATE ******

2nd Luthier adjusted truss to the point where neck is not bowed and plays well with Light Guage Strings. Awesome! He's going to lightly sand the pertrusion and fill the crack with cyanoacrylate and hopefully that will take care of this once and for all.

Cool bass. I'm hoping this is going to work out. I'll post pics once it comes home.

Thanks again for all the advice -

DM

[RMay]

Good, good, A wise decision to take it to a Luthier. Now hopefully the luthier will fill the crack with cyanoacrylate (CA glue) and a little bit of dust from the fingerboard that will take care of the cosmetics. Good Save WalWarrior!