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Double Bass What's the Scoop?

goodgig

goodgig

Inactive
Jul 8, 2006
148
9
Macclenny, Florida
#1
I recently had a new bridge put on my bass. It does not have adjusters and I hear an improvement. I put mittel Spiros on and find that the tension is more than I'm use to. I now have a sore tendon on the top of my forearm and wanted to lower the string height before I decide on loosing the Spiros (love the sound!). My luthier said that the bass has a lot of scoop. How do you measure scoop? What is the standard height for scoop? Thanks . . . .
 
#2
the E string will be your straight edge.. place index finger on E string @ the end of the FB..press to FB..notice from the end of the FB to the nut,the deflection (airspace between string and FB)..like this (| ..well sort of....thats the scoop. there are many threads that address, how where, why and who. ;)
 
#3
Forester, Thanks for the info. I searched around and saw quite a few posts on scoop. I'm just looking for a guide for what is reasonable for string hight at the lowest dip in the fingerboard, just to see if the scoop on my bass is excessive. Anyone else have any input?
 
#4
Average is about 1/2 the diameter of the string to the same as the diameter of the string- the scoop is least for the G and most for the E string.

Its also not symmetrical end to end but you're just looking to see if you're in the county, let alone the ballpark. :)
 
#5
Jake,

Thanks for the info. The E string side looks about right based on what you said but I can sneak a Spiro Mittel E string under the G string. By the way, my fingerboard was dressed quite a while ago and that luthier asked if I was going to play jazz or classical. I said jazz and he rounded the finger board width so all the string heights are the same. There is not a lot of meat left on the fingerboard.
 
#6
you can deal W/stringheight by a) re-arching bridge, b) installing adjusters (recommended). take the bridge back to your man...have him install so that you make adj. lower than present height...careful not to drop your SP when you take off the bridge...and keep an eye on your FB, thin tends to curl upward..(Florida scoop). good luck
 

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