Chubbuck Guitars / Kevin Chubbuck, making & repairing guitars in an old building just north of Boston, Massachusetts.
Viewing entries tagged
bass tech
Here's the jackknifed Rickenbacker that showed up to the shop in this condition. After the glue up, I ended up filling in the missing finish and buffed it out so the repair wouldn't be detectable by feel. The player was not concerned with cosmetics, only playability.
A pretty gnarly heel break on a 1987 Rickenbacker 4001 stopped in this morning. The player admits he's pretty rough on his bass but has no idea how this happened. He just opened the case one day and ~!!!BAM!!!~ found this carnage.
He did mention he left it in a hot car once, so extreme heat could have helped pop the neck apart. It came in strung to pitch and when I went to slacken the strings the neck immediately fell backwards. The neck was only held to the body by a thin slice of wood. Yikes!
That thin slice of wood ran up the neck like a wave, so the trick was figuring out how to clamp this piece down. The heel itself was straight forward, but how to go about that piece running up into the neck ...
I ended up wrapping a large industrial rubber band around the crack running up the neck first and then the clamps. The rubber band worked out extremely well and saved me from fitting a time consuming caul. Rubber bands to the rescue!
I'm lucky to have a great bassist that is always bringing me interesting basses he picks up. Here is an 80's Yamaha 4 string in for while-you-wait setup. The player likes super-low electric guitar action so it's always a fun challenge to see how low you can go. Working with this player has made me totally rethink my approach to bass setups.
Check out the round over on the treble-side horn - the pearl white finish flashes slight pink in certain light. Really subtle and very cool. Also the bridge is a unique design that I have not seen before, but the head stock really got my attention. I don't know why, but this folded head stock looks killer!
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.
1992 Fender Jazz Plus V 5 string [9.3 lbs] :: new bone nut and setup
This features a Kubicki preamp and Lace Sensor J pickups. The controls are top to bottom:
stacked master volume :: pan between pickups
stacked treble cut/boost :: bass cut/boost
4-way rotary with standby (mute), active with mid boost (internal trim pot to adjust mids), active and passive
The bass came into the shop quite neglected. It was really grimy (especially the fingerboard), only strung with the A, D & G strings and missing the nut. The low B saddle screw was bent and missing the set screws that adjust the height.
I first cleaned the guitar and replaced the saddle screws on the B. A new bone nut was fabricated and a fresh 9V battery installed The bass was set up with a set of D’Addario EXL 160-5 round wound strings.
![Broken neck repair :: 1987 Rickenbacker 4001 [8.7 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1471032376041-MKHF7P1WP7QHIWHGBC6X/20160718_1987_Rickenbacker_4001_heelrepair_01.jpg)
![1986 Yamaha Motion MBII bass [8.0 lbs] :: setup](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1466096140473-515T7LOYBONHQWKXEKY1/20160507_Yamaha_Motion_MBII_head.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)