My new (to me) BT6!

[Michele Caramazza]

I made it!!!
Today I took the strings off to see what's goin' on with the nut and, to my surprise, the nut just came off as I lightly pull it! It was just seated in the slot without any glue... no harm done to the fingerboard or to the headstock veneer!



As I suspected a tiny strip of wood (about 0.50 mm) was glued to the bottom of the nut..



As Ken suggested this was probably done because the previous owner was a heavy handed groover and liked higher action in the first five frets region. It also explain the wear on those frets and the fact that the finish in that area of neck back is totally gone...

Anyway, I cut off the wood veneer with a razor blade and then sanded off any glue residual with a fine sandpaper. Here's how the bottom of the nut looked like as I finished the job..



A nice rub of metal polish and here's the nut in its all original shining glory...



Fitted the nut in its slot, strung the bass and... voilÃ*... PERFECT.
I also discovered that the nut wasn't damaged or sanded in any way. That small gap on the B string side was because it slightly shifted when it was installed. So I put under slight tension the outer strings first, perfectly centered the nut and then strung all the strings to pitch. Worked like a charm!



Now, the action dropped down of 0.50 mm and the whole thing plays like butter all across the fingerboard with no fret buzz at all! I'll probably wait a little and then will raise the bridge saddle a hair to better suit my right hand touch.
I'm soooo happy!!!

[Ken Smith]

Here, we spot glue the nut in with Elmers white School Glue. Easy to take off if needed. Also, after WE polish the nut by hand, we spray it with can lacquer or acrylic. This helps prevent oxidation of the brass over time.

Good job!

[David Whalen]

Congrats on that cool bass. You didn't mention having done any fret work, though you probably at least cleaned them. It is excellent that you got good action. It is a testament to the build quality and materials. That bass was played hard and still plays well with a set up and cleaning. Nice work.

[Michele Caramazza]

Thanks! I haven't done any fret cleaning myself but I bought the bass from the Uk shop where luthiers Martin Petersen and John Chapman make their Sei Custom Basses, so maybe the bass had a fret cleaning and basic setup there before it was shipped to me.
The first four/five frets have wear from the previous player as I explained before, but still the bass have an amazing low action and no buzz... truly a testament to the exquisite craftmanship behind Smith basses.

[Michele Caramazza]

Ken, given that my bass has the lacquer finish and that it 's gone leaving bare wood in many parts, especially the neck, which product you'll recommend to use for cleaning and polishing?
Any reccomendation for tbe bare wood areas?
Also, I have some green grime build up into some parts of the bridge and on two of the screws that secure the bridge to the body. Should I use metal/brass polish on it and should I replace the bridge screws?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Michele Caramazza

Ken, given that my bass has the lacquer finish and that it 's gone leaving bare wood in many parts, especially the neck, which product you'll recommend to use for cleaning and polishing?
Any reccomendation for tbe bare wood areas?
Also, I have some green grime build up into some parts of the bridge and on two of the screws that secure the bridge to the body. Should I use metal/brass polish on it and should I replace the bridge screws?

Polish does not replace worn finish. Polishing worn areas next to finished areas can creep under the wood and lift the finish. You can try some varnish in the wood and seal it in some way. A full refinish is the only cure. Stained wood might not clean up all the way.

Tarnished screws may have lost their plated covering so nothing will put that back. Only new screws can look new.

Rubbing the gold in anyway might rub the gold off so be careful. We do not send old parts out for re-plating.

[Michele Caramazza]

Ken, thanks for your reply.
Actually, I'm not for a refinish job. First, I'm a firm believer that if a refin job is for whatever reason needed, the instrument maker is the only person entitled to do that. So, given distance and costs, my BT stays the way it is.
Second, I actually LOVE the signs of time on my bass.

My goal is not to make the bass shine like a brand new one. I just want to take some of the previous owner DNA off

NECK:
The back of the neck is bare wood in the frets 1 to 7 area: down there it's really smooth from years and years of hand friction. The rest still have lacquer but at the headstock end of the neck, just before the Coat of Arm carve there's some nasty, sticky grime build up. Same on the body end of the neck, where the lower horn cutaway is.
Could I gently rub the grime away using naphtha? To my knowledge naphtha (or white petroleum..that it is) is safe on bare wood but under the grime there's still lacquer...

BODY:
The body really has almost all it's lacquer on except for the spot between the pickups (thumb resting), the "I plucked the hell out of it" area, the right forearm rest area.
I guess that I could safely use a lacquer polish product. Just a little amount, sprayed on the cloth and not getting into those worn areas to avoid what you said about the product finding it's way under the finish. I have the Alembic polish handy and I've previously used it without harm even on nitrocellulose lacquer.

I would also add that I have a bottle of Howard's Feed and Wax. Carl Thompson gave it to me when I picked a bass from him years ago. He uses it all over his basses. The bass is gone, the Howard's I still have.
It's a mixture of wax and essential orange oil. Could I use this product to feed and give some protection to the worn area of the neck? Could I use it also on the fingerboard?