Broken screw & setup :: 1977 Ibanez 2618 [9.4 lbs]

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A late 70's Ibanez Artist on the bench for a setup.  The output jack plate has a mounting screw that was broken flush with the wood that the customer wanted addressed.  I used my shop made screw extractor to remove the screw and plug the hole.  The hole is then drilled to accept a fresh screw.  Click here for more details on another project involving broken screw removal.

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Short circuit & loose frets :: Ibanez BTB775PB [9.8 lbs]

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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.

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Loose fret ends :: Ibanez BTB 5 string bass

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Gluing down some loose / high frets on a 5 string Ibanez bass.

New bridge to correct string spacing :: Ibanez SDGR 885 5 string bass [7.6 lbs]

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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. 

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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.

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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.

Replace flush mount jack :: Ibanez Soundgear SDGR SR300 bass [8.0 lbs]

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A four string bass in for a checkup and a spotty flush mount output jack.  Flush mount jacks are notorious for wearing out and are not nearly as robust as a traditional Switchcraft jack.  But many are willing to sacrifice reliability for looks.  This bass was also giving me a weird hum, but it turned out one of my cables was going bad.  Check out the video below from the vlog.

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