a little advice for a newb - changed the strings on my sx and not happy

[fourmations]

hi all

i got my sx pj ash yesterday (delighted with it)

i changed the stock strings for 45-105 dd xl nickels
and it has not worked out at all

it is obviously much harder to play
and fret at position 1, but the tone is not as good
and more importantly when i slap the e it is banging hard off the
P pickup even though its as low as it will go

i had to raise the action a bit
and naturally the thicker string has heightened the action

the newer strings seem to be more aggressive
and the pups sounded much better before
whereas the sound over loaded now if that makes sense

i have played with pup height, saddle heights
but Im not really satisfied

i would really like to know
what guage and type strings the SX's are shipped with

the bass was really well set-up for the strings it had
but its all gone wrong with the heavier strings
(sound, playability, action etc etc)

i have searched and read a lot
so sorry if this is a re-hash

any advice welcome
i am an experienced guitarist so I know
a bit about setup, but not a lot about basses

many thanks

4

[UncleFluffy]

how's your neck relief?

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by UncleFluffy

how's your neck relief?

+1. Should plat great with those strings. Something's wrong.

[UncleFluffy]

http://www.tunemybass.com/bass_setup/

[fourmations]

thanks guys

i will check relief now and post back

fluffy i am getting a 403 error on that link!?

rgds

4

[UncleFluffy]

Originally Posted by fourmations

fluffy i am getting a 403 error on that link!?

Weird. Works for me ...

Try this one instead: http://www.bassplayer.com/article/wo...ss/mar-05/3366

[fourmations]

hi

at the 7th fret there is less than a credit card of relief
(the card wont fit between the fret and the string)

sorry dont have feeler guages or any of that

that any use or too vague?

thanks again

4

[Gintaras]

I used this site to learn how to setup a bass. Very simple and visual.

http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass...tupmanual.html

[UncleFluffy]

That sounds reasonable. You could try getting it completely flat, see if that changes the feel for you, but I wouldn't worry about "less than a credit card".

Past that, difficult to tell without actually having the bass in front of me. The tone issues might change with a little bit of time spent playing-in the strings.

Strange that the string hits the pickup when you slap. Where are you slapping? Over the fretboard or over the pickup?

My SX is strung with these (from when they had a deal that worked out at 66 cents for a set of 4). Works fine, sounds fine - it's not a fussy bass.

[fourmations]

thanks uncle

i think the neck looks fine myself

perhaps the heavier string is just making me play different,
it was a more "touchy feely" with the stock strings

i dont play hard and same with guitar

could you have a guess at what strings
are on it when it ships? i would like to know
(the xl's feel much rougher as well, probaly the guage though?)

i will play away for the moment and see what happens

my initial reaction is to change back to a lighter string
but would i be better off getting used to the 105's?

i spent years playing 9's on guitar
until i realised they sound crap and now play 11's

i dont want to get used to a lighter bass string guage
if the sound suffers

many thanks

4

[UncleFluffy]

Originally Posted by fourmations

could you have a guess at what strings
are on it when it ships?

Couldn't help you there - the ones on mine went in the trash a long time ago. Maybe it's the same ones as Rondo sell in their "Accessories" page, which are also 45-105.

I'd just play it for a while, see what it's like once everything has settled in a bit more. If you're still unhappy, you may have to ask someone to check it over for you in person.

[fourmations]

cheers

they are definately lighter than the 45-105
i still have them, but they are a lot softer also

i will see if i get used to the xl's

thanks for the help

rgds

4

[countrybassist]

Dude, if it played ok BEFORE you changed your strings and now AFTER you changed them it's messed up. You obviously did something wrong. IMhO, if you apparently had trouble changing your stings, I woudn't mess around with neck relief and such.