Fender MIM J-Bass Dead Spot

rstaggs01 · #1 03-13-2010, 10:15 AM

Have a 60th anniversary MIM Jazz bass. about a year or so ago, it rather suddenly developed a dead spot - no sustain - on the 7th fret on the G string. as I move down the fingerboard from open, it gradually gets mushier or deader, till the 7th fret, which has zero sustain. Then as I move further down, the sustain slowly returns. Now, the G string does *seem* to be a little soft or dead sounding compared to the other 3 in general, but the dead spot is really problematic. any thoughts out there?

blowabs · #2 03-13-2010, 10:18 AM

sadly, but we all accept it, its on every Fender/Squier bass...

Phalex · #3 03-13-2010, 10:27 AM

Mines on the 6th fret. I'm getting a new neck put on it. Hopefully, that'll be that.

Rocinante_x1 · #4 03-13-2010, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blowabs

sadly, but we all accept it, its on every Fender/Squier bass...

However unfortunate, it's not true. My 2004 MIM Jazz has no dead spot. It's a great neck.

Turnaround · #5 03-13-2010, 03:38 PM

It's not the neck that has the dead spot, it's the instrument as a whole. While changing to a different neck may change the dead spot, you might accomplish the same thing by changing the body. Maybe.

The "maybe" is because the problem is the resonant frequency of the entire system - i.e. body, neck, hardware, strings, et al. When a note is sounded close to the resonant frequency of the instrument (or multiple/fraction thereof) the instrument absorbs the energy from the string, so the string vibration itself dies quickly - much of its energy has been transmitted to the rest of the instrument. Various solutions have been marketed, including a clamp that fastens to the headstock. That changes the mass of the instrument and lowers the resonant frequency some. Some players have found that this helps, others found that it just moved the "dead spot" to another note.

If you have a neck and body that are not resonant at any particular frequency, you probably won't experience a dead spot. Your sustain might be great. But you may well find that the instrument lacks tonal character then and sounds sterile.

No easy answers here. If you add a headstock clamp, you might find that the problem just moves to another location. Same with a new neck. Or you may get lucky and either might solve your problem. You pay your money and take your chances.