That Evil Woman ...

[rockinrayduke]

Sweet bass. The only Jazz I have is a Sadowsky that I got after stupidly trading off my old "91 RI. I thought I should at least have some kind of Jazz bass. I love that deep red color on your bass, bit of flash.

[patman]

By far my favorite Fender Color.

My old Japanese P bass was a similar color, only I seem to remember it having a little "metal flake" in it. 'Course my memory is not so good anymore.

[dadagoboi]

Obvious question but have you tried a metric wrench?  That bridge is probably not MIA.  If all else fails, get out your grinder or file and reshape one that's close.

My Duck Dunn replica.  MIA by me.  'Vintage CAR' body (base coat is gold, not silver as in later Fenders), Allparts neck, threaded saddle bridge (adjusts with slotted screwdriver), Seymour Duncan Antiquity II pup.



Uwe: That looks glorious.

[Dave W]

Unless something changed with the latest American Standard series, they should still be Imperial.

[dadagoboi]

Interesting that even the cheapest China bass (including Squier) generally come with the proper hex keys and Fender doesn't include one that seems to be fairly rare in their export MIA.  Ignorance or apathy?

[rockinrayduke]

Very seldom have I gotten tools with a new Fender bass. They get snatched up at the store usually.

[Dave W]

The MIA and MIM basses and guitars I've bought all had a sealed case candy packet which includes all wrenches. If it's not there, blame the importer or retailer.

[uwe]

Oversight not malintent. The case had two hex keys, a good cable, case keys, a cloth, a manual and a good strap. Just that one darn hex key was missing - Fender Germany Customer Service was dumbfounded what size key it might be, they guessed the size that would have fitted the truss rod key. But they were nice and gave their metric best. I am now the proud owner of a 18 key imperial hex key set featuring, look and behold, a 7/64 one, fingers crossed.

I tried metric keys galore - none fitted. Survival of the Imperial system is the one great injustice of WW II ...

[godofthunder]

We can't be talking about the same thing then, Scott. 1/16 is tiny   - that is probably the size of the allen screws elevating the saddles up and down. I'm talking about the much larger sized allen screw that intonates the saddle, i.e. moves it back and forth, towards or away from the bridge! A 1/16 would never give you the grip and force to move a saddle under string pressure back and forth, you'd gouge it in no time. A 1/8 hex is slightly too large on mine, a 3/32 slightly to small, so my guess is (possibly confirmed by one singular posting in one Fender bass forum I found) it's a 7/64. Unless someone of you is cruel enough to tell me that further sizes between 3/32 and 1/8 exist.   Knowing you guys' anarchistic penchant for disorder you probably have a further dozen intermediate sizes and Fender chose the rarest one.

Will you please now do your home work for me, subito!  

If only we had won ze war, I wouldn't have to bother with stuff like this now.  


For illustration, in the set below the 1/16 hex is the second-tiniest one while the 7/64 is in the middle range (fifth from the right, fourth from the left) of the smaller ones:

Opps Sorry my mistake I though you were talking about the height adjustment screws on the saddle.

[godofthunder]

7/64 works just fine on mine.

[Basshappi]

Looks great, Congrats!

[uwe]

Thanks, yes, 7/64 works, amen and thank you to the good and quick people of that online tool mailing company.

[Dave W]

Too bad we didn't leave any military bases in Germany, then you wouldn't have had to order Imperial goods by mail. 

[uwe]

Actually, we still have a few, but probably not at the end of this new decade. Whenever a US garnison leaves for home, there is an outcry at the German communities: loss of population, loss of consumer buying power, loss of jobs and most prominently loss of NATO subsidies and funds. While many military bases are out in the boondocks (the urban ones have alll been given up a decade ago or more), those funds and subsidies ensured that the infrastructure there was always top-notch. You needed to make sure that you could get your tanks to France in time in case the Russians broke in! 

So in hindsight, neither Joseph Goebbels' late war desperate propaganda "Do not fool yourself to believe that US occupation will be any better than Bolshevik one (this was when more and more German cities - Frankfurt among them - and villages were surrendering to US Forces eagerly and without hardly a shot being fired), they will be turning our mothers, daughters, sisters ansd wives all into camp whores!" nor the post-war initial non-fraternisation rules of the US Army worked too well!

And, yes, 25 years ago I could have gotten that darndest hex key at a US Army PX Store. When googling for it now, I found out that the offerers of Imperial size tools in Germany almost all cater to the Harley-Davidson and American car oldtimers buffs. 

Uwe

[godofthunder]

"Led Zep ain't bad" LMAO Nice Uwe very nice. I guess seeing as you have a Jazz Bass now you'll be woodsheding on some JPJ