May 28, 2010 – A GEAR GEEK SPEAKS ON GEAR CARE & MAINTENANCE

Well, If You Haven’t Noticed By Now…. Now You Know. I’m A Gear Geek!

Since your gear and it’s care and maintenance plays a very important roll in your performance, and in my case, how you make a living or part of a living or how you worship etc… I will keep preaching this topic til I’m brown in the face. See… And I’m still preaching it!!

I got a killer deal on a used, Fender, Mexican, Deluxe V String bass a while ago. When I purchased the bass, it had a few issues. However, I knew the guys at Action Music could fix it. I strongly suggest taking things to professionals who are usually masters of their respective occupations. There’s a reason why those that do, Roofing, Plumbing, Auto Repair, and Instrument Repair get paid to do those things. Too many people think they can fix things or create and build things outside of their profession. Sometimes they get lucky. Other times…., not so lucky. There is one particular guitar parts and guitar repair parts, magazine and website that also offers tools, videos and repair manuals. I know of a lot of players who have done some serious damage to some great instruments, trying to do their own fret work, wiring and finish repairs. This particular bass had 2 hairline headstock cracks. From what I could gather; the headstock suffered trauma in the original B string tuning machine support hole. This hole was filled with Crazy Glue, then a second support hole was drilled for the tuning machine. Hahaa! Again, there was headstock trauma, causing the secondary headstock crack. And again, someone tried to secure it with Crazy Glue. Since the glue did not hold, the cracks were very much “Alive”.

Without going into “total” detail (because, some things should not be attempted without experience), here is a rough explaination. For this particular repair, Rob Budinsky and James Healy at Action, assesed the damage, gave me a clear understanding of their action plan (pun intended), then went to work. The Crazy Glue and residue was cleaned and filed out of the poorly repaired cracks. New channels were prepared for the repair procedures. The seams and hairline cracks were Epoxied and filled. The headstock was then secured and clamped. A small dowel was inserted in the initial tuning machine hole and redrilled. The 3 pics** show the finished result. Yes, you can still see the cracks. And yes, for more cash, the cracks could have been more cosmetically appealing. More secure? Nope, just more appealing. In it’s current state, the repair is extremely solid and the bass tunes to pitch and beyond and it plays in pitch up and down the neck on every string.

Here are pics of the repair