Weird Medium Scale Bass Intonation prob.s

KingFace66 · #1 04-14-2004, 02:18 PM

I've got a 1976 Les Paul Triumph Bass in excellent condition. The intonation within the neck is fine and it stays in tune very well. However, earlier today I was listening to a recording of some rough mixes my band just did and damned if the bass didn't sound slightly out of tune. (My guitar player and I used the same tuner and tuned constantly). Anyway, I compared it to my P-Bass just now and they both show the same correct tuning on the tuner I use, but they SOUND slightly askew! Is it in my head, or is this something to do with the shorter scale neck producing more vibrations (or less)? Any thoughts would be awesome.

Hambone · #2 04-14-2004, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingFace66

I've got a 1976 Les Paul Triumph Bass in excellent condition. The intonation within the neck is fine and it stays in tune very well. However, earlier today I was listening to a recording of some rough mixes my band just did and damned if the bass didn't sound slightly out of tune. (My guitar player and I used the same tuner and tuned constantly). Anyway, I compared it to my P-Bass just now and they both show the same correct tuning on the tuner I use, but they SOUND slightly askew! Is it in my head, or is this something to do with the shorter scale neck producing more vibrations (or less)? Any thoughts would be awesome.

Is this something you noticed just recently or has it been a problem in the past. You sound like your experience would keep you grom getting too fooled by a klinker. Perhaps a better test would be to measure fretted notes on your tuner between the two basses. Open strings (harmonic notes included) can be in tune while the fretted cousins are slightly out.

Other than that, and getting a little more research data, I'm outa ideas.

KingFace66 · #3 04-14-2004, 09:24 PM

I got the bass a few months ago. Prior to that, I've only ever played long scale necks (P-Basses, and a couple old Thunderbirds) so I was just a little uncertain about the nuances of a medium scale neck. It could be in my head, but I'm definitely hearing SOME difference. I checked the harmonics and matched it against the P-bass, as I mentioned, and yet there's something a little different.
'Course it could be 20 years of high decible playing through SVTs!