twelvepoint wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 2:51 pm

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 2:26 pm

twelvepoint wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 11:44 am It would also be ok if someone made a drop-in pickup that was like 1/4” shorter. I’d prefer to do that rather than hack down the aluminum.

Yeah. I would NOT let just anyone do it. I would (and did!) let Geoff or Dave do it.

Here's a link that shows the modified channel(s).

I needed to request access, fyi

Oh hey. Give it a try now.

Actually...here is a link to the whole folder, with 5 videos and a folder with some pix of it being clamped. The video with the finished channel alterations is #5.

I love watching this stuff

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 2:03 pm
Earnie's rep obviously precedes him...I heard he knows those guitars well. Do you know if he pulled the board off completely and reglued it?

I think he pulled the whole thing off, or at least got it off as much as he could and then reglued it with something that Kevin recommended. It was definitely peeling off quite a bit on the treble side of the fretboard, to the point where I had to shim the nut so that it wouldn't have fret noise even when the strings were played open.

tallchris wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:46 pm

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 2:03 pm
Earnie's rep obviously precedes him...I heard he knows those guitars well. Do you know if he pulled the board off completely and reglued it?

I think he pulled the whole thing off, or at least got it off as much as he could and then reglued it with something that Kevin recommended. It was definitely peeling off quite a bit on the treble side of the fretboard, to the point where I had to shim the nut so that it wouldn't have fret noise even when the strings were played open.

Was the action different after he reglued it? Curious

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 4:43 pm

tallchris wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:46 pm

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 2:03 pm
Earnie's rep obviously precedes him...I heard he knows those guitars well. Do you know if he pulled the board off completely and reglued it?

I think he pulled the whole thing off, or at least got it off as much as he could and then reglued it with something that Kevin recommended. It was definitely peeling off quite a bit on the treble side of the fretboard, to the point where I had to shim the nut so that it wouldn't have fret noise even when the strings were played open.

Was the action different after he reglued it? Curious

Definitely improved the fretbuzz situation, and didn't need to have the shim on the nut any longer! Earnie did a setup on it that I've had to futz around a little bit when I went up string size and started tuning to D-standard. I think I could actually stand to raise the action (or maybe take out one of the pickup shims) as there's definitely less sustain if I'm holding a note above the 12th fret.

Wasn’t this a whole thing with a couple TBD reissues that had some recurring problems? They were a hot topic around here for a while. Must be able to be fixed the same as the vintage, right?

I’ve always played the all aluminum guitars, but sometimes I do wish I’d have gone the part wood route as a middle ground.

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 5:04 pm Wasn’t this a whole thing with a couple TBD reissues that had some recurring problems? They were a hot topic around here for a while. Must be able to be fixed the same as the vintage, right?

I’ve always played the all aluminum guitars, but sometimes I do wish I’d have gone the part wood route as a middle ground.

The one I had fixed so far is a reissue neck. The other one i am getting fixed is a panback.

That said, my made-in-1976 wedge, while it can be intonated fine, has always had pretty high action.
since it plays in tune...i doubt very much the neck is bowed.
i may have just had the action done that way reflexively, but i bet it's this pickup-height thing and it just sounds better with higher action as a result.

I really think a lot of it is down to the scarcity of properly cured wood in the world.
I had one new, made-for-me guitar (not a Bean/EGC!) have the body warp on it (not terrible but def noticeable).
And then these two dudes.
The wedge is made from scratch. The -body- on it (made locally, it's great) also shrank a bit! I bought the wood from a dude on eBay, so I doubt it was cured.
The panback i got off Reverb, for cheaper than usual, though not that cheap.
i think the guy probably sold it b/c he couldn't get it set up right. it should be set up right pretty soon...
I have another wedge with a TBD Bean neck that is totally fine, no issues, btw. You know what...IIRC Kevin used some old backstock fancy wood on the fretboard...hmmm!

tallchris wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 5:04 pm

eephus wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 4:43 pm

tallchris wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 3:46 pm

I think he pulled the whole thing off, or at least got it off as much as he could and then reglued it with something that Kevin recommended. It was definitely peeling off quite a bit on the treble side of the fretboard, to the point where I had to shim the nut so that it wouldn't have fret noise even when the strings were played open.

Was the action different after he reglued it? Curious

Definitely improved the fretbuzz situation, and didn't need to have the shim on the nut any longer! Earnie did a setup on it that I've had to futz around a little bit when I went up string size and started tuning to D-standard. I think I could actually stand to raise the action (or maybe take out one of the pickup shims) as there's definitely less sustain if I'm holding a note above the 12th fret.

Oh yeah then. Sounds like it fixed it.
That makes complete sense to me.
I had to wangle this thing at the 13th fret on the D string from the start, and it got progressively more outta whack after that.
It's instructive that it happened with your old-ass bass as well. And my old Bean was always a little off past the 12th fret also.

Geoff mentioned it would be interesting if someone made an aluminum neck with a truss rod.
The assumption, I know, is that you don't need one.
But really if you don't have that ability to correct, you're kinda just turning the neck itself into the truss rod--like an old acoustic that doesn't have one.
If the necks can bow due to fretboard shrinkage or anything else...maybe put one in.
It would have less of an effect than it would on a wooden neck, but I bet it would let you work the thing into shape at least.

Just looked at my 1000S and the neck is dead straight; maybe the tiniest amt of forward bow, but hard to tell. If I play the high E up over the 20th fret it starts to hit the bridge pickup which is gonna be a problem when I play “Time” in that Pink Floyd tribute band I want to start.

This is all super rad info to have, thank you Tim!

And another +1 for having Geoff work on TBs. I had him refret my TB1000s last year and he did an absolutely fantastic job. He also noticed that the fretboard was starting to separate from the neck ("Wood shrinks, but aluminum doesn't, and this glue is 50 years old.") He was able to remove it, reattach it, and between that and the refret he did, it came back playing better than any other guitar I have.

I've overdue to bring my TB2000 to him for some neck work, and it'll be great to have this thread as a reference!