How to kill a Fatbeam in several easy steps.

[Justyn]

So I just picked up a Fender Urge II and it's generally my practice to restring a bass once I take possession - gives me a chance to clean and oil the fingerboard, polish the frets, etc. etc. I'd been looking to try the Fatbeams and decided this'd be a good test. And they sounded great. Absolutely wicked slap tone with enough high end to slice lunchmeat, but somehow not harsh-sounding. I'd have liked to have left them on long enough to wear in a bit, but as it turns out, I managed to render the E string completely dead in a matter of days.

How did I manage this, you ask? Is my thumb technique so mighty that I can reduce E strings to rubber in no time?

No. Not quite. The bass came with a Hipshot D-tuner and though I've used these before on a few other basses without incident, this one just refused to stay in tune. It'd pop back sharp every time I went back to E from D. Not a problem, Hipshot has a handy FAQ that details what to do for this very issue and the short version is that it involves tuning the E a bit flat to compensate. Hipshot also recommended flicking back and forth from D to E to fine tune the D (or whatever your drop tuning is).

Apparently I flicked a bit too much. Setting up for a gig Friday night I spent about fifteen minutes trying to get the E and D in tune both when in regular tuning and when dropped. Tune - flick - test - flick - tune - flick - test - flick - tune - flick - test - flick, etc. etc. I never did get it to stay in tune when going back and forth, but I think I did manage to stretch the living daylights out of my poor E string, which soldiered valiantly through the gig, but was dead as a doornail the next morning, while the other three strings remained bright and crisp.

This is in no way an indictment of Hipshot or Fatbeams. As I say, I've used the d-tuners before on many of my basses without incident and I pretty much make it a point to upgrade every bass I get with Ultralights if it doesn't already have them, so I trust their products. I took this one apart and there does seem to be a little play in the socket/gear where the winding peg rests, so maybe it's just worn; the gears on the tuning shaft were rusty as well, so I think it's either a case of worn parts or maybe an extra-grippy nut that needs some attention. And as far as the strings go, again, the A, D and G remained crisp and springy.

There's really no moral here or cautionary tale...just wanted to share my newfound ability to stretch strings to the point of lifelessness in mere minutes. It's not useful as super speed or heat vision, but I'm pretty sure Marvel will snap it up as a new monthly.

Time for a new tuner and a careful look at the rest of the setup. Full review of the Atomic Funk Machine that is the Urge II (currently wearing it's original tuners and a new set of Sunbeams) to follow when I get a minute.

J.