Significant tone differences on fretted notes

[dancrocker]

I have a 25 year old US made P-bass. I have recently started playing again after a long dormant period. I am also paying in a church group. As a result, I'm becoming more critical of how the instrument sounds. What I've noticed recently is that fretted notes further up the neck have a distinctly muted tone as compared to those closer to the bridge. This effect seems to be most pronounced on the E string. I actually don't like the sound much and sometimes play the notes just beyond the low E on the A string even when it's not very convenient to do so.

Is this an indication of some sort of setup problem? I had it set up professionally a few years ago. Or, is this normal?

[superhand]

Thats normal. Think about it, you fret a G on the 15th fret of your E string, how is that going to sound the same as an open G? The string is thicker and you are shortening it by over half the length of an open string when you fret it. Doesn't matter how it is set up, it is going to sound different.

[dancrocker]

Originally Posted by superhand

Thats normal. Think about it, you fret a G on the 15th fret of your E string, how is that going to sound the same as an open G? The string is thicker and you are shortening it by over half the length of an open string when you fret it. Doesn't matter how it is set up, it is going to sound different.

Yes, this I can understand. But, I am surprised there's so much difference between B on the E string vs. the A string. Maybe I wasn't clear enough...I'm not talking about notes *that* far up the neck.

[ByF]

You might look at your pickup heights. If the pickups are too close to the strings, the magnetic field can interfere with the motion of the string. If your pickups are tilted or at different heights, or if the action is much lower on one string, you can get this effect.

Ed

[dancrocker]

Originally Posted by ByF

You might look at your pickup heights. If the pickups are too close to the strings, the magnetic field can interfere with the motion of the string. If your pickups are tilted or at different heights, or if the action is much lower on one string, you can get this effect.

Ed

Well, the pickups are definitely tilted; this is the way it's always been since the professional setup. I thought it was odd but assumed it was the way it was supposed to be. I guess I need to review the setup myself. I've never done it before so I'm a little afraid to mess with it.

[ByF]

Yeah, it's pretty common to have the pickups higher on the treble side, so the volume of the skinnier strings matches the fatter strings. Another school of thought is to have the bridge pickup higher on the bass side, and the neck pickup higher on the treble side, to give you a grittier tone on the bass and a more "singing" tone on the treble, for solos.

If you want to preserve the setup, you can raise or lower the pickups without changing the angle--just count turns of the screwdiver, and make the same change on both sides.

It's your bass, feel free to turn the screws!

Ed

[superhand]

I think it is good to get comfortable doing your own set up. I've been tweaking on my basses and guitars for years. I have never paid for a professional set up, because I figure I would probably just change it again to match my playing style. As far as I know the only way you could do any real damage is with a truss rod adjustment but even then you can do that yourself to if you are careful.

I use the set up guide on fender.com as kind of a guideline then I tweak things to match the way I like them. I tend to be a little heavy with my right hand attack so I have to adjust accordingly to get a clean sound.

Just play around with it, you won't hurt anything.