Eminence Megathread

[Mike Carr]

After giving this some more thought, I'm wondering if this strange sound you are hearing is the sound of the strings ringing behind the tail piece, since the Eminence is not a real loud bass unplugged you might be noticing it more because you are not hearing as much of the deep body sound that you might be used to when playing a normal sized double bass. A little bit of this string ringing behind the tail piece sound comes thru when playing most any double bass thru a pickup and amp, it's cool most of the time, part of why a double bass sounds like a double bass and why the Eminence sounds like a double bass. Can be a bit distracting while playing real loud thru an amp if one is not used to it. You might try threading a bit of foam, or even an old rag thru the strings behind the tail piece, maybe that's the sound you have been hearing that has been bothering you so much.
I took my Eminence into Lisa at LA Bass Works today for some very minor ajustments, just want to get my bridge to be able to go a bit lower than it's adjusters allow and am getting the bridge wings opened up a bit just in case I need to slip a Bass Max or Underwood in there in the very unlikly event of a failier of the stock pickup. I'm leaving town soon for a three month jazz gig in the Far-East and don't know of any qualified luthiers in Jakarta!
Lisa had never seen one before and seemed quite impressed. Lisa works on many basses owned by the top players here in LA (Brian Bromberg, and many of the busy studio and top orchestra guys) so she certainly knows good from bad! She didn't hear any sort of "thunk" coming out of my bass either.

[FretNoMore]

Lots of great advice and ideas here, thanks!

It's not the strings ringing, I've had that and taken it away by winding a piece of cloth between the strings.

I believe it is partly a technique issue though, playing with the fingertips makes it worse as you say, I just hope my brain and fingers will subconsciously (sp?) adjust to use a technique that avoids the noise. I don't know why the A string is worst, perhaps it has to do with the angle the string is plucked with the finger and that it just happens to be more difficult to pluck correctly?

[Rod B.]

I've also already tried damping the strings behind the bridge, not it.

For technique I use the fingers similar to Todd Phillips. Not the tips, but not vertical either. A good portion of "meat" is involved.

Actually for me, the more meat and less tip I use, the worse it is. I get it worst when I go almost total side. Just using the tips it rarely happens, but the overall tone sucks.

The thing that make me thing it's a structural problem with this particualar bass is that I can get wonderful sound out of all the strings but the A-string. Also, the higher up the A-string is played the less it's noticed.

I figured it might be the bridge, but I've re-set it several times. The feet seem to have good contact. Although, perhaps the treble foot could be better.

[mje]

The finger hitting the E string after plucking the A can result in thump as the shock is transmitted to the leg of the bridge and then to the pickup. I've seen this on some other electric uprights that mount the pickup on the bass side of the bridge, but technique as well as some judicious EQ can minimize this. You might also trying moving the pickup to the treble side of the bridge.

I only played an Eminence once, but I gotta say that thing really had a great sound. Ugly wood, but great sound.

[Rod B.]

Originally posted by mje
The finger hitting the E string after plucking the A can result in thump as the shock is transmitted to the leg of the bridge and then to the pickup. I've seen this on some other electric uprights that mount the pickup on the bass side of the bridge, but technique as well as some judicious EQ can minimize this. You might also trying moving the pickup to the treble side of the bridge.

I only played an Eminence once, but I gotta say that thing really had a great sound. Ugly wood, but great sound.

The thing is, I can get the sound acoustically. I can get it just concentrating on that string and not just normal playing.

[Rod B.]

Originally posted by mje
I only played an Eminence once, but I gotta say that thing really had a great sound. Ugly wood, but great sound.

The woods on this one are fairly nice.

[mje]

Originally posted by Rod B.


The woods on this one are fairly nice.

The back and table were nice; the neck looked like a cheap baseball bat.

[Rod B.]

Originally posted by mje


The back and table were nice; the neck looked like a cheap baseball bat.

LOL! This one is the same!

[Rod B.]

OK, I just got word, this problem has occured before. The solution is pretty simple. It's the A-string itself.

I was pretty sure it was not *me* because as I said, the other strings sounded good and I don't get that "tonk" on any other string.

[Bob Gollihur]

I was just going to suggest that the string be checked out. The last Eminence I sold had a problem A string. Perhaps D'Addario had a bad run.

[FretNoMore]

I'm not sure I buy the bad string theory one hundred percent, I think my bass has that "thunk" tendency with the A string even after changing to Obligatos. It's better but not totally gone. Perhaps the remaining problem can be explained with my poor technique though. Rod, please report your experience if you change strings.

[Basso Profoundo]

I noticed that if i change my technique and anchor my thumb on the edge of the fretboard instead of the e-string, the problem goes away.

[Rod B.]

Originally posted by Anders Östberg
Rod, please report your experience if you change strings.

I will. The thing that sparks hope it might just be the string is, it seems the less "proper" the attack the less it does it. If I play just that string and totally concentrate on good right hand technique it does it. If I play BG style with the tips, it rarely does it, but sounds bad period. Doing that I get a thin tone and a lot of finger noise.

[Rod B.]

Originally posted by Basso Profoundo
I noticed that if i change my technique and anchor my thumb on the edge of the fretboard instead of the e-string, the problem goes away.

My thumb is kinda under the fingerboard. It floats to different depths and is not really anchored.

[Rod B.]

The day before yesterday, the D-string started that nasty "tonk" too. It wasn't there to any degree prior, no matter what right hand technique was used. Either it indeed is bad strings or the structural problem is expanding. I'll get replacement strings later this week and report what happens.

[Rod B.]

I won't be reporting on whether or not the strings were a fix. Yesterday it developed a static/farting sound on all strings when plugged in. I tried two different amps and two different cords. This one is going back and I'm being sent a new one.

[FretNoMore]

Rod, apologies if you know this already, but I have found that the position of the bridge is really critical to the sound. If you have nasty popping noises or other strange crackling sounds from all strings the foot of the bridge may not be sitting correctly on the pickup foil. When you tighten the strings the bridge tends to be pulled up towards the neck and that will result in the foot of the bridge not pressing down evenly on the pickup. Try to press down on and reposition the bridge while tightening the strings, and make sure you counteract the tilting that results from the string tension. I had to reset the bridge several times after changing the strings before the sound was OK again. I have the portable version of the bass but have decided to not take it apart for transport if I can avoid it because of this setup problem.

Maybe you have already decided to return the bass, but I hope this may be of some help with this or your next bass.

[Rod B.]

The thing is, it had to move by itself. It was fine before and the feet are well set and the bridge is straigh up. I suppose I could try farting around with it more. But this is something that developed over night without any readjustments.

[FretNoMore]

OK, I thought it was after changing the strings, in that case it doesn't apply.

Sounds like some other problem then, possibly the pickup has developed a fault.

Maybe it's good to start afresh with another bass, sometimes you simply get a lemon.

[Rod B.]

I still haven't received the new strings yet. I hadn't even adjusted to a new bridge height. Heck, I hadn't even tuned up yet. A preliminary note to do so and there it was.