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Thin fingerboard? Is it gooched? FUBAR?

F

Fleig

Jul 18, 2020
5
0
#1
Hi, everybody.

I recently purchased my first fender bass guitar! It's a MIM Precision. Just what I wanted. You can imagine my happiness. Then I noticed that the fingerboard had a varying thickness. It's thicker on the extremities (or rather regular thickness) and gets thinner towards the middle. Check it out:



2.jpeg
1.jpeg


Sorry if the images come out gigantic.

Thanks!!
 
#2
That’s something I’ve never seen before. What surprises me is that you can actually see the fret tang cut into the maple portion of the neck. So, it would seem that the fretboard in that area is actually cut in two. I can’t comment on what this could cause to happen later, but it definitely doesn’t look good to me.
 
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#4
Fleig said:
Oh, Christ, I'm going to faint. I know I'm really getting ahead of myself, but would a complete fingerboard removal + neck level + new fingerboard fix everything?
Click to expand...

Sure, if and when it needs to be done, but that isn't now. 'N it may not even need a neck level, you may be able to adjust the truss rod so the neck is flat.
 
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#6
How old is it? I'm trying to imagine how that might happen, all I can come up with is maybe a previous repair, in which a severe back bend was planed out, leaving less fretboard thickness in the middle, and then refretted. That's quite a major effort and would call the stability of the neck into question.

But yeah, if it isn't causing any immediate problems, live with it a bit and see what happens. Might just be fine, however it got that way. If the neck is bad, I'd just go with a cheap licensed replacement, no sense in trying to fix it further.
 
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#7
I bought it used, so no warranty... I didn't even notice this detail when I playtested it. Let's see if it ever becomes a problem. It's a 2015. The previous owner never touched it, but the PREVIOUS owner might have, I'll try to find out if that's the case. The entire rest of the instrument is sparkling new, you could almost swear it came straight from the store.

Is there any way to check whether the front of the neck is bowed (and the top of fingerboard is straight) or the opposite? Or is that a non-issue, since the neck can be straightened with the truss rod? Maybe the right thing to do is to check the entire neck thickness and see if it matches fender standard. Is it even possible for this issue to happen during manufacture? I'm not familiar with the neck factory process.

Anyways, I'm feeling sick. I'm picking it up tomorrow, we'll see. I'll update the thread.
 
#8
As others have said, you should just play it until it becomes an issue. If the fretboard is glued solid, the entire neck should act as a single piece of wood. The rosewood is just there to act as a board for the strings. So, unless you can wear through the thinnest part of the fretboard (I’m sure, impossible), it should play without any problems. I’d like to hear a luthier’s point of view on this.
 
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#10
That's either an Epic factory Effup, or as somebody said, it's been planed down and re-fretted at some point. The fretboard is glued to the neck beam, so they are acting as one piece now. If the neck plays with no issues now, they must have leveled the frets over a slightly "scalloped" board. I've done this by accident to a far lesser degree, when you radius sand a fretboard by hand, it's hard to avoid "dishing" the board at the center. if you are taking long strokes with a radius sanding block, the center of the fretboard gets twice as many sanding passes as the ends. I've given up doing it by hand, I have them done by LMI (going out of business, unfortunately) on their CNC. If you aren't getting any fret buzz, and the neck is holding a trussrod adjustment, just play it. It's probably not going to need a re-fret in your lifetime. When it does, they'll have to plane that board right off and put on a new one from scratch, but that will probably never be your problem. You would have to point it out on resale, unlike the Bozo you bought it from.
 
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#11
Fleig said:
Hi, everybody.

I recently purchased my first fender bass guitar! It's a MIM Precision. Just what I wanted. You can imagine my happiness. Then I noticed that the fingerboard had a varying thickness. It's thicker on the extremities (or rather regular thickness) and gets thinner towards the middle. Check it out:



View attachment 5195030 View attachment 5195029

Sorry if the images come out gigantic.

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

What is the white sowing in the 1st Pic? Almost looks like a crack.
 
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#12
Fleig said:
I bought it used, so no warranty... I didn't even notice this detail when I playtested it. Let's see if it ever becomes a problem. It's a 2015. The previous owner never touched it, but the PREVIOUS owner might have, I'll try to find out if that's the case. The entire rest of the instrument is sparkling new, you could almost swear it came straight from the store.

Is there any way to check whether the front of the neck is bowed (and the top of fingerboard is straight) or the opposite? Or is that a non-issue, since the neck can be straightened with the truss rod? Maybe the right thing to do is to check the entire neck thickness and see if it matches fender standard. Is it even possible for this issue to happen during manufacture? I'm not familiar with the neck factory process.

Anyways, I'm feeling sick. I'm picking it up tomorrow, we'll see. I'll update the thread.
Click to expand...
Cool thing about Fenders, replace the neck. I know it costs a bit. Its ok to get a different neck.
 
#14
If needed, a member is selling a Warmouth neck. Jazz feel, Rosewood, Tele Headstock. $220.00 I think its very cool. My next bass will be one I kind of put together. I would get that exact type of neck.
 
#15
Hey everybody!
I got the bass back from my tech earlier today. He believes it was a factory mistake. His theory is that Fender glued the fingerboard, but it was arching, so they planed the whole thing. I don't believe someone would do this deliberately, tbh. He said it's nothing to worry about, and if the time comes, I can just redo the fingerboard. If I ever swap the frets, I'll come tell you guys how it went =p

One question: are J and P necks interchangeable? Down here in Brazil almost every bassist prefers the Jazz bass over the Precision, so a J neck would be easier to get my hands on.

Thanks for the calming words. The bass plays absolutely great. I upgraded from an Yamaha TRBX174EW (mango top). I guess I'm in the Fender club, now :smug:
 
#16
Fleig said:
Hey everybody!
I got the bass back from my tech earlier today. He believes it was a factory mistake. His theory is that Fender glued the fingerboard, but it was arching, so they planed the whole thing. I don't believe someone would do this deliberately, tbh. He said it's nothing to worry about, and if the time comes, I can just redo the fingerboard. If I ever swap the frets, I'll come tell you guys how it went =p

One question: are J and P necks interchangeable? Down here in Brazil almost every bassist prefers the Jazz bass over the Precision, so a J neck would be easier to get my hands on.

Thanks for the calming words. The bass plays absolutely great. I upgraded from an Yamaha TRBX174EW (mango top). I guess I'm in the Fender club, now :smug:
Click to expand...

Yes, if they are four bolt necks, they're interchangeable. There are some necks that aren't four bolt, and those I don't know about.
 
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#18
I had a beautiful Jazz neck custom made for me by BYO guitars. Not sure if they ship to Brazil but, Ironically, there was a $300 dollar up charge for the Brazilian Rosewood fretboard. It fits fender bodies like a glove(4 bolt).
 

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