My Dead Mellow Smith

[franklin peredo]

Hey everybody this is my first post,..i recentlly ask Ken & Tim about the sound of my brand new BSR5MW tiger maple(top & back), walnut core, i got it from Bass Central, i got the bass a couple of weeks ago (it was shiped), when i first played the bass after tuning it of course and without pluggin it, which is the first thing i do when i try a bass (i bought this bass without tryin it first..why? its a Smith!!) it sounded Dead! no brightness whatsoever,.. and obviasly the electronics are a mirror of what the wood has to offer soundwise, so i had an idea of how this was gonna sound when i plug it,... i put d'addario strings and ofcourse there was a difference, but still,...am I the one bad luck guy that got a bad Smith? and is there any other way to enhance the sound of the bass, acousticcly that is!.... and yes! i know!! its an electric instrument!! the preamp is fine, the batterys are good, does anyone have any tip? advice?

[Tim Bishop]

After many questions and PM's, my final suggestion was for you to send it to Ken and have him look it over. All the questions I asked and suggestions I gave you were thorough. Based on your answers, I don't see any other options for you; send it to Ken.

[Ken Smith]

Tiger Maple is a deep sounding wood. Walnut tops for the MWs are brighter sounding. The bass I am sure was in their stock in a humid climate for some time. That will affect the wood. The Strings by the time you got the bass may be water logged like the bass from the humidity on Florida where the dealer was. The bass needs to settle back and dry out. Mail order is tricky. I am 100 miles from you. I shipped the bass 1500 miles to Fl. They shipped it back to you just 100 miles east of me another 1500 miles.

Blame the climate, not the bass. It probably needs to come in for set-up and will need to dry out a bit as well. We have similar problems with double basses coming in from Italy or England as their climate is much different. From China, woah.. like UNDER water.. lol

Have patience. There is nothing wrong with what we made or how we made it. Just the locale of the bass in its travels to get to you. If you get me the serial number, I can tell you how long it's been down south near the Atlantic.

[franklin peredo]

Hey Ken thanks for replyin! im a total ignorant when it comes to wood ,construction ,and the elements of sound making, what exactly do u mean with settle back and dry out? do you mean that as the time go by the wood will go back to its normal estate? or you have to perform a specific setup for that?..(again ,sorry for my ignorance) the funny thing is that when the bass arrived to NY there was a crazy snow storm.. and here is the serial# 5MW5848T09 date completed 8/19/09, thank U.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by franklin peredo

Hey Ken thanks for replyin! im a total ignorant when it comes to wood ,construction ,and the elements of sound making, what exactly do u mean with settle back and dry out? do you mean that as the time go by the wood will go back to its normal estate? or you have to perform a specific setup for that?..(again ,sorry for my ignorance) the funny thing is that when the bass arrived to NY there was a crazy snow storm.. and here is the serial# 5MW5848T09 date completed 8/19/09, thank U.

This bass was in Florida for over 6 months. It is humid there. The humidity affects the wood and the tone and kills the strings. So, it need's a factory set-up to be at 'its' optimum condition as when it was made. At that point when the bass is back to how we made it, you can see if you like the sound of that wood combo. Right now you, are judging it in a somewhat distressed condition. It is new but it needs to settle.

The weather on the east coast, north and south has been extreme this last year. Your bass might be a victim of it. We can help if you send or bring it in.

[franklin peredo]

thanks Mr. Smith!!! i cant believe how bad the climate affects the instrument, how succeptible is the instrument to the effects of humidity, so the bass absorbs excess moisture, does the wood swell or expand?? im pretty sure im not the only one that had and will experience this situation, so another question: as the bass settles into its new enviroment,.... are changes gonna take place to the action and neck profile? and what do you recommend to do as the "settling in" period goes on? and out of curiosity does a piano gets affected by humidity too?

Thank you