Dead spot removal

[johnk_10]

drilling the holes without adding the weights added did nothing to help the dead spot issue since the headstock needed more weight (not less). plus, the weight of the maple removed for the tungsten cylinder holes was pretty neglible.

[Kirk Bryant]

I love this old thread. (yes sticky)

Conversly I had a MIM Jazz that had both a dead spot and a Wolf tone. This was years before I heard about these different management/attenuation systems. I was working as a temp at BassPlayer Mag. I asked some people how to trick out my MIM J and ended up with a high mass bridge given to me by an editor and lo and behold when I bolted it onto my bass both problems dissapered. I know the neck spot is supposed to be the sweet spot but in my case this worked. Moral of the story....experiment, you might fix the problem with a stick of gum or your thumb..how bout' a ....a...tungston fishing weight...neo mag thingy....
ps; my band mates were shocked rrecently when I banged on my roadworn P and said "I'ts a Fender you can't kill it." (I have personaly parked a car on a 57' P (in about 72') that not only wasn't damaged but didn't go out of tune!) and I kept it for 45 yrs.

to quote frank Z. Necessity is the mother of invention.

peace kirk

[Russell L]

This has all come to my attention just as I am experiencing a dead spot on my MIA Jazz. Actually, it's been there a long time, but I never knew what to do. I had a luthier check the set-up to make sure it wasn't a high fret. My dead spot is C# on the G-string, although B and C are just a tad deader than Bb and further back. I can't wait to get home now and experiment with a clamp or something.

[alnico51]

I am releasing a new machine head design that helps reduce deadspots you can see the details on you tube if interested, no need to drill or plug your bass, they just fit right on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIdpkPsCQTQ

[RobJ]

Interesting concept. While I have zero knowledge regarding the efficacy of these machines, I would suggest the word "caliber" shown in the video be corrected to "caliper". Not trying to be a spelling nazi but stuff like this can hurt credibility. Also you may want to check spelling and grammar on the noahjames website.

I did the like thing on FB so I can see what comments actual users might have. Good luck with your new product.

[J.D.B.]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

EXCELLENT POST!

How did you drill "flat bottom" holes? I am probably wrong, but in the photo those weights appear longer than the thickness of the headstock. The holes don't go all the way through do they?

A Forstner bit in a half-decent drill press. Will get you there.

Josh

[alnico51]

I made a video you can see on youtube on how I remove the deadspots, Really I stabilize the headstock with a new Machine Head design. http://youtu.be/FYzX7RJXzWg

Thanks

Jim Donahue

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by alnico51

I made a video you can see on youtube on how I remove the deadspots, Really I stabilize the headstock with a new Machine Head design. http://youtu.be/FYzX7RJXzWg

I watched a couple of your utubes, very interesting. It seems you're essentially saying, wind the strings to the bottom of the post, remove the string retainer and a straight sided tuner post would aid in keeping the strings low on the post.

Fender used straight sided tuner posts for decades. EBMM and G&L use a tapered post to force the string winding to the bottom of the tuner post. However, they both use string retainers but EBMM has the G string tuner near the nut with their 3+1 tuner arrangement and currently uses a retainer for the A/D strings. MM originally used a retainer for the D/G strings.

Edit: I already use tuners with straight posts (Hipshot U/Ls and Gotoh Res-O-Lites) and keep the strings wound to the bottom of the post. Since I already meet two of your three criteria (straight tuner posts and strings wound to the bottom of the post), I thought I'd conduct a little experiment:

I checked the vibration of the headstock of one of my basses having a Fender style neck both with and without the string retainer (retuned after retainer removed). The headstock vibration when the open G string is plucked does seem to be less with the retainer off, but there seems to be no difference when just the open D string is plucked. YMMV. I've tried it several times with the same results so I'm leaving the retainer off for now to see what happens, if anything.

This makes me wonder about basses with angled headstocks.

[mongo2]

Apropos to my post above, since Sandy hit and we haven't had electric since, I've had a lot of time to try out the bass with no string retainer using a battery powered headphone amp. I like the result and I've removed the string retainer from two other basses.

[Macrocosmcwh]

I dont know if anyone has addressed this yet but what you are talking about is called a "wolf tone". I am a cellist and we struggle with this all the time. You can get a "wolf tone eliminator" They are for sale all over... Not sure if it would work for you but take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_tone there are several wolf tone eliminators on the market... But the one that I used looked like this...
https://yowie.net.au/musicBasket/ind...7e19966a42978d

Just do a search for wolf eliminator. They are cheap enough that you could experiment with it.

[alnico51]

I made a new Video showing the dead spots on a program I downloaded from Itunes it a spectrum analyzer sort of http://youtu.be/FYzX7RJXzWg

[mjac28]

I use a Fender Fat Finger clamp it on and done I bought three and it works as advertised

[spiritbass]

I just got done hiding an ounce of titanium in the headstock of a JB-2 to remove a resonance on the fifth fret on the G string. I know it's physics, but it seems to work like magic
Thanks to Leo for passing this wisdom along and to John for sharing his specific methodology!

[johnk_10]

i'm glad to hear that it worked well for you Ken. i assume that you meant tungsten instead of 'titanium'.

[Brad Johnson]

Very cool fix, John.

[spiritbass]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

i'm glad to hear that it worked well for you Ken. i assume that you meant tungsten instead of 'titanium'.

Uh, yeah - excuse me while I brush my teeth with kryptonite. It obviously works better than my brain does at times...!