Squier/Fender truss rods revisited

Last May I had some work done on a 5 string Squier that I had converted to a six string with a Wammi bar. My Nordstrands' tech informed me that he didn't quite like the quality of Squier, & frankly all Fender truss rods. He says 80% of all Fender products he sees have s-shaped twist that limits the action height.

Of course Fender fans wrote in & called him a charlatan & told me not to trust him.

Well now the Squier is back on his bench for a fret dressing. And now at 3am I just noticed his email telling me that my truss rod is "maxed" because of the extra string.

This obviously concerns me. At one point this was to be a dream bass. Its really a freaking dog. I have an option I am not too enthusiastic about.

-Turn it back into a 5 string. At least it will lend it self to "slap" technique with the 19mm spacing.

-Take off the Wammi bar (sell it?) & take off the good pickups, put the old ceramic ones back turn it into a high action 'practice only' bass.

- that leaves me with out a good 6 string bass that has single coil pickups. I originally put those Carvins in my 6 string Ibanez cavities. It didn't growl like a Jazz bass at all. Later I found out those damn Ibby active preamps veil the sound. So I put the Soap bar pickups back & use it with TI Jazz Rounds. I never planned that one. My band mates like those strings a lot. Most musicians do! I don't know why. I have mixed feelings. The TIs have to be EQed to death to sound natural.

-theoretically the Ibby can be turned into my dream 6 string jazz bass. The TIs would have to come off. No where to put them. A Gerald Veasly bass with a 14mm spacing seems ideal for those strings, but too expensive.

Is replacing the old Squier DJAV truss rod with a better one impossible?

 

Please do keep in mind that I am not the one who did the luthier work. A local luthier carelessly & recklessly did the original mods, & now this bass is on Mo's bench to be redone.

Remember my thread last year, "Bad Luthier?" in which a number of amateur luthiers (defending their fraternity) posted that the local luthier was entirely right? That thread got contentious to the point it was pulled.

I suspect that Mo would have originally brought to my attention the limitations of the instrument before working in it, & I would not have gone ahead with some of this stuff. Are you still interested in buying it?

Your suggestion us viable. I could get a flatter radius, maybe 47" like a Warwick!

 

Reshaping the neck, flattening the radius, & adding washers looks good.

 

In that thread I was all out attacked by TB trolls. You & Jensby were fairly neutral. 2 TB users, Frankenbass & Narud defended me. It was Narud who suggested Mo as a tech.

 

I am not sure, but I think my tech was implying that one more twist of the allen wrench & snap. Of course I guess as time goes by the neck continues to warp, so you need to keep tightening the rod.

The tech I see continually does warn that Squier/Fender necks aren't that good. (That seems to rile up TB Fender fans.) I was wary of what he had to say, but given that the action was set medium high & I get NOTHING but fret buzzes, he's turned me into a believer.

That Squier neck is thick, it's 2" at the nut & made to accommodate a 19 mm spacing between 5 strings (2 15/16" B to C strings center to center) there is no reason why I should encounter this problem adding a damn 30 gauge C string.

 

While on the subject I took my 30" SX fretless to my tech, & I asked him why I couldn't get the action set a little lower without the strings rattling against the neck board. He looked at it & noticed how the surface of the neck board raised up at about the 10th fret. He said that the neck board needs to be sanded out.

He elaborated, "what do you expect for a hundred bucks?" ($125 including shipping). But he then volunteered that he frequently encounters pricey MIA Fender fretless basses with the same problem.

 

Frankly I am starting to hate it! Ironic! In another thread I complained about the sound absorptive properties if the basswood body. So I don't really like it. I am trying to somehow recover my losses. If the body was ash, Hell I'd have a maple neck made from scratch. Then I'd have a 6 string equivalent to my Marcus Miller bass. There is nothing like ash & maple. Pitch discrimination is so good with that bass I don't need to use a tuner. Gimme a g & its tuned in seconds.

The only good quality of that Squire DJAV bass is it's appearance. I seriously should turn this onto a practice bass & get an ash & maple 6 string from SX for about $ 270 or so. I am curious about the SX truss rods made for 6 stringers. Who says they will hold up? Betcha my tech will advise against that too.

 

Duh!...Why would someone want to hit themselves on the top of the head with a hammer because it feels good when it stops?

But seriously......I am talking about making the action high & spending maybe 5-15 minutes (@ the most) per day practicing scales & difficult passages. For finger strength.

Now that I think about it. Sell it for what I can get. Better option!

 

That's right, you never said they are ALL bad! But you did write in my original thread, Sunday May 18 or 19, 2014 (the day after you came to P&H's & dropped off my basses) that: Fender truss rods aren't of the best quality, & about 8 out of 10 Fender products you work on have S-shaped neck twists that limit the action to medium low at best.


Furthermore, if ANY new pricey MIA fretless Fenders are sold in the condition of my SX & have to be reshaped, that's a disgrace.

 

Let's take these one by one.

Radius: a 12" radius for such a wide neck is ergonomically stupid, yet it is the industry norm! Ibanez, everyone has 12" for their 6 strings, except for pricey custom boutique makers.

Wood resonance: I really can't evaluate basswood until those active electronics are bypassed! Those are the leanest sounding active electronics EVER..., and manufacturing/installing those without a passive bypass switch should be illegal! The verdict on basswood isn't really in yet.

Electronics: Same deal. Until I go passive I will never really know how those Carvin pickups sound. Carvin pickups are much maligned on TB, but if you want a single coil pickup for a narrow spaced 6 string, then your choices are very limited. Once I actually get to hear those Carvins I might like them. The verdict isn't in yet!

String Spacing: 15mm as I want. I like that. If you are talking about the nut spacing, that is a problem related to the 12" radius.

 

I have no idea what is an AFFORDABLE option for a six string jazz bass.

First I will evaluate the Squier sound with the passive pots. Then we'll see what long term options I'll have to keep the Squier playable. If it sounds bad, or the action can't be maintained & salvaged at a reasonable price, I'll turn my Ibanez into my 6 string jazz bass-scrapping the Humbucker & TI strings.

 

'Save it' with a fret dressing? OK but 10 years down the road as the neck continues to warp from the stress of the 6 strings?

The cost of the FB re-true & refret?

Maybe the thing to do is finish just the passive electronics, then evaluate its potential based on its sound. If not to my liking selling it at a loss.