Back of Neck Bubbling

[MdC64]

Picked up a Fender Vintera 50s P bass from the classifieds recently and noticed bubbling on the 13/14 G side fret areas.
I wonder what would cause this.
Would you leave as is or go over the area with a green scotch pad or any other ideas?
I was thinking of taking the bass to a local luthier to evaluate but not sure.
I’m not too impressed with the sloppy fret end filing (bare areas around the fret ends) but that’s another story.

 

[Lenny JG]

Just looks like whatever they finished the neck in is checking/relicing. I would say just go get the frets dressed how you like and the problem will take care of itself. Don't go sanding or scuffing it though.

P.s. by the problem will take care of itself, I mean that if you dress the frets, you'll forget it's like that anyway, and this isn't really a problem as much as an aesthetic preference.

 

[Grinderman]

View attachment 4682394 View attachment 4682395 View attachment 4682396 Picked up a Fender Vintera 50s P bass from the classifieds recently and noticed bubbling on the 13/14 G side fret areas.
I wonder what would cause this.
Would you leave as is or go over the area with a green scotch pad or any other ideas?
I was thinking of taking the bass to a local luthier to evaluate but not sure.
I’m not too impressed with the sloppy fret end filing but that’s another story.

Looks like some from fret sprout along with poor workmanship. The wood likely wasn't thoroughly clean when it was sprayed. The finish will flake off one way or another eventually.

If it were mine I'd go over the loose finish with a general purpose, maroon Scotch-Bite pad to see how much comes off and smooth it out. If it were bad enough I'd refinish the neck myself and either way I'd sort out the fret ends; otherwise, I suggest you take it to luthier.

 

[MdC64]

Just looks like whatever they finished the neck in is checking/relicing. I would say just go get the frets dressed how you like and the problem will take care of itself. Don't go sanding or scuffing it though.

P.s. by the problem will take care of itself, I mean that if you dress the frets, you'll forget it's like that anyway, and this isn't really a problem as much as an aesthetic preference.

Thanks. I appreciate the help.

 

[MdC64]

Looks like some from fret sprout along with poor workmanship. The wood likely wasn't thoroughly clean when it was sprayed. The finish will flake off one way or another eventually.

If it were mine I'd go over the loose finish with a general purpose, maroon Scotch-Bite pad to see how much comes off and smooth it out. If it were bad enough I'd refinish the neck myself and either way I'd sort out the fret ends; otherwise, I suggest you take it to luthier.

Thanks. I just do my own setups so for any neck finish work, I’d definitely take to a luthier.
Other than the poor workmanship, the fret sprout isn’t too bad—a little rough in some areas, so I will get that looked at.
The scotch pad idea is something I can do though. I appreciate the help.

 

[Lesfunk]

Would it be possible to attempt to stabilize the finish around the fret ends with a few drops of thin CA to mitigate the spread of the chips?

 

[Matt Liebenau]

It looks like the fretboard shrunk a little, not too surprising if it was made somewhere more humid and went to a New Mexico, and that chipped the finish over the ends. As said above, smooth and, if desired, refinish.

 

[vaesto]

Fender applies laquer over frets and fret ends on these Classic 50's/Vintera models. Then does some fret leveling, just enough to open up the fret tops. It is part of the "vintageness" on these instruments. Also the neck feels so smooth at the fret ends... However, it lasts up to the very first fret sprout - then protruding fret ends pop up the finish and it flake like this, partly because it is hard and thick. Now you need to wait for the maximum sprout, only then dress the fret ends and fix the chips in finish. Either with some touch-up technique or just rollup the entire edge smoothly. DO NOT leave bare wood! It is maple, so it picks the dirt quickly and these markings will look nasty and they are hard to remove too.

 

[MdC64]

It looks like the fretboard shrunk a little, not too surprising if it was made somewhere more humid and went to a New Mexico, and that chipped the finish over the ends. As said above, smooth and, if desired, refinish.

Yes, the bass came from Florida. I was thinking the same about the climate change. In NM it is so dry. The bass arrived with smooth fret ends.

 

[Grinderman]

Yes, the bass came from Florida. I was thinking the same about the climate change. In NM it is so dry. The bass arrived with smooth fret ends.

That extreme climate transition between FL and NM explains everything about the sprout, which mechanically popped the clear gloss urethane finish (it's not lacquer according to Fender) off. I still suspect there's some additional issue of poor adhesion of the clear finish to the maple.

I don't know how long you've had the bass in the dry NM climate so far but I'd let the neck fully adjust to the conditions there for long enough to let the frets completely sprout before having the ends filed flush.

A fret beveling file, to take down the protruding sharp fret ends, will knock off whatever remains of the loose clear neck finish wherever it remains by the time the ends are dressed.

 

[MdC64]

That extreme climate transition between FL and NM explains everything about the sprout, which mechanically popped the clear gloss urethane finish (it's not lacquer according to Fender) off. I still suspect there's some additional issue of poor adhesion of the clear finish to the maple.

I don't know how long you've had the bass in the dry NM climate so far but I'd let the neck fully adjust to the conditions there for long enough to let the frets completely sprout before having the ends filed flush.

A fret beveling file, to take down the protruding sharp fret ends, will knock off whatever remains of the loose clear neck finish wherever it remains by the time the ends are dressed.

I’ve had the bass for 3 weeks. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Grinderman]

I’ve had the bass for 3 weeks. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'd consult Bruce Johnson to hopefully get a better sense about how much longer the moisture content of the maple neck could take to stabilize to the point where the frets won't further sprout.

 

[Turnaround]

I’m not too impressed with the sloppy fret end filing but that’s another story.

It's not sloppy fret end filing, it's shrinkage of the neck. They may have been perfectly dressed, but when the neck shrinks the fret ends will protrude.

 

[Grinderman]

It's not sloppy fret end filing, it's shrinkage of the neck. They may have been perfectly dressed, but when the neck shrinks the fret ends will protrude.

Considering a sudden move from a humid place like FL to a dry place like NM, do you have a rough idea how long it would take a neck like that to stop shrinking, without any other intervening factors such as a humidifier?

 

[MdC64]

It's not sloppy fret end filing, it's shrinkage of the neck. They may have been perfectly dressed, but when the neck shrinks the fret ends will protrude.

I actually meant the bare areas around the fret ends. Looks like some of the finish was filed. Sorry for not stating that initially.
I very happy with the bass and it plays very well.
My main concern was the bubbling and how to address it.
The fret ends actually aren’t bad at all. A little rough in some areas but definitely still playable.
As long as the bass plays and sounds good, I’ll keep banging away on it.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Yes, the bass came from Florida. I was thinking the same about the climate change. In NM it is so dry. The bass arrived with smooth fret ends.

Yep. Northern Utah is pretty dry too. My son lived in Hawaii for a while. I kept saying we needed to ship each other acoustic guitars and film them slowly turning into pretzels with the humidity changes.

 

[Turnaround]

Considering a sudden move from a humid place like FL to a dry place like NM, do you have a rough idea how long it would take a neck like that to stop shrinking, without any other intervening factors such as a humidifier?

It might take a year in an environment that doesn't experience broad fluctuations in relative humidity. But properly dried wood will still continue to cycle - swelling in humid conditions, shrinking as the RH drops, and that cycling will go on forever.

My dining room table is almost 200 years old. It's 30 inches wide and has a huge crack down the middle. In the summer when the humidity rises that crack becomes quite narrow in comparison to the way it is during the winter when the humidity drops. So, as you can see, it won't stop shrinking and expanding even after 2 centuries.

 

[Turnaround]

I actually meant the bare areas around the fret ends. Looks like some of the finish was filed. Sorry for not stating that initially.

Yes it does look like someone tried to address the fret ends and did a bad job with the file, chewing up the finish in the process. If it were mine, I would address the problem by drop-filling.:

 

[Grinderman]

It might take a year in an environment that doesn't experience broad fluctuations in relative humidity. But properly dried wood will still continue to cycle - swelling in humid conditions, shrinking as the RH drops, and that cycling will go on forever.

My dining room table is almost 200 years old. It's 30 inches wide and has a huge crack down the middle. In the summer when the humidity rises that crack becomes quite narrow in comparison to the way it is during the winter when the humidity drops. So, as you can see, it won't stop shrinking and expanding even after 2 centuries.

Yes, but I'm not really sure how much humidity fluctuates seasonally in New Mexico. I just know there's a massive wild fire in New Mexico right now and the humidity is 7% in Albuquerque today.

 

[202dy]

Search: annual humidity fluctuations albuquerque new mexico

First link:

Average humidity in Albuquerque (New Mexico)

The mean monthly relative humidity over the year in Albuquerque (New Mexico), United States of America.

Invalid Link Removed