Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

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burpgun
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Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by burpgun » Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:43 am

Hey all. So I'm the original owner of a 2013 Fender Pawnshop Bass VI. Throughout my time with this bass I've struggled to get a good set up. For the last couple of years I've had a Staytrem on the instrument, and I've tightened the springs on the trem so they don't move, since I never use the wang bar.

Right now, the saddles for Staytrem are all the way to the back on the E and G strings, and the E is still pretty sharp. There's a very small amount of back and forth play in the Staytrem so I've got it rocked toward the bridge, in hopes that would give me a little more room to move the saddles back. This is the bass Staytrem, so I don't know why I don't have enough space to intonate properly. Beyond that, the neck has required a slow and steady tightening of the truss road. So I've got another worry: Why does this neck constantly face pressure to bow? If the current trend continues I eventually won't be able to tighten the truss rod right? Since this thing is still under warranty, is it worth contacting Fender?

Any thoughts what's going on here? None of my other instruments, kept in the same environment, including Squier and Fender Jazzmasters, suffer from the same level of instability.

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Re: Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by Debaser » Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:49 am

Doesn’t sound good at all. You should have plenty of room for adjustment with the Staytrem. What strings are you using, what gauge?

What do you mean you have to keep adjusting the truss rod? Are you simply making a lot of tiny 1/8 turns because the relief is not getting to where you want it? Or you get it to where you want it, while in the playing position, and it moves on you when you check it the next day?
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Re: Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by -=Todd Fox=- » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:09 am

I'm assuming that you're using at least a .95 gauge Low E and not the crap 0.84 D'Addario claims is best (long story with an email chain from a snotty rep.) If you're using something higher that 1.05 that could have other issues too.
Anyway, its all speculation but here are my thoughts, forgive me if you've already tried these

1. How high is the action? Really high action can cause extra force on bending the neck and can cause intonation problems because of the string having to stretch. Even if it's low, a shim and raising the bridge height might be the solution. Raising the bridge height can also give you an extra mm or so for intonation.
While you've got the neck off for the shim, check the amount of back bow that it has without the strings. If you're really tightening it more and more it should be pretty severe.

2. Relax the spring on that trem, even if you don't use it. Keeping it pinned is just forcing extra back pressure against the springs. At least set it up as if you were going to use it (M&M guitar bar has a good article) and engage the lock. then when you pull the strings down there's a little pressure relief from the tail end which would also help with intonation. If you really are dead set on hard tailing this thing, then you might look at those plates that Faction sells for $50.

3. It's not too likely, but the nut on the truss rod could be slipping ever so slightly causing the need for constant readjustment. Take a fine tip sharpie and mark the truss rod nut to see if it stays in the same place from month to month.

4. Contacting Fender shouldn't cost anything. At most you might have to have one of their dealer's tech's look at it to validate the claim, but as the original owner, you have special rights you shouldn't feel guilty exercising. If it is a true defect, (and it sounds like it might be) then nothing you can do is going to fix it.
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Re: Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by -=Todd Fox=- » Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:09 am

burpgun wrote:
Mon Feb 05, 2018 7:43 am
the neck has required a slow and steady tightening of the truss road. So I've got another worry: Why does this neck constantly face pressure to bow? If the current trend continues I eventually won't be able to tighten the truss rod right? Since this thing is still under warranty, is it worth contacting Fender?

Any thoughts what's going on here? None of my other instruments, kept in the same environment, including Squier and Fender Jazzmasters, suffer from the same level of instability.
Any update? I've been wondering about this one.
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Re: Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by burpgun » Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:14 pm

Hey all. Missed the replies to this thread.

So a bit of an update. My VI has had Labella .95s on since the beginning. Still would love to understand why Fender shipped them with such a wrong gauge of strings. Neck’s been shimmed for years as well, by a well regarded luthier. I’ve gotten from a number of sources that locking the trem down the way I did may have messed up the intonation. Right now I’m okay but I am going to loosen it, as this intonation issue didn’t happen when the trem was usable. Hell, maybe I’ll see if I can do the Kevin Shields thing on a Bass VI.

On to the neck. Over the life of this instrument, small, quarter turns seemed to always bring the neck back into position to support relatively low action, which I like. The last adjustment, I went more aggressive and did like half a turn, and the action’s been low and steady since then. If it goes out again I will approach Fender for warranty service, as I’m the original owner. I’ve never had a neck that needed that much interaction, which is why I’ve been so anxious about the situation. High action on a Bass VI makes it very difficult to play, while too low is buzz city.

I’ve noticed another weird thing. Mine’s black. The finish is perfectly smooth, but depending on how the light hits the instrument, there are like these strange, very subtle ridges under the poly. It’s not from where pieces of wood were glued together, and I’ve never see something like this before. Just another bit of strangeness with what’s become one of my favorite instruments ever.

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Re: Ongoing setup issues for a Pawnshop Bass VI

Post by oid » Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:35 pm

Such necks that seem to need constant adjustment almost never become an issue, it is wood and some wood is slow to find its place and stabilize, your local climate can be a big part of this. It took 3 years for my AVRI62 to settle down, had to tighten the truss rod monthly for that first year, only needed to be adjusted 4 times last year, suspect I will be at my standard of a spring and a fall adjustment by the end of this year. The previous owner had stored it for about a decade with the truss backed off completely and only used the guitar a short time when new, so the neck had little experience with tension.

As for the intonation issues, can you take a measurement from the 12th fret to the center of the bridge (not saddle)? What is your method of setting intonation?

I can not think of anyway the trem springs could affect intonation, they can introduce error into your method of intonating an instrument though.
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