Strings not centered? Never seen this before.

[TSXmike]

Late 90s Fender active J-bass 5.

Just recently noticed this issue and not sure if maybe it was just made this way. It doesnt effect performance in any way, just more of a cosmetic quirk if you ask me. I would just like to know why its like this.

 

[Michael B]

Can we see a pic of the bridge?
Are the saddles sagging downwards?

 

[Bassamatic]

Loosen the neck screws a tiny bit and see if you can move the neck a degree or two to the left. Should fix it right up!

 

[Pilgrim]

Loosen the neck screws a tiny bit and see if you can move the neck a degree or two to the left. Should fix it right up!

^^ Yup. Easy peasy, the most basic and easy possible correction. Necks like that are made to be adjustable, which is a feature, not a bug.

 

[tpa]

+1 -^ and -^-^
Not über necessary but consider loosening the strings first.

 

[Thornton Davis]

Loosen the neck screws a tiny bit and see if you can move the neck a degree or two to the left. Should fix it right up!

What he said.

TD

 

[ddnidd1]

+1 -^ and -^-^
Not über necessary but consider loosening the strings first.

Loosening the strings first is VERY necessary.

 

[Michael B]

Uh oh. Someone contradicted when to loosen strings. There goes the thread.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Late 90s Fender active J-bass 5.

Just recently noticed this issue and not sure if maybe it was just made this way. It doesnt effect performance in any way, just more of a cosmetic quirk if you ask me. I would just like to know why its like this.

This is really not bad as the strings are not running-off the edge of fretboard. For that fact, this is pretty much the design in mind. If you take a closer look, the A string is not centered at the nut...it's a mm or so to right-of-center and pretty much follows that path the length of the fretboard. This is to compensate for the various gauge strings and to allow a more natural feel under the fretting hand. If the nut slots were cut perfectly equidistant to one another and matched with a standard 45-130 string set, it would result in a perceived "crowding". Given the A string crosses the right 1/2 of each fret marker, I'd say you're pretty much spot-on.

Riis

 

[TSXmike]

Can we see a pic of the bridge?
Are the saddles sagging downwards?

They dont appear to be sagging.

 

[sissy kathy]

This is really not bad as the strings are not running-off the edge of fretboard. For that fact, this is pretty much the design in mind. If you take a closer look, the A string is not centered at the nut...it's a mm or so to right-of-center and pretty much follows that path the length of the fretboard. This is to compensate for the various gauge strings and to allow a more natural feel under the fretting hand. If the nut slots were cut perfectly equidistant to one another and matched with a standard 45-130 string set, it would result in a perceived "crowding". Given the A string crosses the right 1/2 of each fret marker, I'd say you're pretty much spot-on.

Riis

+1

 

[Turnaround]

Perfectly normal for a five string, if you mean how the D string is not centred on the dots. It's as Zooberwerx described - string spacing is modified to compensate for different thicknesses so it feels right.

 

[Zooberwerx]

They dont appear to be sagging.

Give my previous comments and the pic above which shows near-perfect pole piece alignment, I say leave the durn thing alone. This is a non-issue.

Riis

 

[TSXmike]

Thanks for the comments and help people.

 

[tpa]

Uh oh. Someone contradicted when to loosen strings. There goes the thread.

String tension is transferred directly from the end of neck to neck pocket. Untightning the screws a bit to accomodate moving the neck in the pocket don't alter that. Loosening the strings some may facilitate the actual process of centering the neck.

 

[Silas Stingy]

Thanks for the info in here. I always wrongly assumed my Jazz had a production quirk in that I had to set the strings on the saddles off centre, it turns out the neck needed moving slightly. Intonation reset, and it's really strange to now have a 'standard' Jazz!

 

[walterw]

String tension is transferred directly from the end of neck to neck pocket. Untightning the screws a bit to accomodate moving the neck in the pocket don't alter that. Loosening the strings some may facilitate the actual process of centering the neck.

on the contrary, keeping the strings tight is a plus here! when you loosen the screws to nudge the neck over to where it's centered again, the string pull serves to push the end of the neck hard against the body pocket, where it may not have been fully seated before. @TSXmike, don't be surprised if when you loosen the last screw you hear a sight creak and the bass goes like 1/4 step flat.

once you re-tighten the screws, you might just find that the neck and body now resonate a little better together, improving the sound of the bass slightly!

(this step of loosening the screws with the strings tuned up is straight out of the old G&L setup manual, and something i always do when setting up a bolt-on anything.)

 

[walterw]

oh, and +1 to ignoring the A string alignment with the dots, that's not happening for reasons already stated; you're just adjusting the outsides of the outside strings vs the edges of the neck.