Soundpost Blues

RadicalDad · #1 09-30-2006, 01:56 PM

This summer, while travelling through the mountains with my bass in the car, I had a minor accident with a deer. (Well, not so minor for the deer - it probably died a slow death). While the impact was minor, the avoidance maneuver was pretty rough.

When I got home, the bass played poorly. I took it to a luthier who saw the soundpost leaning at an angle. He reset it. Still didn't sound great. Since then the soundpost has been reset twice more, once by a different luthier. One of the luthiers said the post was too tight and shortened it.

Problem is, the bass still sounds bad. Its as if the lower bout never gets engaged. It used to have a rich warm woody tone. Now it sounds dull and lifeless, especially on the E and A strings. With the last reset, the A string is one long wolf tone from about G all the way up to the end of the fingerboard.

The bridge is in the right place and the strings were replaced on the hunch they had gotten old.

I am sooooooo frustrated. I want my old sound back! I am tempted to get some proper tools and learn how to set the post myself, but after reading the soundpost threads on Talkbass, I'm not sure that is wise.

What should I expect when I take my bass for a sount post reset? When I play the bass in the shop, its hard to tell quickly whether the sound is good. How can I get someone to take their time with it and get the bass back where it belongs? Any other suggestions as to what the problem may be?

Sigh.

toman · #2 09-30-2006, 08:06 PM

Adjusting your own soundpost isn't that serious; just mark where it is to start, and if you mess it up to much, just get it back to that point. If you knock it out alltogether, you may have to go to the luthier though. You don't really even need the right tools, I've adjusted soundposts with a big BBQ spatula that I have...

Other than that though, sounds like you need to just talk to a few luthiers and find one willing to take the time to work with you.

uptonbass · #3 10-01-2006, 05:58 AM

As the arching changes in relation to where the post is positioned the length of the post NEEDS to be adjusted i.e. cut down as you go toward the ff's and lengthened by means of stretching....not not really you will need another post

Of course toward the lower and upper bout have an impact but typically not as significant in most instruments

DIY Slight adjustments are ok to play with but really if you do have to move significantly (more than a few mm in any direction) the post MUST be cut or replaced period.

99 percent of posts we "adjust" at the shop end up being replaced before we even get started. Not to say we want overly tight posts but if you take the tension off of the instrument and the post falls without encouragement, chances are its not a position problem and more so a size and fit issue..

Then there is the diameter of the post to consider.......

Point being a GOOD experienced luthier really is important get the bass evaluated and find the issue(s) and get the bass running on all 4. Best of luck!

arnoldschnitzer · #4 10-01-2006, 07:20 AM

Gary is right on about the soundpost. I'm really anal about the post fitting well to the top plate. As we've mentioned here ad nauseum previously, even a small relocation of the post pretty much ensures that it no longer fits. And an ill-fitting post can contribute to a split top.

RadicalDad, you say your bass has major wolf tones that weren't there before...has anyone lit up the inside of the bass to see if perhaps the bass bar has come partially un-glued? This can cause horrible loss of tone and extreme wolfiness. I hope I'm off base...

Stingrayz · #5 10-01-2006, 12:03 PM

Your tone died with the deer you hit !

Stingrayz · #6 10-01-2006, 01:23 PM

Lol Ken..

Well we have camels out in the desert, one hump ofcourse :P, but trust me, you would have bigger problems if you crash into one of those, the force of impact could flip a truck, i've seen it myself, but im glad we aint go no wild deer running around.

RadicalDad · #7 10-01-2006, 05:26 PM

I can understand if the soundpost is moved from where it had been, the length might need to be changed. But I just wanted it back in the place it had been originally. Once upon a time, this bass sounded great with the existing soundpost.

I'm wondering about the loose bass bar theory. It really is the E and A strings that are the problem. Though if it were loose, wouldn't it rattle? Would I not see some deflection in the top?

I'm guessing that if 2 competent (I think) luthiers have reset the soundpost and it STILL sounds bad, something else is going on. One of the luthiers is the person who did about $2,000 of work on the bass when I first bought it last spring. (Its a 40 yr old carved bass that needed some TLC.) One assumes she would have found the same sweet spot for the soundpost that she did before. I'll have one of them look a little harder. Anything else I could suggest to them? Do I need to offer them something to "live" with the bass a little bit to really hear what is going on? (The luthier who did the $2,000 worth of work reset the post for free - not sure that was really a good deal)

Its just before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. If I atone for hitting the deer (or was it a camel?) perhaps my tone will come back. Meantime I won't be able to check Talkbass until Tuesday morning. Thanks very much for the help so far.

Ozmoid · #8 04-22-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RadicalDad

One assumes she would have found the same sweet spot for the soundpost that she did before.

Don't assume, just go ask her to give a listen and see if she thinks she can get closer to the sound she got the first time... nicely, if course.

fdeck · #9 04-22-2010, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stingrayz

Your tone died with the deer you hit !

In Wisconsin, you get extra tone for every deer that you hit.

Tim Skaggs · #10 04-22-2010, 10:26 PM

Quote:

One of the luthiers said the post was too tight and shortened it.

Funny how that works. I stood and visited with a luthier at a festival over the past few years and watched him work on multiple basses. On almost all of them, he removed the sound post, shortened it slightly, and re-set. Now, I know a lot of newer Chinese and even Englehardt basses have the sound post set with enough pressure to keep it in place even with strings removed, but all basses? I know he shortened the soundpost on 15 or 20 & some were very old Kays. Perhaps just a matter of setup theory by this individual.

Now your bass; sounded good before the deer incident, and suddenly the sound post is too long? I'm skeptical.