Marcel's RCM-4F (PBG build #3)

[Simon Barden]

Get the nut down and the overall action will come down as well.

[Marcel]

That's exactly the reason why I've cooled for the moment on doing any work on the frets.

Tuners,
Nut,
action height,
then frets...

Well, that's the general(ish) plan....for the moment...

[wazkelly]

"Persuasion" is an interesting word Waz..... by all means, be my guest, please elaborate....

Subtle pressure applied to achieve desired outcome. In this instance a rubber mallet to tap down as much of the high frets as possible and then gently sanded down using the levelling beam method. Crowning tool arrived in the mail a few weeks ago so I should get back to re-profiling those couple of frets when there is nothing else that needs doing on all my recently finished or almost finished builds.

[Marcel]

Buggar !!! ...

[Simon Barden]

Oh. Dear.

I wasn't expecting that.

[Marcel]

Yeah, just a slight baseplate size difference... Peg size is very close to being the same.

The Wilkinsons are real nice tuners, smooth to turn, excellent chrome job, well machined gears.... It's just the base plate is massive, and too big for the RCM-4F...

Had a thought... The kit tuners on my JB build aren't too bad and certainly a lot better than the ones on the RCM-4F, so I might see if these Wilkinsons will fit my JB build. Changing the Wilkinsons from 2+2 to 4 in line takes 5 minutes and is easy as, so hopefully the JB build kit tuners are just as easy to change the other way. If they do then the old tuners from the JB can then easily be fitted on to the RCM-4F as I think they are the same size base plate. If it all works then I'll have saved myself from having to go out hunting and buying yet another set of tuners...

[Paul_H]

Marcel,

As a backup, have a look at these: https://www.realparts.com.au/tuning-...rs-chrome.html

I bought these for an upcoming P-Bass build, after initially buying a set of Gotoh's which were too large.

The Allparts tuners feel quite good (definitely better than stock), and should be reversible with a Torx screwdriver. There is a 2+2 configuration available as well, and Realparts (Australian distributor for Allpart) should be able to source these for you.

Good luck! Paul

[Marcel]

It's all good there Paul. I stole the tuners off my JB build and replaced them with the Wilkinsons. The G tuner overhangs the end of the JB headstock just a little but it's not that noticeable. So now I have available 4 nice working tuners which will fit and are changeable to 2+2 that I can install on this RCM-4F build.

Next problem is finding my rat-tail file so that I can properly do the nut on this bass... seems the file has chosen to go walkabout...

[Marcel]

Oh, how so much easier is the task of intonation when you have a decent electronic tuner...

I now have probably at least a half dozen tuners of varying capability. Along with my two 'A' 440 tuning forks I have a Behringer rack mount, a Polytyne 3, a Korg GA custom and a Korg CA1, plus a few of those little toys that get thrown in with some guitar kits. They all work when doing basic tuning though some do it way better than others, and with some for intonation you can achieve a result but it may not be very accurate.

I have had the Behringer and a Korg CA1 for quite a while now and they both do a good job. With the CA1 the LED's are great however the LCD display can be sometimes difficult to see. The annoying thing with the CA1 was I was never 100% happy with the intonation, and often when I came back to an axe a few days later the intonation would be just that little bit out, far enough out to warrant redoing the intonation for that guitar again from scratch. And with the Behringer although accurate was annoying for taking so long to lock onto a played note, often in the order of a few seconds..... So being undecided on which new tuner would better suit my needs I invested in two new tuners being the TC Electronics Polytune 3 and the Korg GA Custom, and on both it was money well spent.

Main reason I got the Korg GA Custom was it is a step up in accuracy from the CA1, the display is highly visible, and it is small and battery operated unit so it can live in my guitar case and not cause any dramas. The TCE Polytune 3 is a pedal that has similar accuracy to the Korg GA Custom plus it has a multi string or poly mode, again it too has excellent visibility, and is ideal to leave permanently attached to the head of a pedal board or as in my case in front of my intonation test amp. A big thing I have since discovered is how quick both the GA Custom and the Polytune 3 lock on to and track a played note thus making tuning and intonation adjustments an absolute breeze.

So my favourite for both bass and guitar today is the Polytune 3, with the Korg GA Custom not far behind and with both being some leagues ahead of the Korg CA1. As I said, you can get a good result with the Behringer rack mount but that is provided you are willing to wait the several seconds it needs for it to lock on to every new played note. The toys can do it however accuracy is simply not there.

I don't know what most of you guys n gals use, maybe some of you might like to comment....

Oh, and I found my nut files... ;-)

[Simon Barden]

I had a Polytune 2 mini on my board and I hated it. The poly mode didn't agree with the single note mode and it kept going to poly mode when I was playing a single note (and had no way to inhibit poly mode). So it's been replaced with a Korg mini Pitchblack tuner, which I'm a lot happier with (though at the moment my board is in pieces and needs reconstructing).