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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 12, 2020 20:11:35 GMT
I am a noob bass player only just started playing in November. I play using Rocksmith and I am having lessons with my daughter once a week.
My main axe is an Ibanez GSR180 with Rotosound .50 - .110 strings and I love it, I love Ibanez basses in general, my 9 year old daughter plays a Jackson Minion Concert Bass with D'addario .50 - .105's and she is enjoying it too.
Anyway that's the introduction over, the main reason for this thread is my wife has got me for our 10th wedding anniversary a couple of Harley Benton bass guitars.
I have a MB-5 SB coming which will be used for the songs on Rocksmith that are in B&C tuning (my Ibanez can just hit C but its very floppy), and I have a PB Shorty coming.
I have seen that the general consensus with HB guitars is to change the strings immediately, so I was wondering how well the Shorty will take a set of GHS Boomers .50 - .107 strings as the Shorty only comes with a .95 E.
Will I need to get handy with the files or should the slightly thicker strings slot in without too much modding?
Also any advice with the HB's before they arrive what to look out for etc would be appreciated .
Thanks
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Post by subdude on Feb 13, 2020 5:21:49 GMT
Put the new strings on and see how it feels and sounds, often little to no work is needed dspite changing the string gauge.
You want to look out for these:
Nut slot may need to be widened slightly with a file, for plastic nuts you can also use a roundwund string with the right gauge and use that as a file. Truss rod may need tweaking because of the change of the string's tension Intonation may need adjustment
Good luck with the new strings.
Sometimes you will have to widen the nut slot a tiny bit for the string to sit properly and a tweak of the truss rod might be necessary but you may not need to do anything at all, just try.
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Post by LeoThunder on Feb 13, 2020 5:46:44 GMT
I wish I could answer the main question but I never had a PB-Shorty in my hands. I had to widen treble nut slots on a Squier when I put tapewound 50-135 on it. I did it with a nail file.
The main thing to look for on the coming basses should be the frets. I had to level a few on many of my HB to get the action I wanted. It was never much work, just a couple of frets but there is always a risk of getting something worse. Just go over them with a credit card, three at a time, and see if it rocks. It shouldn't unless it's on a high fret. In many cases, a slightly high fret won't be causing an issue with normal action. I only file them down when they cause buzzing. Sometimes, a high fret only needs a little tapping to take it's proper place in the fingerboard.
The other thing is the electronics. Check if the tone pot behaves in any sensible way. A cheap and easy replacement if it doesn't, though. It it has too high a value or the wrong type, the tone will only start changing at the very end of its course, making it barely worth using.
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Post by LeoThunder on Feb 13, 2020 5:59:23 GMT
Put the new strings on and see how it feels and sounds, often little to no work is needed dspite changing the string gauge. New instruments come with safely high action to avoid returns. Increasing the string gauge will pull on the neck harder, increasing relief and raising the action some more. Intonation will go off a little. I significantly lowered the action on almost every guitar I bought, without changing strings. The only exceptions were two battered instruments I bought well used. These had been set up properly.
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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 13, 2020 7:11:45 GMT
Thanks for your advice guys, especially the credit card on the frets as I’d have never thought to have tried that. I’m sure 2nd fret on my little girls Jackson is a bit high as if you fret anything on 1st you get buzz but 2nd onwards it’s clean and when I look it looks like the strings are just touching 2nd fret wire.
With regards to truss rod/intonation/action height I am fairly comfortable adjusting those as I’ve done it on my Ibanez and the Jackson and my guitar teacher inspected both and said they were setup well (I love YouTube tutorials lol)
Little nervous filing out the nut, but I’m hoping it won’t need a huge amount. Thankfully the Ibanez when I went a gauge higher didn’t need any filing in the slots, although it’s nut had sharp corners I’d hit my hand on which hurt so I filed those with a nail file and it’s lovely now.
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Post by LeoThunder on Feb 13, 2020 8:26:14 GMT
I learned set-ups on YouTube too. Great resource. I wouldn't ever think of paying for having it done. Alone having to bring the thing in and picking it up takes more time than doing it myself. Check that high fret under each string. Quite often, they are only high on one side. A proper fret rocker will cost little money on ebay: here's one under this link. Simple fret files (link here) will do the job too. I have used these without risk of taking too much at once. They're not hard enough for that so it takes a while but that's safety too. I just keep checking the results with the rocker and nothing bad ever happened. The crowning file is there to finish the job: link here.
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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 13, 2020 9:30:44 GMT
I learned set-ups on YouTube too. Great resource. I wouldn't ever think of paying for having it done. Alone having to bring the thing in and picking it up takes more time than doing it myself. Check that high fret under each string. Quite often, they are only high on one side. A proper fret rocker will cost little money on ebay: here's one under this link. Simple fret files (link here) will do the job too. I have used these without risk of taking too much at once. They're not hard enough for that so it takes a while but that's safety too. I just keep checking the results with the rocker and nothing bad ever happened. The crowning file is there to finish the job: link here. The fret buzz is more noticeable on the E&A strings so potentially just the one side that’s a little up. Will have to watch a YouTube tutorial on how to file the frets down as knowing me I’m likely to sand half the fretboard away and make it look ugly. Truss rods and saddles I’m comfortable with messing with as they are designed to be messed with, but filing makes me a little nervous lol.
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3,457 posts
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Post by LeoThunder on Feb 13, 2020 10:10:18 GMT
The fret buzz is more noticeable on the E&A strings so potentially just the one side that’s a little up. Will have to watch a YouTube tutorial on how to file the frets down as knowing me I’m likely to sand half the fretboard away and make it look ugly. Truss rods and saddles I’m comfortable with messing with as they are designed to be messed with, but filing makes me a little nervous lol. If you're uncomfortable with the file, you can always go at it with a hammer:
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Post by DerAlex on Feb 14, 2020 15:11:56 GMT
I was just wondering why you didn´t stay at Ibanez - the TMB-30 is an awesome shorty bass and not that much more than the PB (still 2x the price, but in absolute EUR not that much more).
The build quality is quite good (as expected from Ibanez), the strings I would change as well.
The pickups are very nice - so definitely a great shorty with PJ.
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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 16, 2020 12:59:14 GMT
I was just wondering why you didn´t stay at Ibanez - the TMB-30 is an awesome shorty bass and not that much more than the PB (still 2x the price, but in absolute EUR not that much more). The build quality is quite good (as expected from Ibanez), the strings I would change as well. The pickups are very nice - so definitely a great shorty with PJ. If I am being honest I dont like the looks of the Talman basses much, my ideal shortscale bass would be the GSRM20 MIKRO from Ibanez as that thing looks beautiful. However it is nearly 3 times as much as the Shorty and in this case I wanted a shortscale and I wanted something to play B&C tunings on Rocksmith so getting 2 Harley Benton's for the same price as 1 Ibanez made sense, especially because from my looking around the net the HB's get fairly decent reviews, certainly no better or worse than the cheap Ibanez models.
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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 16, 2020 13:03:31 GMT
Oh I've ended up with the same D'addario .50 - .105's as my daughter has on her Jackson now as the GHS Boomers were out of stock on Amazon, plus I doubt .002 will make a huge amount of difference to be honest.
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Post by Stuey3D on Feb 16, 2020 13:05:46 GMT
Oh does anybody know where to get replacement pickguards for the Shorty from, I fancy swapping out to a different colour other than white.
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Post by JAC on Feb 19, 2020 21:45:56 GMT
I think your only options for pickguards is to either send a trace off to a company that will custom make you one (not the cheapest of options) or buy a pickguard blank and do the same thing yourself (but with hand tools and patience). It's not that difficult to do, just go slowly and measure twice before cutting once.
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