I love that cartoon, I bring it up on YouTube and show it to my grandkids and they laugh at how much I like it..
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44 minutes of his rambling? No thanks.
These threads take on a life if their own, don't they? 
Setting it up now, my first impression is that, even given the issues noted, the build quality of this bass is great. Rock solid. Much better than my Japanese Aerodyne (which also had misaligned pickups). After putting on some old LaBella Jamersons it actually looks better. I gave the truss rod a half turn before putting them on because of the higher tension, and when putting the neck back on put a little more sideways pressure on it. It seemed to help. Next time I have it apart I'll give the truss rod another eighth turn, but it's close enough now. With the heavier strings the intonation is way off. I'm filing the nut on a couple high strings, that will probably help with the intonation. The nut slots cut close to the side don't bother me anymore, if it becomes an issue I can buy a precut American P nut for $12.
A couple interesting things, you have to loosen or remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. Inconvenient, but not a big deal. And there's not an Allen head anywhere on this bass. I suppose to be accurate to the original 50s bass. And the tuners are reverse. I'll take it to an open jam and watch some of the other players try to tune it.
I no longer regret selling my old P, I see a long relationship with this one.
Thanks again for all the input!
Setting it up now, my first impression is that, even given the issues noted, the build quality of this bass is great. Rock solid. Much better than my Japanese Aerodyne (which also had misaligned pickups). After putting on some old LaBella Jamersons it actually looks better. I gave the truss rod a half turn before putting them on because of the higher tension, and when putting the neck back on put a little more sideways pressure on it. It seemed to help. Next time I have it apart I'll give the truss rod another eighth turn, but it's close enough now. With the heavier strings the intonation is way off. I'm filing the nut on a couple high strings, that will probably help with the intonation. The nut slots cut close to the side don't bother me anymore, if it becomes an issue I can buy a precut American P nut for $12.
A couple interesting things, you have to loosen or remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. Inconvenient, but not a big deal. And there's not an Allen head anywhere on this bass. I suppose to be accurate to the original 50s bass. And the tuners are reverse. I'll take it to an open jam and watch some of the other players try to tune it.
I no longer regret selling my old P, I see a long relationship with this one.
Thanks again for all the input!
Reference:
I got the reference, but you didn't get my joke. Anyway, this was the original cartoon:
Edit: saw the previous post.
With mine, the truss nut turns so smoothly and easily and the nut is high enough above the body (just like yours) that I can easily turn it with a round shaft flat driver I have with out removing the neck. I put a double thick strip of masking tape down to not nick the aluminum plate and give it a twist. If I'm tightening I flex the neck back with my left hand, knee behind the pocket, right foot in front of the body.These threads take on a life if their own, don't they?
Setting it up now, my first impression is that, even given the issues noted, the build quality of this bass is great. Rock solid. Much better than my Japanese Aerodyne (which also had misaligned pickups). After putting on some old LaBella Jamersons it actually looks better. I gave the truss rod a half turn before putting them on because of the higher tension, and when putting the neck back on put a little more sideways pressure on it. It seemed to help. Next time I have it apart I'll give the truss rod another eighth turn, but it's close enough now. With the heavier strings the intonation is way off. I'm filing the nut on a couple high strings, that will probably help with the intonation. The nut slots cut close to the side don't bother me anymore, if it becomes an issue I can buy a precut American P nut for $12.
A couple interesting things, you have to loosen or remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. Inconvenient, but not a big deal. And there's not an Allen head anywhere on this bass. I suppose to be accurate to the original 50s bass. And the tuners are reverse. I'll take it to an open jam and watch some of the other players try to tune it.
I no longer regret selling my old P, I see a long relationship with this one.
Thanks again for all the input!
Those things turn very easily.
It is indeed
Maybe it looks like a major issue to you, but it is trivial to adjust it to taste.
I quite like Dave's World of Fun Stuff once in a while, but the guy opens himself up to criticism and trolling with his divisive, bitter cynicism all the time. Picking up on the country of origin of that Geddy bass is just asking for a shitstorm on Youtube. For a guy that is apparently doing this as a fun hobby you would expect him to be a bit more upbeat about getting to work on such a range of instruments! Funny guy, but like you I'm not up for 44 minutes of it in one sitting.
Well, the nut on this bass just broke at the G string, so it looks like it's going back after all. Unless they want to credit me enough to have the nut replaced. I thought I could get a drop-in replacement nut, and you can for 9.5 radius. But the only 7.25 radius nuts I could find need fitting/shaping. While I can do that, I don't think I should have to spend time fixing a new bass, over and above normal setup stuff. I hope to have better luck with the replacement.
