OP: nice! looks like a real player! congratulations on your new instrument! 
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NBD: Ken Smith content
- Thread starter bongostealth
- Start date
Yeah, I noticed that too. Don't know if they are dirty or tarnished or both. What would I use to clean them?
When I clean frets, I cover the fingerboard with tape and use maas metal polish and a cloth to shine them up. Probably any metal polish is mostly fine. Once I bought a Spector bass from a guy and the frets looked gold. Seriously gold. I asked about them and he was like "oh yeah that's how I ordered it... with gold frets." I was like "oh....kay." Went to clean them... they are not gold frets.
You'll love it! Or at least, I love mine.
Thank you! I will find out tomorrow how happy I will be. I hope I don't have any fret or truss rod issues. Those are my biggest pet peeves when it comes to used instruments.
Vey nice. I like the simple 3 piece maple neck/solid walnut body wings (NTB) construction! The morado fingerboard looks very nice too. Congrats.
This is completely subjective. Proceed at your own risk. I loved my Smith. I had a BMT Elite G. Beautiful and played like a dream. Did many gigs and studio recordings. It's on two albums out there. I always felt like something was missing. We weren't dancing. All was great so what was missing was perceptible. It wasn't killing it live. It was polite. It was articulate but timid.
Then I read a BP article about a session bassist. He was talking about his work week then he gets to his Smith. He cranked the bass and treble all the way up. Unheard of!!! I tried it. It became warm and fat like a vintage instrument. The Mid control had way more effect strange as it may sound the bass and treble eq were joining.
Just my experience. So don't be me. I do leave my rigs next to flat to hear the bass pre and amp and cab as they actually can sound. I found that drastic amp eq and my finger inflections and eq changes on the bass are masked. Again YMMV and often does. Peace y'all.
Then I read a BP article about a session bassist. He was talking about his work week then he gets to his Smith. He cranked the bass and treble all the way up. Unheard of!!! I tried it. It became warm and fat like a vintage instrument. The Mid control had way more effect strange as it may sound the bass and treble eq were joining.
Just my experience. So don't be me. I do leave my rigs next to flat to hear the bass pre and amp and cab as they actually can sound. I found that drastic amp eq and my finger inflections and eq changes on the bass are masked. Again YMMV and often does. Peace y'all.
Typically, people who spend thousands of dollars on instruments know how to take care of their gear, but I suppose anything is possible.
Fortunately, if you need any major work done (like replacing the rod), Ken will happily do it for you (he says it's not a big deal). He'll also tell you... don't let anybody else do it. Just call him if you have any questions about literally anything at all. (You probably know all this though!)
Thank you very much! That's very reassuring! But it's no big deal for Ken to replace the rod even on a neck-thru??
In Ken's words: "Not a big problem for us to fix or replace the rod. Not a job for the do-it-yourselfers either."
If the nut is stripped or you see an issue or have a concern, just call him! Some people think he's a jerk for some reason, but I mean... they're his basses, I wouldn't trust anybody else. He's said in the past that a lot of repairs he does are fixing the mistakes of other people who have tried to fix issues and made them worse.
Also grab some of his wax polish (I think it's like $6 or so on eBay). That stuff will make your bass look brand new every time. It's crazy.
So I took delivery of this bass today...... Just as I had feared, she's got problems. The neck was bowed. Luckily, the truss rod had never been touched and I was able to straighten the neck. I then corrected the intonation. When it came time to adjust the action, that's when I discovered that there are many dead frets. I have to raise the action to more than I would like in order to avoid the problem, and even then I get near-dead buzzing. Then I discovered the most disappointing issue, in that the series/parallel switch to the neck pickup is defective. If I set the switch to series, it somehow turns off the neck pickup and I only get a signal from the bridge pickup even when the blend pot is on the center detente. ARGHHH!!!!!!!! 
This is the second Smith that I have bought that had major issues. For what I paid, I expected it to be almost new because that's how it was described in the listing. It's going back. I'm not messing with it and I shouldn't have to spend any more money on it.
This is the second Smith that I have bought that had major issues. For what I paid, I expected it to be almost new because that's how it was described in the listing. It's going back. I'm not messing with it and I shouldn't have to spend any more money on it.
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So I took delivery of this bass today...... Just as I had feared, she's got problems. The neck was bowed. Luckily, the truss rod had never been touched and I was able to straighten the neck. I then corrected the intonation. When it came time to adjust the action, that's when I discovered that there are many dead frets. I have to raise the action to more than I would like in order to avoid the problem, and even then I get near-dead buzzing. Then I discovered the most disappointing issue, in that the series/parallel switch to the neck pickup is defective. If I set the switch to series, it somehow turns off the neck pickup and I only get a signal from the bridge pickup even when the blend pot is on the center detente. ARGHHH!!!!!!!!
This is the second Smith that I have bought that had major issues. For what I paid, I expected it to be almost new because that's how it was described in the listing. It's going back. I'm not messing with it and I shouldn't have to spend any more money on it.
Ouch. A few things.
- How are the frets, shape wise? Like, is there wear? Are they fresh enough for a fret level? A fret level may be all that's needed. However, if some goofball did a bad fret-level with a non-straight neck then they may just need to be replaced.
- I would straighten the neck and *wait* a day or so before deciding how it plays. If you had to do more than a few quarter turns on the rod, best to let it settle before making a final decision.
- Where is the buzz, specifically?
- How is the nut? Does it look like anybody tried to do anything to the nut?
- The electronics are probably easy to fix.
- None of my business, but what did you pay? If it wasn't like $3k then you probably got a nice deal. Ken can fix the whole thing for you for cheaper than you think. You might consider calling him first before just giving up!
The frets show some minor wear. However, the fret buzzing shows up on the C, G, and D strings throughout the 2nd half of the fretboard.
The nut looks fine.
I did call KSB and spoke with Mr. Smith himself. Nice guy. He told me I might have a bad switch or bad neck pickup or both. He quoted me some prices but couldn't quote me for labor as he wouldn't have any clue until he works on it. But he said he could get the whole bass to be like new.
As for the price, I paid $3K on eBay. I opened up a Return Request and informed the seller of the issues. They ended up refunding me $1K, which I believe is a fair and reasonable amount with which I can get it repaired.
So I sent the bass to Ken Smith Basses for repair. Should get there on Tuesday. Once they inspect it, they will call me to let me know what can be done and for how much.
Updates to follow.
Updates to follow.
Man, I hate to hear that gorgeous bass (and I'm not even a fan of a 6) had issues. Hopefully it wont cost too much of that refund to get it repaired!
I AM a Smith player and have been for over 20 years. Ken will treat you good and the bass will be right and you will love playing it. I have 3 six strings a 7 and 2 five strings.
I finally saw and heard a Ken Smith for the first time bass out in the wilds last night. Jerry Brooks playing with Chieli Minucci and Special EFX, at Night Town.
This one.
This one.
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