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Maintenance Log

scottfeldstein

scottfeldstein

Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Jun 20, 2011
6,544
4,412
57
San Marcos, California
endlessblue.bandcamp.com
#1
How does everyone keep track of their string changes, truss rod adjustments and so on? I myself just started a Google Sheet, one tab for each instrument I own right now. Each tab has columns for date, string changes, fingerboard conditioning, measured string heights, and notes. Anyone have a better way? Keeping it all in your head is out. My head isn't that good of a keeper of things.
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#3
I trust it to my beer sodden memory . Then I can't remember that I've forgotten it . Seriously , I always keep an eye on all my instruments and if I notice anything that needs attention then the instrument gets a complete look over . Some go months with no attention needed and others on a regular basses . The most needy was a 1960's sitar which needed tuning of all 17 strings everytime you looked at it and definetely before playing . The least are probably the 2 basses with tapes on . Rarely even need tuning .
 
#4
I write down:
- string name and gauge
- date of putting them on
- what I thought about them at the beginning
- what I thought about them at their, say, half-life
- date of putting them away
I don't write down setup details as I do the setup any time it seems neccessary

And - since you ask - the only strings that I really bought more than twice are Rotosound swing bass nickels .40 for jazzbass and .45 for precision.
 
#6
I keep the packaging it came in and put the date I restrung them on it. As for truss rod adjustments etc, I don't keep track of that. I do it on an as needed basis. Routine maintenence such as thorough cleaning, fret polishing etc, happens once per month on the same date.
 
#8
scottfeldstein said:
How does everyone keep track of their string changes, truss rod adjustments and so on? I myself just started a Google Sheet, one tab for each instrument I own right now. Each tab has columns for date, string changes, fingerboard conditioning, measured string heights, and notes. Anyone have a better way? Keeping it all in your head is out. My head isn't that good of a keeper of things. View attachment 4348739View attachment 4348740
Click to expand...

I have a spreadsheet with almost exactly the same columns. I don't have individual string heights, just top and bottom.
I do have them all in one sheet though as that makes it easy to sort by string change date.
 
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#9
scott sinner said:
I have a spreadsheet with almost exactly the same columns. I don't have individual string heights, just top and bottom.
I do have them all in one sheet though as that makes it easy to sort by string change date.
Click to expand...

Far out! I knew others must be doing something similar. By the time you have two, three, four instruments, you need it to keep track!
 
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#10
I've got a detailed inventory and a photo record of all my gear for insurance purposes.

And while I do keep track of which strings and gauges I've got on each bass (since no two use the same set) I don't keep a full blown maintenance log on them. But it's nothing fancy. I keep a simple list using the notepad app on my smartphone. And I do setups and string changes as needed. My hands and ears tell me when some maintenance or a string change is needed. I never felt the need to overthink it too much.
 
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#12
Warpeg said:
Honest question - What is gained by tracking such things?
Click to expand...

Knowing for sure what brand and gauge of strings are on a particular instrument. Knowing for sure when they were put on instead of guessing. Knowing for sure what the neck relief and string heights were last time you measured so you know for sure if they've changed. No, you don't have to keep records like this. We're all free just to trust our memory and go with our gut and let our eyes and ears and fingers tell us what we need to know. Or...we can keep such a record and know all of those things for sure. Personal preference. Me, I think having more information is better than having less information.
 
#13
When I first started learning to do my own setup work I kept exhaustive notes, but I soon learned they were pretty much useless to me the next time I went to work on a particular bass. As a long time machinist I'm conditioned to being as accurate as possible when it comes to measuring things but what I learned was setting up a bass to the same dimensions I used last time does not always produce the same result. I'm sure most of that is due to working with wood in constant tension and how humidity and temperature effect that wood, but that's just a layman's guess. What I came to was a base standard for all my basses, then minor tweaking from there until it sounds like I want it to, which does not always measure out the same. Since I only use three different kinds of strings, two sets of roundwounds in different brands and gauges, and flatwounds in one brand and gauge, there is no need to record my final dimensions or string brand type and gauge. I have the three different sets of basic setup specs I use memorized and just adjust to that standard then tweak it from there.
 
#16
scottfeldstein said:
How does everyone keep track of their string changes, truss rod adjustments and so on?
Click to expand...

Wow... I don't think it ever even occured to me to track those things!
I change strings when they need to be changed. I adjust the truss rod when it needs to be adjusted.
The only routine maintenance that's on a calendar schedule rather than as-needed is 9V battery changes, which I do on January 1st of every year whether they need it or not.

I understand the appeal of documenting service -- I have a spreadsheet for my bicycles where I keep meticulous notes about maintenance items -- but I'm not sure I recognize what advantage such a spreadsheet would offer for basses.
 
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#20
My record-keeping is spread out across a number of text files, the most important of which is probably "Current Strings.txt". That is one thing I'd like to keep straight. It's a history of which strings were on what and includes my comments.

I have another text file that's open every day. It's like a diary of my bass related activities. It's searchable, of course, so I can revisit my thoughts since 20OCT20.

I'm not too desperate to get more organized than that, but I think I should improve it some; as a minimum the files should be collected into a single folder, as I know I haven't kept some of them current.
 
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