P-Bass Dead Spots?

[Rich807]

Greetings.

I bought a Fender P-Bass a couple of months ago and all of a sudden I have a significant section of the fretboard that is dead. On the G-string from about the 7th fret the notes start to get a tin sound to them, then from the 11th thru 15th frets they go dead then start to come back on the last couple of frets.

Thanks for the help in advance.....

A bass raw newbie.

Edit: Found the problem. The G-string's bridge hardware had backed out letting the string bottom out on the pickup while fretting on that section of the board.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by Rich807

Greetings.

I bought a Fender P-Bass a couple of months ago and all of a sudden I have a significant section of the fretboard that is dead. On the G-string from about the 7th fret the notes start to get a tin sound to them, then from the 11th thru 15th frets they go dead then start to come back on the last couple of frets.

Thanks for the help in advance.....

A bass raw newbie.

Edit: Found the problem. The G-string's bridge hardware had backed out letting the string bottom out on the pickup while fretting on that section of the board.

Hi Rich807. Welcome to TB!

In general Ive found that pickups should be close enough to the strings to achieve a strong electrical output/crisp, full sound when played through an amp, yet far enough from the strings to minimize magnetic damping of string vibrations leading to a loss of sustain, dynamic range, and the onset of 'Statitis' (dissonant harmonics).

In conjunction with proper neck relief and a good string height at the nut & bridge (low enough for playing with subtle dexterity, yet high enough for meaty pick/finger attacks), properly adjusted pickup heights will yield an instrument which sounds good acoustically (a loud, ringing, response) as well as when amplified.

I prefer to keep pickups on a level plane with the pick-guard and raise (or lower) them via 1/4 or 1/8 turns of the height adjustment screws until I 'zero in' on the tone and playing response which best suits a particular instrument.

BTW. Pickup height also has a subtle affect how string height/action feels due to the pickup's magnetic pull.

[Rich807]

Thanks for the reply and the welcome. I'm very very uneducated in all things music so if anything goes awry I'm kind of lost at this point....thank goodness for TB.

I started to pick up the bass last summer as kind of a do-as-I-do example for my kids whom are into guitar and keyboard at this point (and advance at a pace like quadruple what I do ) Anyhow, it's been fun and has occupied a ton of my time, for little $. I just wish I could spend more time every day on it.

I need to learn way more about action, adjustments, and other setup tricks hopefully soon as I think I'm well past the "try it" stage and have decided to make playing happen.

Anyhow, thanks again as I've been lurking here for a number of months but have found pretty much everything I needed just by using the search feature.