Dead Spots

mesaphlin · #1 01-17-2012, 02:05 PM

Hello everyone,

I would like to purchase a Fender American Vintage '75 Reissue Jazz Bass and I have been reading about it in many bass guitar-related forums mostly here - the talkbass which is awesome.

Overall, the reviews are fantastic about it but the only concern of mine is that there will be probably dead spots on the neck of the bass.

Please excuse me for asking this but what is a dead spot? I know that it is a negative thing and also is it possible to fix it?

Jay2U · #2 01-17-2012, 02:31 PM

A dead spot is a fret position which doesn't give as much output as the other positions do. Some combinations of string, neck and pickup placement may cause these dead spots. It's a situation where at a given fret position the string doesn't vibrate that much above the pickup. It's hard to predict which combination of bass, strings etc. may produce dead spots. To my knowledge the better basses suffer less of this phenomenon. If you are going to invest on a new bass, it'll be worthwhile to test it thoroughly before buying it.

mesaphlin · #3 01-17-2012, 03:17 PM

Do you know any online music store or a store which has a website that could check if there are any dead spots on the bass which I would like to purchase? I live in Istanbul Turkey and I will order it and send it to a relative who is in San Francisco and then he will send the bass to me in order to escape from all customs' fee and everything when the bass will be here because he will not put any receipt in the bass's box so it will look like that it is my bass not a recently purchased one.

I hope it makes sense.

Jay2U · #4 01-17-2012, 04:35 PM

I hope the customs trick works. To my knowledge there aren't any online stores who do this. Fortunately I wouldn't expect problems with this specific bass. On the other hand, you can't simply go back to the store to have it fixed or replaced. If your relative in San Francisco is a bass player, he might try and buy it for you and then ship it?

On the internet a lot can be found about dead spots, but also a lot about understanding and curing it. See also: http://www.acoustics.org/press/137th/fleischer.html]ASA/EAA/DAGA '99 - Dead Spots of Electric Guitars and Basses

Good luck!