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  #1  
Old 11-15-2007, 01:16 PM
jlepre's Avatar
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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Clicking sound on A string

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I have a Fender Precision V Deluxe and I only get a clicking sound on the A string. It is only heard in the mix of a studio recording, but it still bothers the hell out of me as I can feel it clicking on the neck of my bass. I obviously have no technique problems on the other 4 strings, so why does it happen on the one string? Do I need to adjust the neck? I'd hate to touch anything as the bass plays great the way it is setup now, except for the clicking A string.
  #2  
Old 11-17-2007, 05:40 PM
Jim Carr's Avatar
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A thought:

Can you reliably reproduce the sound?

In the past, I had a click on the A. It happened when I was playing the D and the A was still being held down by my 3rd (ring) finger in a barre chord-like position, though I was only barring 2 strings.

I had set out to remove ALL extraneous noise from my playing, so this was really bugging me.

I did all sorts of set-up tweaks to get rid of it. I could pretty much get rid of by getting the action high enough, but that was not a very happy solution.

However, once I was able to reliably reproduce it, I traced it to the A string striking the fret just above where my 3rd finger was depressing the A, even though I was actually playing a pitch on the D string. After plucking the D, my finger came back against the A. Normal technique, yes, and not a problem, but while barring both the D and A, the A was clicking on the fret because the A was not fully depressed, but was in a sort of "muted" state. The muting worked to keep the string from ringing, but not from clicking on the fret.

I changed my technique just slightly to make sure the A string stayed quiet. It is hard to describe now just what I changed, I've forgotten. I'll try to figure it out and post it, if I can.

My point is to look and listen very carefully. Isolate the exact circumstances in both hands when it happens and where the sound is exactly coming from. Get so you can do it "on demand." If you can do that, you can probably determine if it is a techique issue or not.
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  #3  
Old 11-17-2007, 10:29 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
A likely culprit: the E string clicks against the frets due to the force of your finger hitting it when you play the A with a rest stroke. Try plucking more parallel to the top of the body (i.e., finger moving parallel, as opposed to moving towards the body), and/or try raising the E string height.
  #4  
Old 11-18-2007, 09:06 AM
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Location: Pacific Northwet, USA
have you tried to adjust the pickups?

it's very likely the string is too close or hitting the pickup
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