Chubbuck Guitars / Kevin Chubbuck, making & repairing guitars in an old building just north of Boston, Massachusetts.
Viewing entries tagged
5 string
A beastly Ibanez 5 string bass in for an intermittent short circuit and fret buzz. I traced the output issue to a bad 25k volume pot that needed to be replaced (see video below for the replacement). As for the fret buzz, treble side fret ends 12-20 were playing it high and loose. The inexpensive fix was to glue and clamp them back down. Doing a fret level after they were locked back down would have further improved clean playing up the neck.
Gluing down some loose / high frets on a 5 string Ibanez bass.
It seems like more and more basses have been coming by the shop lately. Here is an interesting one. This 5 string bass has a narrow neck, almost like Ibanez used a 4 string neck on a 5 string setup. The outer strings were very close to the edge of the fingerboard and causing issues for the player. He even made his own notches in the original saddles in an attempt to correct the issue.
I searched around for for options, initially seeing if I could use different saddles with the original bridge but ultimately came across this Schaller 5 string bridge. This bridge offered adjustable spacing fell in a more useable outer string spacing range for this narrow neck. The only issue was that the new bridge needed to be pushed back further on the body to intonate properly. You can see the original bridge footprint peeking out in front of the new Schaller bridge (see photo above). The player was made aware of this and gave me the green light to proceed as he valued playability over minor cosmetics.
I took these photos before the customer stopped by to check out the new bridge so the original mounting holes were left untouched. After going through options with the player, we ended up plugging the two holes with ebony plugs on the spot. I wanted him to see the options in person before proceeding. The new bridge was just what this bass needed!
Check out the video below for the layout and mounting of the new bridge.
The run of basses coming through the shop rolls on with this super clean Modulus five string! It was set up with a set of Ken Smith Slick Rounds medium stainless (44-62-84-106-130). The carbon fiber neck and Aguilar 18V OBP-1 preamp deliver the punchy signature sound that Modulus is known for.
A Japanese Bossa five string bass in for a setup and a "finger ramp." Finger ramps are an additional piece of wood fit in between the pickups to allow the player to have a consistent anchor point for their thumb As you move towards the neck, the tone is fatter and playing towards the bridges yields a brighter attack. The ramp helps the player to have more consistency with the right hand technique.
This is an absolutely beautiful bass that I had not heard of before. Super versatile. Originally the player had it set up with higher action and a high C (tuned EADGC). We dropped the action down considerably and set it up with a low B (BEADG).
![Short circuit & loose frets :: Ibanez BTB775PB [9.8 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1464731963992-A6WX269KIF6KH41KV68O/20160531_Ibanez_BTB775PB_body.jpg)
![New bridge to correct string spacing :: Ibanez SDGR 885 5 string bass [7.6 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1461528042706-FVF2J8O3APF8CYZGMHEJ/20160422_Ibanez_SDGR_SR885_bridge.jpg)
![2001 Modulus Quantum 5 [10.5 lbs] :: setup](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1459400214648-IEQTYO1CHBV7BNCBIXU2/20160324_2001_Modulus_Quantum_5_bench.jpg)
![Bass finger ramp :: Bossa OBJ5 5 string [8.6 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1457666887422-FLTJF882103VUMUIIMSI/20160310_Bossa_OBJ5_bench.jpg)