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Is this nut original? (Fender P USA '08)

ale29

ale29

May 25, 2008
497
728
35
Italy
#1
Hi, I recently got this 2008 American Standard P bass. Great tone, good build quality, needs a fret dressing in my opinion cause of a ski jump from 15th fret and on.
I don't know if the nut is original, though. It seems that it's made of a different material from the nuts I've seen till now, it seems more "unrefined". Also, it appears that A and D strings are off center in the first part of the neck (see the 3rd fret dot as a reference point), while they line correctly while getting nearer to the bridge.
What do you think about it?
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#6
Thanks for your answers! :)
smcd, I'm almost positive about that.
Neck relief is quite higher while pressing 1st and last fret compared to pressing 1st and 15th fret. Incidentally notes start to sound chocked when digging in starting from 15th fret.
It's probably not as severe as a MIJ Pbass I used to have, but it's there.
Graphite rods seem to have not helped in this case.
On the other hand this bass is light, extremely quiet (in terms of noise), no severe dead spots and a great tone. Once it's fixed up there is no reason for it not becoming my main and only bass for a long time.
I'm coming from a MM Stingray, which I traded for this bass. It probably had a little bit of hump at the end of the neck as well, I was going to pay for a fret dressing on that bass anyway, build quality was better but tone-wise I'm a Pbass guy and there's no way around this. I only hope a fret dressing is enough and I don't have to pay a lot of money for a complete fretboard re-planing.
Once it's fixed and new strings arrive I may convert this thread into a proper NBD thread with sound samples, pics and such.
 
#7
ale29 said:
Thanks for your answers! :)
smcd, I'm almost positive about that.
Neck relief is quite higher while pressing 1st and last fret compared to pressing 1st and 15th fret. Incidentally notes start to sound chocked when digging in starting from 15th fret.
It's probably not as severe as a MIJ Pbass I used to have, but it's there.
Click to expand...

Maybe try a couple of truss rod adjustments before going to the expense/trouble of dressing the frets? :confused: Those 2008s are said to be pretty darn solid basses. Mine is.

Nice looking Precision!
 
#8
ShowLow said:
Maybe try a couple of truss rod adjustments before going to the expense/trouble of dressing the frets? :confused: Those 2008s are said to be pretty darn solid basses. Mine is.

Nice looking Precision!
Click to expand...

Relief is already extremely low as it is now.
It is probably around 0,10-0,15 mm when pressing 1st to 15th fret (therefore excluding any fretboard hump from the equation), but it gets around 0,30 mm when pressing the last fret. The amount of relief added is imputable to a ski jump
 
#9
ale29 said:
Thanks for your answers! :)
smcd, I'm almost positive about that.
Neck relief is quite higher while pressing 1st and last fret compared to pressing 1st and 15th fret. Incidentally notes start to sound chocked when digging in starting from 15th fret.
It's probably not as severe as a MIJ Pbass I used to have, but it's there.
Graphite rods seem to have not helped in this case.
Click to expand...

Wow. A ski jump in a 5 year old bass is pretty extraordinary. I would contact FMIC and see if they'll swap you for a new neck.
 
#10
Oh, and the neck is slightly flamed too :hyper:

smcd said:
Wow. A ski jump in a 5 year old bass is pretty extraordinary. I would contact FMIC and see if they'll swap you for a new neck.
Click to expand...
Living in Europe, it probably would be easier to win a lottery than to get a free neck replacement from FMIC. What's their policy for situations like this? I may try to contact them
 
#11
Local luthier (authorized martin guitars repair/assistance guy, should do a good work) is going to fix the ski jump using heat. Will report How it Goes once everything is done.
meanwhile, does anybody Know which size of Allen key is needed to adjust height saddles and intonation on this model? It should be 1/16" For setting height, is that correct? :)
 
#12
If its fretting out down by the 15th all it could need is a 8th of a tighten to the truss rod and it could totally get rid of that....that is actually my reference point to give it a slight tighten. I doubt an 08 would have a ski jump...and if that does not fix it then put a business card in the top of the neck pocket. heating the neck sounds like a waste of money.
 
#15
Dredmahawkus said:
If its fretting out down by the 15th all it could need is a 8th of a tighten to the truss rod and it could totally get rid of that....that is actually my reference point to give it a slight tighten. I doubt an 08 would have a ski jump...and if that does not fix it then put a business card in the top of the neck pocket. heating the neck sounds like a waste of money.
Click to expand...

Truss rod has no effect on relief in that area of the neck.
I've been compensating by setting the neck so straight that if you check pressing 1st and 12th fret there is hardly any relief at all. Still, checking 1st and last fret there is more relief (within fender specs, around 0,3mm).
Heating neck = 60€, hopefully once in a bass' lifetime.
 

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