LEFT HANDED BONGOS?

I received a call from a very good friend and customer of mine who said he'd like to bring his "Bongo" in.
I have never turned away a repair from a good customer, so to my dismay I told him to bring it on in with glee in my voice.
Now while this call is going on, I can't help but to develop this picture in the back of my mind when I hear bongo. I mean no disrespect to "said"customer, I was just a little out of my realm!
AHHHHHHH!
Imagine my surprise when I found it was a Ernie Ball 5 string bass "A Lefty".

Selected basswood is carved into THE most distinctive body style ever — very well balanced and responsive with a super-tight 5-bolt joint to a selected maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. A neodymium humbucker with 3-band EQ provide huge tone with precision command. Schaller BM tuners with tapered string posts, easily accessible truss rod, matching headstock, and a graphite acrylic resin-coated body cavity for supreme noise shielding add up to true MusicMan luxury.

This is certainly a beautiful instrument.

She was in for a set-up.

Upon initial inspection the action was quite high (over 7/64th's on high G).

The neck also had an under bow or sag in it.

After my standard clean-up of frets board ect. I began the readjustments.

The first thing I did was attempt to tighten the truss rod. I like to get necks flat as possible without excessive attack buzz. This will also keep the action more consistent the entire length of the neck.

Ugh! Could not budge the rod.

When this occurs Do Not Force It!

I pulled the neck from the instrument and loosened the rod adjustment completely to lube it up . What I found, in my opinion, is the best truss rod system design I've ever seen.

Bravo ERNIE BALL!!

Let me explain. First of all the truss rod is based on the original "Gibson"

single ended rod. A piece of threaded rod, which is attached at one end of the neck anchored securely. The other end has a nut with a large surface flange which squeezes the neck together, causing the neck to bow up. It's kind of like squeezing a balloon between your hands.

Why EB rods rock.

1. It's the biggest rod I've ever seen!(did I just say that?) This rod appears to be 1/4 inch and has large threads with a great pitch. It would be very difficult to strip this rod.

2. The rod feeds from the bottom, and the adjustment is on the bottom. This increases the actual area the rod addresses. This reassures a even adjustment from top to bottom of neck.

Here's how it all works!

As you tighten nut "A" against the bottom of neck, it's drawn towards the threads at point "D". Point "C" is ankored so it just pulls on the neck itself squeezing point "B" up. It moves up because the rod is closer to the fretboard where there is less wood resistance than below, so it naturally pushes up. When you loosen nut "A" the neck will relax to it's normal state.

I was surprised to find what appeared to be a "factory" shim in the neck pocket. After setting the neck flat there was no reason to shim the neck. I set it up at 2/64th on high G at 12th and 5/64th on the lowB at 12th. The saddles were not bottomed out and all the angles looked fine! Now the neck is full wood to wood at the pocket and even more sound is achived!

After the set-up this baby played like a dream. Ernie Ball makes a damn fine instrument

This was one of the finest basses I've worked on that's new production, and it's quite impressive

If your in the market take a look at these "BONGOS" they ROCK!

Peace, TOM