A dead spot on the 7th fret G string

mesaphlin · #1 06-15-2011, 04:31 PM

Hello Everyone...!!!

I will order a Fender American Vintage '75 Reissue Jazz Bass from internet. And nowadays, I am mostly reading in the forums about that particular bass. Overall they say it is a nice bass but a person wrote in a website that

"The bass I got had a dead spot on the 7th fret G string. The replacement was better but still needed a bit of tweeking to get it right. I was surprised that a bass of this price would have any dead spots. I've also tried several since at other shops and they all seem to have the same issue."

If my bass that I will purchase has the same dead spot problem, is it easy to have it repaired by bringing to a Luthier?

Hopkins · #2 06-15-2011, 04:40 PM

Its common on Fender basses, the neck and string resonate at opposing frequencies and it cancels the sound.

Adding mass at the the head stock can move or sometime eliminate the dead spot completely. In reality unless you need to sustain that particular note its not really a big deal.

PurpleDrank · #3 06-15-2011, 04:49 PM

Yup, pretty common. My P-bass has got a pretty bad one in that spot, so apparently the graphite rods in the modern necks do nothing to lessen it or move it. Most people buying basses at the more expensive price points are aware of the fender dead spot and realize it's a function of the type of construction rather than price point.

I don't find it's really that much of a problem. After the strings are played in a bunch, the effect is less noticeable anyway.

Dubista · #4 06-15-2011, 04:56 PM

I have a dead spot on my AV62 P bass in that exact same bass. I'm on my second set of strings and they the spot seems a little bit less noticeable but it's still there. Like it's been said, a dead spot is very common in that area for bolt on basses.

IME, I only really hear the dead spot when I'm playing alone.

hyp.spec · #5 06-15-2011, 05:02 PM

Same deal here on a vintage modified precision.

What I find interesting is that the spot moves depending on how I have the bass tuned. If I'm in standard E, then the dead spot is fret 7, if its Eb then the spot moves to fret 8.

PurpleDrank · #6 06-15-2011, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hyp.spec

Same deal here on a vintage modified precision.

What I find interesting is that the spot moves depending on how I have the bass tuned. If I'm in standard E, then the dead spot is fret 7, if its Eb then the spot moves to fret 8.

The frequency of the note interacts with the resonance of the body/neck, and the note dies quickly. That's why the dead spot moves, because the position of the note moves. Play that same note (D) elsewhere on the neck and it's likely you'll notice some degree of quick decay there also.

groooooove · #7 06-15-2011, 05:25 PM

adding mass can help but usually isint a great permanant fix.

fenders usually have that same dead spot.

bass12 · #8 06-15-2011, 05:36 PM

Don't worry about it - that dead spot is part of the Fender sound!

And even the most expensive basses can have dead spots - it's not just a Fender thing.

Johntheson · #9 06-15-2011, 05:38 PM

As mentioned before; the dead spots can be there on any bass, no matter how expensive,ect. I bought a brand new Ric 4003 about 3 months ago, and the bass is glorious, in all aspects, except....The 5th fret on the G string. It is dead. If I fret it harder during a run, it helps, but I still hate that feeling when I hit that dead note; you can almost feel it all the way up your arm. It does put a slight damper on things. I think you just have to live with it mostly.

slaphappychappy · #10 06-15-2011, 11:57 PM

i have a j and a p. Its part of the charm.
Where as the cort toy bass isnt too bad for flat spots, but if i get the action as low as i want it I lose the 15th fret on a and d strings. lol. $300 bucks, what do you expect? not much and that's why i love it.

jabsys · #11 06-16-2011, 04:21 AM

Same on my P bass, I don't even notice it when I'm playing.

bassmasta76 · #12 06-30-2011, 07:14 AM

Everywhere I travel I try to find a music shop and play if I can (I'm a lefty, so that's not always easy). Anyway, I've only played one Fender that didnt have the dead spot... I think it was a MIA P-bass... I agree with some of the others, it's part of the charm.

Also, props to Lemca Musical Instruments in Brussels, Belgium... they had a MIM Lefty Fender J-bass (it had the dead spot) that I plunked on for awhile last week... whee.

--bm

60bass · #13 07-05-2011, 12:13 AM

Yep the dreaded Fender dead spot

I guess I've been lucky to have owned many Fender basses for over 35 years and have never had one with a dead spot (knock on wood). I once read an article online regarding the dead spots. I tried to search for it again so I could post the link but couldn't locate it.

Here's what I can remember from that article. It seems that Leo Fender was well aware of the dead spot problem on the basses and that it's due to a flaw in the headstock design. The dead spot issue was the reason Leo designed the Stingray headstock with the G key on the bottom. It was supposed to counteract for the dead spot issues.

Article went on to say that during early PRE-CBS production, if upon final inspection they found a bass that had a very noticeable G string dead spot, they kept swapping out necks on that body till it went away or at least wasn't as noticeable. Since all wood reacts differently to vibration's, given enough time, necks, and bodies you could keep swapping till you got a good one. That worked fine early on when Fender production was low. Not a solution but rather a "masking" of a known problem.

When CBS bought Fender and they wanted production numbers way higher, you can see that trying to do swaps to correct dead spot issues became impossible. So there you go.

Seems hard to believe the two most famous basses of all time, the Precision and Jazz were sold from the beginning with a known defect due to a design issue. Even harder to believe is that even after all these years, they're still selling the basses with the same "known" problem. You'd think in this day and age of computer generated designs and modern production, they would have found a way to eliminate that dead spot.

So we just chalk it up to part of the Fender personality.

Keep Low

Hopkins · #14 07-05-2011, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by groooooove

adding mass can help but usually isint a great permanant fix.

fenders usually have that same dead spot.

I wouldn't say that it isn't a permanent solution

Dead spot removal

**StrangerDanger** · #15 07-05-2011, 05:03 AM

To the OP:

Yes many bolt-on basses especially Fenders will have dead spots on the G usually between the 5th and 7th frets. No, there is no real fix for it. If you're buying from a reputable dealer with a return policy, this shouldnt be a problem. Just keep returning them till you get what you want. They dont all have dead spots. I would guess that 80-90% of them dont.

73jbass · #16 07-05-2011, 06:28 AM

It's my understanding that it is not uncommon for a 34" scale bass to have a dead spot in that area.Not just fenders.

AuntieBeeb · #17 07-05-2011, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 60bass

Here's what I can remember from that article. It seems that Leo Fender was well aware of the dead spot problem on the basses and that it's due to a flaw in the headstock design. The dead spot issue was the reason Leo designed the Stingray headstock with the G key on the bottom. It was supposed to counteract for the dead spot issues.

...did it work? I'm trying to think why it might work physically and can't think of a good reason why it should.

ChasBass · #18 07-05-2011, 08:44 AM

I have a dead spot in my yard.

Could it be P-Grass?

Seriously, though, Fender says they have a fix but it won't go into effect until 2014 and will create 20,000 new public sector jobs. Get your shovel ready.

JTE · #19 07-05-2011, 09:24 AM

Even Marcus Miller's commented on the dead spot on his famous '77 Jazz. He says that it's part of the character of that bass. He's played it so long that it's part of HIS sound. He just plays that note a little harder (I can't find the Bass Player article this was from, but it was an early BP interview with Miller).

You can't anticipate that it won't be there. How bad it is depends on the individual chunks of wood and metal in any specific bass. So, if it's a big deal to you, don't order from the 'net. Play every Fender Jazz Bass you can get your hands on until you find one that doesn't have dead spot that bothers you. But it could appear as soon as you change strings or do a set-up on your new bass. Or it could go away, or move to another spot.

As explained before, they're caused by resonances that create nodes in specific locations. If the resonance of the neck/body/bridge combination is at the same pitch and out of phase with the string, it's a dead spot. That's why adding mass to the headstock can move the resonant pitch to a note that's higher so it's not as noticeable.

I've played bolt-on neck basses, mostly Fender, since 1976. I managed a guitar store where I was a dealer for Fender, Gibson, Peavey, Yamaha, Guild, Martin, etc. for 11 years. I worked on a lot of basses of all makes in that time. And in my experience I've only come across two or three basses that had dead spots bad enough to cause them to be problems. Yeah, there's less volume or sustain at certain notes sometimes, and sometimes its noticeable. But there are seldom any where it's so bad that it makes the bass worth rejecting. And in fact, two of the bad dead spot basses had other issues that made them less than useful instruments to play anyway.

John

dougjwray · #20 07-05-2011, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChasBass

I have a dead spot in my yard.

Could it be P-Grass?

Seriously, though, Fender says they have a fix but it won't go into effect until 2014 and will create 20,000 new public sector jobs. Get your shovel ready.

They will pay for this by determining which customers can barely afford to buy a bass, and raising the suggested retail price for them. Meanwhile, their newly drafted "Fairness Policy" will eliminate the sales tax for all customers who can easily afford to buy 20 basses or more.