Summer/Winter Soundposts

[Ike Harris]

This is my first round of changing seasonal soundposts in my Kolstein since there is a significant humidity issue down here. I just put the winter one back in and as I thought I remembered, the bass sounds much better with the shorter post in - beefier and more focused. With the other, it sounds muffled in comparison. What's up with that? The post fit comfortably when I put it in although there was a quite noticeable rise in the table after fitting - 1/4 inch or so difference in post height. Any comments?

thanks, Ike

[arnoldschnitzer]

Originally Posted by Ike Harris

This is my first round of changing seasonal soundposts in my Kolstein since there is a significant humidity issue down here. I just put the winter one back in and as I thought I remembered, the bass sounds much better with the shorter post in - beefier and more focused. With the other, it sounds muffled in comparison. What's up with that? The post fit comfortably when I put it in although there was a quite noticeable rise in the table after fitting - 1/4 inch or so difference in post height. Any comments?

thanks, Ike

A quarter inch is a HUGE difference! And the top plate should not move much when the post is installed. Are you putting the new post exactly where the old one was? Are there any gaps? I think you might want to have it looked at.

[Gearhead43]

Does an over-tight soundpost serve to dampen the vibration of the overall top & back too much?

I understand (sort of) that the contact points of the soundpost dampen the vibration of those points (nodes?), but it would seem that an overly tight post would tend to dampen the vibration outwards a greater distance from the post.

I would like to learn more about the way the soundpost interacts with the top and back plates. If anyone has any recommended reading I would appreciate it.

[Ike Harris]

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

A quarter inch is a HUGE difference! And the top plate should not move much when the post is installed. Are you putting the new post exactly where the old one was? Are there any gaps? I think you might want to have it looked at.

The longer post was exactly where the shorter one was and didn't seem like I was unduly pushing the top up when installing it. Just slid right in. Would the density(or lack of) of the other post make much difference?

Ike

[Martin Sheridan]

I'd be interested in hearing from you about the sound of your bass after the humidity comes back up if you leave this one in.

It might work year 'round.

[bonaventura]

Originally Posted by Ike Harris

This is my first round of changing seasonal soundposts in my Kolstein since there is a significant humidity issue down here. I just put the winter one back in and as I thought I remembered, the bass sounds much better with the shorter post in - beefier and more focused. With the other, it sounds muffled in comparison. What's up with that? The post fit comfortably when I put it in although there was a quite noticeable rise in the table after fitting - 1/4 inch or so difference in post height. Any comments?

thanks, Ike

Don't need a weatherman to tell the summer post with the quarter inch rise in the top and the muffled sound is not the optimal setup.

As with a lot of things on the bass, even the inexperienced among us can say: "Whatever sounds better is the way to go".

If the "winter soundpost" sounds good in winter, maybe it is good all year 'round, like Master Martin says.

But I am curious to know -- how many mm longer is the summer one? Do you have that much fluctuation in the top? I've got 1 or 1.5 mm max.

Bill