Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Pope
On my concededly inexpensive imported plywood bass, I have overall good action and good tone. I do notice that there seems to be a broad peak in the response of the bass @ mid-line Db or D. It's not "wolfish," in that the notes don't just "pop" out, but seems to be a general characteristic of gradual rising response from about 2nd line B those to notes, then a gradual coming back down in response going up in pitch from there, leveling back out by @ 4th line F. As I play, it feels like a body resonance that is not dependent on the room size or position (stage, corner gig setup, etc.) It doesn't seem to matter about string choice, whether the notes are played on different strings stopped or open, or position. It does not seem to be coming through my Full Circle (installed threads up, so the disc is against the foot of the bridge) to my combo amp.
Being very limited in my experience with other instruments, my question is whether this is simply the characteristic of my bass, or if this is something that can be modified somewhat with a good luthier adjusting the soundpost and/or tail gut length, or if, since the bass is @ a year old, like any instrument, it simply needs to be given more time for the bass to "open up" some more, or whether with everything else being so good already that I shouldn't mess with it, just play and enjoy.
I feel very lucky that on my limited budget in this economy, I was able to get an inexpensive instrument, and with the help of some friends get it set up myself, as it came with actually a decent ebony fingerboard that already had the rough camber milled into it and only needed some touchup, and I was able to trim and recontour the bridge myself, and the tuners are actually holding tune on the used set of Spiro S42 Weichs I have on it for my jazz band. Yes, I defied the conventional wisdom of not purchasing on-line, but it was either that or nothing. It's working for me, and I actually have the action down all the way to 4-5-6-7 mm with no buzzing, so it's easy to play the usual 3-set gigs, and the band loves it.
I think a lot of the "horror stories" about purchasing an inexpensive bass on line have to do with the unreasonable expectations of being able to play it "right out of the box," with no setup. Yes, when I got it, it had very bad strings and a 10mm action with the adjusters shut down, and the tail gut way too short, and insufficient QC with such things as the neck. I even shaved my neck width down at the nut from almost 2 inches wide at the nut to @ 1 3/4 with a good beefy profile (I didn't thin the neck any, just recontoured it slightly to round it back out from the narrowing at the nut) which feels really good to me. And of course, refiling the nut grooves to get good action in the lower positions, etc. So I have total invested, with strings, pickup, etc., about 2/3 of what a lesser expensive entry level store-brand bass would be, plus the added benefit of learning the rudiments of how a bass actually works by setting it up myself.
I've already had more offers for gigs in the past year than in the last several on just bass guitar or even tuba.
And...Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. It's now time to go watch the parade while the turkey roasts.
|
I would bring to your attention the bass itself. To judge a bass, it should be stripped of anything on it that is not just the bass. Bow quiver off if you have one and the Pick-up out if possible. The Bridge is sensitive and anything you do there might mute it or, enhance unwanted overtones.
Time to break-in you say? For a Plywooid bass I would say 30-40 years because younger basses in ply sound about the same after the varnish first dries to my ear.
Camber you mention? How hard is it to press down the notes from 1/2 to 6th position with your heights at the end of the FB?
Press down the E at the base of the neck near the octave and at the same time, at the nut near 1/2 position. How much space is there under the string? More then the diameter of a G string or less?
Then, press down at the root of the neck and the end of the fingerboard. Look under that half of the FB length. How much space? Near nothing?
Then, from the two ends of the FB, press down. Is the overall camber more than your d or a string thickness? 2mm, 3mm?
Too much camber for me, can kill you. Some gorilla stringth player play so hard, 2-3mm is low and buzzes when they dig in. For me, 2-3mm overall is high. I like my boards set up fairly flat to start and let the string pull the neck up. A reinforced neck with CF graphite will help with this. Thicker and/or stronger necks will as well but the CF Gr. will also even out the notes a bit.
Maybe post some pics of your bass, set-up and camber so we can see better what it all looks like. It might help.