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Bongo Neck Bow

ZiggyDude

ZiggyDude

Jun 8, 2005
531
58
#1
Greetings

I just purchased a 5 string Bongo. Bought it mail order as the Desert Gold color is out of print and I was looking for that.

The bass arrived and seems OK. I am always wary of C stock. But I noticed that the neck has more forward bow on the G string side than the B string side. Not a lot - but you can see it if you sight the neck.

A local MM dealer said that is probably normal as the tension is higher that side. Maybe true - hard for me to tell. This is my first MM as I have most experience with dual truss rod necks and also multi piece necks.

Any other MM users (or Fender and such) can comment if this is normal or not? I need decide about keeping the bass or not.

Thanx,

- Ziggy -
 
#2
Did you check it from the set up info off of the EBMM site? Also, presuming it has the compensating nut: when sighting it may give the appearance that the neck bows on the high side do to the fact the nut is thicker up where the B string sits a opposed to where the high strings sit. How does the action feel on that portion of the neck?
 
#3
I did not know about the set up info on the EBMM site - but will look.

When I put my eye on the neck near the pickups - I can see the fret board curl more on the G string side than the B string side. I am not using the strings as the guage so much as the railroad track look of the frets.

Sometimes folks differ on what is forward or back bow. I call forward bow what gives more string clearance rather than less.

Action is OK - it is playable. But I worry if the neck is bad maybe things will just get worse. Also - if this is wrong - it is just irksome. If normal - then I get used to it.
 
#7
This is normal for EBMMs with the compensated nut. I took my Stingray to a local luthier and they called me and said the neck was messed up and that I should return it because the bass and treble side were improperly bowed. After going to another luthier who understood EBMM's, he said this is normal and that there was nothing wrong with it. The bass plays and sounds great and the action is awesome so I guess it's fine.
 
#8
Greetings to all.

Thanks for the replies. I did go to the EBMM site and got all the set up information that I could find. It seems that MM likes a lot of relief - but that is OK by me. I also have emailed AJ at MM about the problem - though he never got back to me. I guess I will have to push that.
 
#10
I'm not a MM expert, but I don't believe the special nut has anything to do with this. That's for tuning, nothing else. Relief/action is a separate issue. With that said, I vote Not A Good Thing. If anything, you want a little more relief on the bass side vs. treble side, not the reverse. On the other hand, if it plays and sounds good the way it is...............
 
#11
ZiggyDude said:
Greetings

I just purchased a 5 string Bongo. Bought it mail order as the Desert Gold color is out of print and I was looking for that.

The bass arrived and seems OK. I am always wary of C stock. But I noticed that the neck has more forward bow on the G string side than the B string side. Not a lot - but you can see it if you sight the neck.

A local MM dealer said that is probably normal as the tension is higher that side. Maybe true - hard for me to tell. This is my first MM as I have most experience with dual truss rod necks and also multi piece necks.

Any other MM users (or Fender and such) can comment if this is normal or not? I need decide about keeping the bass or not.

Thanx,

- Ziggy -
Click to expand...

Here's a good place to go with your questions:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

BTW, I have a Bongo 5HHp in Desert Gold, myself. I'll have to look at the neck to see if I've got the same thing going on.
 
#12
ggunn said:
Here's a good place to go with your questions:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

BTW, I have a Bongo 5HHp in Desert Gold, myself. I'll have to look at the neck to see if I've got the same thing going on.
Click to expand...

No, that's not a good place to go with this question. Call Customer Service and see what they say. Of course, without having eyeballs on it, it's hard to do an assessment.
 
#14
ZiggyDude said:
I noticed that the neck has more forward bow on the G string side than the B string side. Not a lot - but you can see it if you sight the neck.
Click to expand...

That is what is known as the start of an "s" curve. If it cannot be dialed out with proper setup then the neck is tweaked. Sight down your neck from the nut at the center, and check the level-ness of the frets. If they aren't running perpendicular to each other, then it's an S curve. If it dips pronounced on one side and not the other, it's a potential compression issue / twist between the trussrod and the surrounding wood. Do MM trussrods float (dual action) or are they peened at the headstock end? And what is the definition of "c" stock anyway? Scratch & dent? Customer return?



Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with a quick resolve...agreed that is has absolutely nothing to do with the compensated nut. That is an intonation isse.
 
#15
C Stock was a term used about here (Central PA) long ago for stuff that was not up to factory specs but slipped into deliveries to stores. Usually the large ones. Things like the case to my Nikki Sixx bass not being sewn correctly, a slight tiny finish blem. Some now call it B stock I think.

Tonight I will try to get some better measurements to the twist or curve - then I will call MM tomorrow.

My worry is if it is wrong - I don't see how a one piece neck with one truss rod can fix it.
 
#17
Did you adjust the truss rod to straighten the bow? MM necks usually are very responsive to truss rod tweaks.

Although I know the MM recommend a little bow in the setup, I've always setup all my MM's with an almost straight neck, and that works great for me, nice low action with no buzzes.

Also consider that it might be an irregularity on the frets, not the neck. Not all basses necessarily have perfectly straight frets in relationship to the board.

Visually checking for this is just a reference, but the true guide should be that you are getting no buzzes with the action setup to your liking.
 
#18
Last night I got a metal straigt edge and checked the neck. It did not seem to bad that way - though visually it looked really bowed. I gave the neck another tweak to the flat side. Visually no change - but the straight edge said there was. This is weird. Maybe something about the side of the neck is causing some sort of optical illusion. It might be the wood finish. Maybe I am spoiled with Alembics and old USA BC Rich stuff.

Looking at the frets like railroad tracks - they seem OK.

For now I think I won't mess with it. I play tonight and will give the bass a tough going over in action. Eventually, if it still bugs me, I can take it to a guy near here that sets up guitars for several touring bands. People transport their axes over state lines to this guy. Maybe see what he says. Of course - he just might want the business to.
 
#19
bovinehost said:
No, that's not a good place to go with this question. Call Customer Service and see what they say. Of course, without having eyeballs on it, it's hard to do an assessment.
Click to expand...

Why not? There are a lot of Bongo owners that post there, and they may give you more info than the party line. I'm certainly not saying post there instead of calling MM, but in addition to.
 
#20
ggunn said:
Why not? There are a lot of Bongo owners that post there, and they may give you more info than the party line. I'm certainly not saying post there instead of calling MM, but in addition to.
Click to expand...

Because the boss at EBMM has asked that Customer Service questions be directed to Customer Service, not to the forum.

This thread is a good indication of why. Only one person has actually seen the bass and he's not even sure there IS a problem. Meanwhile, he's being told any number of things that may or may not pertain to his situation, and you can be the judge on whether or not the suggestions make any sense.

Do we know if the OP has any idea about how to set relief and whether or not it's set correctly on his instrument? Do we know how long the bass was in the store and what happened to it there? How long have the strings been on it? Are we talking about back-bow? Are the saddles set to the proper height?

We don't know any of those things. How can we possibly diagnose a problem - if, in fact, a problem exists? And it may not.

It's all guess-work. Some of it may well be informed guess-work, but most of it is not. Which is fine for an open forum like TB, but not for the manufacturer's forum, where they would prefer that uninformed guesses and internet "lore" be kept to a minimum.

And sometimes people don't like that answer, but that's the outlook of the guy who pays for the bandwidth so I try to respect that.

Jack
 

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