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Wal Bass Club.

#12,061
graphics1988 said:
I agree with Mike - maybe a roasted bird's eye maple ---ohhhh...ahhhhhh. Beauty Wal - sorry to hear of the truss rod.
Non sarcastic question- How does this happen to a truss rod? Flaw in the metal? Too aggressive of adjustments? I hear about this from time to time - just like to dodge the bullet ahead of time if possible. Thanks
Click to expand...

Roasted birdseye definitely has an appeal!

And I wish I had an answer to your truss question as well!

Here's some more to it:

When I got the bass, the action was too high and the neck had some bow. The truss felt like it was tightened as much as it wanted to and I certainly didn't intend to force it. It stayed like that for years until I was able to get the bass looked at by a great local repair guy.

After he diagnosed a twist in the neck and planed the board down to a flatter radius he had essentially done all he could with what was there. It was actually in a pretty good place action wise. There was an area around the 12th-15th fret that was buzzing a bit and the only real solution was to replace the board. So I was planning on that anyway.

Now that the weather has changed and we all enjoy the fun of adjusting our instruments the action - which again, was fine when I got it back - was now a little high and the neck needed to be adjusted. I was able to adjust the truss to a point where... it just didn't want to go any further. I could still turn the nut slightly but it felt like it moved back a bit. And there was no difference to the neck.

I backed the truss off the other way to comically high levels then tightened again and got to the same spot. Just not where I need it and in no danger of introducing a backbow if I wanted it. I tried to finesse it a little further and I heard a sharp crack. Having never broken a truss before I honestly didn't know that I had. I thought I had cracked something in the wood somewhere.

But what I saw was that now the strings were about a half inch off the neck where a moment ago they were half that. So that seemed like that.

To sum up, I think there was an issue with the truss to begin with and I ended up killing it.
 
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#12,062
ModuMan said:
Roasted birdseye definitely has an appeal!

And I wish I had an answer to your truss question as well!

Here's some more to it:

When I got the bass, the action was too high and the neck had some bow. The truss felt like it was tightened as much as it wanted to and I certainly didn't intend to force it. It stayed like that for years until I was able to get the bass looked at by a great local repair guy.

After he diagnosed a twist in the neck and planed the board down to a flatter radius he had essentially done all he could with what was there. It was actually in a pretty good place action wise. There was an area around the 12th-15th fret that was buzzing a bit and the only real solution was to replace the board. So I was planning on that anyway.

Now that the weather has changed and we all enjoy the fun of adjusting our instruments the action - which again, was fine when I got it back - was now a little high and the neck needed to be adjusted. I was able to adjust the truss to a point where... it just didn't want to go any further. I could still turn the nut slightly but it felt like it moved back a bit. And there was no difference to the neck.

I backed the truss off the other way to comically high levels then tightened again and got to the same spot. Just not where I need it and in no danger of introducing a backbow if I wanted it. I tried to finesse it a little further and I heard a sharp crack. Having never broken a truss before I honestly didn't know that I had. I thought I had cracked something in the wood somewhere.

But what I saw was that now the strings were about a half inch off the neck where a moment ago they were half that. So that seemed like that.

To sum up, I think there was an issue with the truss to begin with and I ended up killing it.
Click to expand...
I wish there was a dislike button - sorry to hear about the TR. I think you're correct too - might have been a problem with it originally ....maybe your luthier can take pix during the surgery - be interesting to witness a spine repair from a pro. Good luck with it - i am sure it will be back to its awesomeness once he is done. :)
 
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#12,064
mikeswals said:
About week ago I picked up two of my Wals from a local luthier from having brass nuts installed: a 5 and a 4 string.
The 30 yr old 5er had a crooked and mis-cut nut from the factory, so that one was a given.
However the 4 string was my 'new' 2018 that I completely forgot during the build to spec a brass nut. By the time I realized it was 6 months well-into ownership when I was doing my first string change.
It finally bugged me enough this year, so earlier this summer I asked Paul to sell me a brass nut, and he said no, to have a local fit one. Boy am I glad I did...I'm loving the tone even more so from this bass! That last ounce of "kraaaanggg" that was not quite there before, is now there.

I'll probably take my future Mk3 build to the luthier and have him do that too, since it won't be built with one either.
But for me the result was worth it.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the new...uh... Walnut?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Never thought about the nut but all things equal I do prefer brass nuts and you make a compelling case. Hmm...
 
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#12,066
ModuMan said:
Roasted birdseye definitely has an appeal!

And I wish I had an answer to your truss question as well!
Click to expand...

Over the years, I know Mike Lull had dealt with repairing truss rod 'somethings' on a few Wals here on this forum. So when I bought a Wal Mk3 that turned out to have a non responsive truss and a separation in the fretboard, I paid him a visit to get it sorted. Mike told me a few Wals were built with a soft metal truss anchor and that's what he's had to go in and redo.

If your neck is flexing that much, that would be another reason I'd want a much harder fretboard wood on there than rosewood. If it were mine, I'd opt for stainless frets as well. Cool project!
 
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#12,067
mikeswals said:
Over the years, I know Mike Lull had dealt with repairing truss rod 'somethings' on a few Wals here on this forum. So when I bought a Wal Mk3 that turned out to have a non responsive truss and a separation in the fretboard, I paid him a visit to get it sorted. Mike told me a few Wals were built with a soft metal truss anchor and that's what he's had to go in and redo.

If your neck is flexing that much, that would be another reason I'd want a much harder fretboard wood on there than rosewood. If it were mine, I'd opt for stainless frets as well. Cool project!
Click to expand...

Interesting, I will pass that along to my guy. Any idea if the softer metal truss anchors were in a specific time period?

Maybe I should just call up Modulus and get a composite board? haha (I wish)

I know very little about fret material advantages, what does stainless do for it?
 
#12,069
zuma said:
It's hard AF! Long-lasting, you may never need to fret it again. Unless you go on successive world tours. :cool:
Click to expand...

Stainless is definitely the way to go if you are choosing fret materials. I am now the proud owner of a few ACF custom basses made by TB's very own @rojo412 and I am sold on stainless. Last forever. I even send a my vintage Yamaha BB5000A (third series) to ACF for fretwork and after 30+ years those frets were ready to rock.
 
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#12,070
it does give a different sound though. I had an otherwise perfect Music Man Bongo (Honey roasted PDN, the most beautiful ever produced imo) that looked, felt and played perfectly. But man, that fretting tone was obnoxious. Music Man basses definitely pronounce the fretting noise, and this was not a good thing. Hard to describe... it was changing a lot with different strings. My favorite strings DR fat beams sounded so bad on that bass, it made things worse. I've had four Bongos, and none of the others had stainless steel frets... and none of the others had that annoying overly metallic fretnoise.
 
#12,071
Interesting. I've never played stainless frets, but have heard others say that they bring an extra bit of metallic tone to the sound. That would not be surprising--the "bell bronze" frets on Warwicks also seem to have a particular tone that I don't care for (on otherwise spectacular basses!).

djaxup said:
it does give a different sound though. I had an otherwise perfect Music Man Bongo (Honey roasted PDN, the most beautiful ever produced imo) that looked, felt and played perfectly. But man, that fretting tone was obnoxious. Music Man basses definitely pronounce the fretting noise, and this was not a good thing. Hard to describe... it was changing a lot with different strings. My favorite strings DR fat beams sounded so bad on that bass, it made things worse. I've had four Bongos, and none of the others had stainless steel frets... and none of the others had that annoying overly metallic fretnoise.
Click to expand...
 
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#12,077
mikezimmerman said:
Interesting. I've never played stainless frets, but have heard others say that they bring an extra bit of metallic tone to the sound. That would not be surprising--the "bell bronze" frets on Warwicks also seem to have a particular tone that I don't care for (on otherwise spectacular basses!).
Click to expand...

That Warwick reference is actually a very good example. That tone is in the treble register and I guess a Wal would only pick up that special sound if you pull the pick attack. It could also bring something absolutely desirable to the tone of that particular bass. My hands-on experience with stainless frets was just not that good sadly.
 
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#12,079
My Mk1 with stainless never ever sounded like a Warwick at all. I'm really not a fan of Warwicks and a characteristic like that would have stuck out to me if it did. I also recorded a full album with that bass in my old band, and nothing 'ping-y' comes out in the mix listening back to it.
 
#12,080
mikeswals said:
My Mk1 with stainless never ever sounded like a Warwick at all. I'm really not a fan of Warwicks and a characteristic like that would have stuck out to me if it did. I also recorded a full album with that bass in my old band, and nothing 'ping-y' comes out in the mix listening back to it.
Click to expand...
Funny.. I have three German Warwicks....and nope...none sound like my Wal. But I DO think the hardness and metal type would have some sort of effect....maybe marginal or maybe I should go have a beer and be quiet. Regardless ...I am heading to the beer fridge...for science. ;)
 
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