Weak Sounding 'A' string - Nothing to be done?

[JJBluegrasser]

Hi Everyone,
I hope you don't mind me reviving an old post, but I thought I'd give an update.

I've been playing my bass for 6 months now waiting patiently for it to sound as good overall as it did before I had my repairs done. I went back to my luthier to get a sound post adjustment and to talk to him about the A string and the overall tone. He moved the post and said "Does that sound better?" I told him that it was hard to tell in his shop (but I thought maybe a little), so I took it for another month or so and played it out and it wasn't really any better.

This past weekend I cheated on my luthier and took it to Gael (worked 3 years with Gage) at Bob Beerman's shop in Greensboro Gael was very responsive and very interested in helping me. He understood what I was trying to explain to him, and he had a few suggestions. First, he found substantial dips and bumps in my fingerboard as well as too much scoop overall on the G, D and A strings and way too little on the E. He also found that the sound post was
much longer (about 1/4") than he would recommend. He corrected these items to his specs (I realize preferences in scoop and SP length differ between luthiers), and he evened out the fingerboard in general.

The result? My bass sounds different...again. Truthfully, the A sounds MUCH better. Everything is very clear and fast (articulate) in a way that I've never heard my bass sound. I've been using Spirocores for years now, and the set I have are 8 months old, but the bass now sounds dry and has lost even more of the 'booty' it had. It doesn't sound 'bad' by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't sound as good as it can. I'm embarking on another string search for the first time in a while to see if I can help the problem. I'm hoping that a Dominant ADG with the Spiro E will help to mellow the thing out again.


What's my point here? I have a bass that I love. I bought it for a very resonable price and I played it for 3 years without doing anything but changing strings. It sounded great! I got compliments on it all the time. I took it in for a 'check up' and discovered that the finger pain I was experiencing was the fault of a warped fingerboard. Then my bridge cracked. Now I'm in for twice the value of the instrument and it sounds bad (okay, not BAD per se). Random people who've been listening to me play for years are asking me 'did you change something about your bass? It doesn't sound the same as it used to."

Don't be afraid to keep your axe in good shape, and don't read this to imply that luthiers are at fault. They're not. It's a big piece of wood that by black magic and luck sounds good as an instrument. All the science in the world can't tell you exactly how to build one to everyone's taste. If you change something, expect a big difference and be prepared to lose something. It's a gamble. You may win big, you may lose. Change one thing at a time. Find a luthier who only does basses and make sure that he or she can and will spend the time to talk to you and understand what you're looking for in your sound. And make sure you understand what the possible ramifications could be with any repair.


Where oh where, are you tonight?
Why did you leave me here all alone?
I've search the world over and thought I'd found true love...
You met another and plsspt, you were gone!

Jason

[Silversorcerer]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

its also a bit odd because the A string is in my experience usually the one that sounds BEST on a double bass. So yeah, try to set it up for the A only and see what happens to the rest ...

Chris F, me displaying my ignorance of US muso culture here. I do know what it is, but what is "G.A.S list" an acronym for??

That would be "Gear Acquisition Syndrome". It's chronic with forum members. I had no GAS until I started reading Talkbass! But the list is much shorter now and I'm a much happier player.

I think it depends on the individual bass, which string is the strongest. It's got a lot to do with resonances that are built in. All of the C's on my bass are strong no matter which string you play them on. The open strings are quieter than the low "G" stop on the same string.

I think the tension on the string, and that is an oblique way of saying the downward force on the bridge that a particular string contributes, is one way to try to adjust for the instruments characteristics. The strings that are the highest, ususally the A and D (on my 5 string, the A is higher than the rest) will contribute more force on the bridge than the G and E because of the difference in the bridge height.

In any case, my experience is that the A is usually a strong string and the E is the one that can be weak. So your situation is a little unusual.

[jfv]

Originally Posted by Silversorcerer

That would be "Gear Acquisition Syndrome". It's chronic with forum members. I had no GAS until I started reading Talkbass!

No GAS? You arent thinking broadly enough, GAS is really the fuel
that makes this big capitalist/consumerist machine we live in run
Every waking minute we are bombarded with why we need to go
'acquire' this that and the other thing, bass players are just working
out their lil corner of the world

[Silversorcerer]

Originally Posted by jfv

No GAS? You arent thinking broadly enough, GAS is really the fuel
that makes this big capitalist/consumerist machine we live in run
Every waking minute we are bombarded with why we need to go
'acquire' this that and the other thing, bass players are just working
out their lil corner of the world

Really? Well I suppose if you say so;- well no, not really. You have to look pretty far beyond the mainstream media sales pitch to decide you need to own a carved double bass. I mean I didn't see any adds on the Sports Bar TV screen for a hand carved anything. The bass gear market is a pretty small niche.

Every trade has it's tools and I'm sure it made sense to keep the tools of the trade up to par when the economy ran on buckwheats and the government was a cheiftan. I can't imagine that anyone anytime that was using a tool to do something didn't entertain the notion of obtaining a better tool or improving the one they were using. It's human nature, if not all of nature.