Fender Jazz Bass sound issue. help!

[Jeff Reed]

i bought a vintage fender jazz a few years ago and loved it. it was 'the one'. great tone, feel, etc.

took it to a great luthier i've used before and after the bass was put on the plek (spelling?) machine to straighten the neck, fret job done, and electronics shielded, the bass all of a sudden sounds very dead and 'flat' (not in pitch, but in sound). he didn't do anything to the electronics except move the pickups, which i've been messing with. honestly, the bass sounds a bit more dead even acoustically without plugging in through the amp.

very confused. any suggestions on what could have gone wrong?

[Pilgrim]

Time for strings...and a new setup, which he should have done.

[Jeff Reed]

yea, he did. new strings that day, set up intonation, string height, etc. thats why i think its so weird....

[JTE]

Kinda weird, but I have a few suggestions. Make sure the neck is set into the body well and four neck screws are tight. Check to ensure the strings have a good break-over at the saddles (going from the saddle back to the bridge plate) and that they have a good witness point coming off the saddle going to the nut. Press down firmly on each string right in front of the saddle, retune and check.

It may be a dud set of strings, which happens every so often to all string companies. Here's a tip however. If you suspect it's a bad set of strings, contact the manufacturer. I know D'Addario has a production code on the sealed plastic bags the strings come in, and they use that to track defects. If you have something like that it might help, again assuming you suspect it might be strings.

John

[Pilgrim]

I agree with JTE, especially about having a solid connection at the neck. I'd also check the bridge and saddles, as that's a primary contact point. It IS odd....

[walterw]

try the G&L "neck settling" trick:

while tuned to pitch, loosen the 4 neck screws a quarter-turn, then wiggle the neck a little to "unstick" it from the pocket. you might hear a slight creak, which tells you the neck wasn't seated hard against the end of the pocket.

hold the neck such that both outside strings are lined up with the edges of the fretboard, then re-tighten the screws.

you might find that the bass has a little better sustain and a more "solid" tone, if you will.

[Jeff Reed]

thanks for the responses. tried this stuff and nothing new. put a new set of strings on as well.

played a gig last night. i guess the real problem is that before the work was done, i could hear every note i played singing through ANY situation. now, its like i'm playing, but can't even tell if i'm in the right key....the notes are so hard to hear. sound is there, but NO definition. its like the midrange is gone or something.

i don't know much about pup height, but it seems like its in an okay place....i don't know. gotta figure this one out or move on to another axe....

[walterw]

OK, either there's something wrong with the wiring, or you've got a problem elsewhere in the rig.

a fret-level and set-up isn't going to somehow kill the tone of a bass, it just doesn't work that way.

[Epidrake]

Pickup height could be the ticket. It may look fine but small differences can make a big difference. I had a Fender Strat that was a dog, zero sustain, dead sounding. I lowered the pickups by what looked like a small amount and WOW. It was like a totally different guitar. You have nothing to lose. Good luck.

[Jeff Reed]

ok, thats helpful. could the pups be wired wrong, or jacked up in some way?

and other problems? in the reassembly of the bass maybe...bridge or neck etc?

[tk4207]

Originally Posted by walterw

OK, either there's something wrong with the wiring, or you've got a problem elsewhere in the rig.

a fret-level and set-up isn't going to somehow kill the tone of a bass, it just doesn't work that way.

+1

I agree; in my limited experience, a simple setup wouldn't change anything that drastically. My money is on the electronics in the bass (possibly with one of the pups?). I've got an old Jazz too, and it can sometimes be a bit fiddly in regards to actually putting out sound

[Jeff Reed]

ok, i'll keep working on the pup height too. thanks for all the help people!

[Epidrake]

Good luck Jeff! I'm sure you will figure it out.

[pacojas]

it might be the old mechanic's trick.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by Jeff Reed

...except move the pickups, which i've been messing with...

Any more details on this?

[Jeff Reed]

well, he shielded the electronics, so he had to take the pups out. when he put them back in, i guess he hadn't measured to see where they were exactly. so it certainly could be that i just haven't found the sweet spot yet..and often when i try something new, it really doesn't work. i'm wondering how possible it is that something got screwy with the wiring when he put them back in. both pups still work just fine though. not sure if its even a possibility.

[john grey]

You might check to see if the pups are level. Pull strings off, find level surface and check pup level. Determine possible adjustment via that info.
Check internal pup connection via touching string to each pole: determine if one or more pole units are non-functional.

[lethargytartare]

"after the bass was put on the plek (spelling?) machine to straighten the neck"

So the plek should have done much much more than straighten the neck -- it gives you a complete setup and fret dressing (I wasn't sure if you were aware that the fretwork would have been done by the plek) . When you changed strings, hopefully you changed them with the same kind/gauge -- otherwise you'd risk creating some new setup issues.

My suggestion is kinda nasty -- take out or undo the electronics shielding. Shielding is all grounded, so, from your description, that's the only new thing that, theoretically, could drain anything from your tone...I've never seen it, or had it happen, but your problem is very very subjective, so you might have a hard time finding any bulletproof solutions.

Did the resulting setup give you lower action than before? Did it lead you to change how you play? Maybe you used to dig in like mad, but after a plek setup, you now have much lower action, so don't dig in as much?

Google people's experiences with plek setups -- might be some negative mojo going on there, and others might have experienced it too?

Good luck, man!
ltt

[Swampman Cory]

How was it shielded?

[iiipopes]

Too much shielding can act like a tone control turned down and kill the tone with all the added capacitance. I would not have shielded the bass.