- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
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1962 Jazz $20K on the bay
- Thread starter themacinator
- Start date
Hey Dan, I have no desire to hijack this thread again, but all of this talk of sending sound vibrations through wood and opening it up and removing dead spots and stuff got me thinking. I have a bass that I love but it has a section of the neck where when I hit that section on one string for about 5 consecutive frets, the volume doubles and it rattles everything around the room. Things start falling off shelves, the neighborhood dogs start barking, etc. I learned on TB that it's called a "wolf tone" and this Wikipedia entry describes it:
Wolf tone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Do you know anything about this phenomenon and do you know of any way to get rid of it? We can take it offline if you think nobody else would be interested. Other than the wolf tone, the bass sounds fantastic but this phenomenon keeps me from using the bass live anymore. Maybe I can send some sound waves into it and alter it somehow to kill it.
It may sound like I'm joking, but actually I am not. Wondering if you ever heard of this and if there is a way to cure it. And we can take it off-line if you wish.
Wolf tone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Do you know anything about this phenomenon and do you know of any way to get rid of it? We can take it offline if you think nobody else would be interested. Other than the wolf tone, the bass sounds fantastic but this phenomenon keeps me from using the bass live anymore. Maybe I can send some sound waves into it and alter it somehow to kill it.
It may sound like I'm joking, but actually I am not. Wondering if you ever heard of this and if there is a way to cure it. And we can take it off-line if you wish.
You could buy the guy's white Thunderbird for $28,500 if you needed a vintage metal bass.
It sounds the opposite of a dead spot.... I remember they used to sell a brass clamp/plate for the headstock called a Fatfinger and a Fathead. Not too pretty!!
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f18/dead-spots-8056/
.
Yes, that's exactly what it is. It's a live spot. And it seriously does rattle everything in the room. Thanks for that link. My guitar tech says it's the nature of the instrument and that there's nothing that can be done about it. But I'm still holding out hope. Of all my basses, it's probably my second favorite bass, so it bums me out. I never sell anything, but if I ever do sell it, I suppose that I will have to disclose this anomaly. Now that I think about it, I should sell it on TB and say "but don't worry, because it's above the fifth fret and you can't make any money up there anyway."
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
before i'd consider it a 'wolf tone' i'd listen to it first unplugged, and then thru headphones. you could also plug it into a console and observe the VU meter. if it's only happening thru the amp, it could be the speaker cab's strongest resonant frequency, the room that you're in, or the voicing of you amp, since wolf tones are generally not that pronounced on electric basses.
Hi John. It doesn't have to be plugged into an amp to get the effect. I've had it in multiple amps, in multiple rooms. It's in the bass, itself. I forget what all my tech did to try to get rid of it, but he couldn't. There is just this "sweet spot" where the bass seems to resonate profoundly. I don't understand the physics of it. You can actually feel the bass vibrating in your hands without it even being plugged in. It's on the A string right around the octave for a few consecutive frets and then the next fret, normal again. And when I say "profound" I mean it.
Now THAT's what I'd call a real PEACH!
Looks all genuine and the price is closer to right for an
axe of that caliber. Beautiful find.
. . . . if only I had a spare $15k . . . sigh!
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- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
It's a Fender Precision "hot rodded" p-bass. I have the exact specs on it at home but I'm at work at the moment. What really stinks is it's a special edition run of only 12 ever made. It's in surf green with a matching headstock. So it's not like I can just go and buy the exact same bass.
I would return an SX with that kind of fretwork
What kind of fretwork? I don't see anything amiss.
The fret end bevel is under the middle of the E string. It should have a little room like it does on the right side.
I wouldn't blame that on the fretwork per se. There is what could be a sanding swale or wear that starts shortly after the nut which brings the edge of the neck in closer to the E string than it is at the end of the nut.
Also note that the nut end on the E string side isn't as "square" as it is on the G string side and the roundover of the fingerboard between the nut and first fret on the E string side as well.
No surprise. Vintage Fenders are great, but certainly not on par with the likes of Sadowsky or Lull in the attention to detail.
While they aren't, since they're just run of the mill production instruments, comparing them to Sadowskys or Lulls is an apples and space shuttles comparison.
Ah crap! It figures that one of my dream basses, if it proves to be real, would come up for sale right before I have to do my taxes. Yes I'll be paying Uncle Sammy this year.
I can't afford to dry up my liquid cash flow on toys. Damn it!
I can't afford to dry up my liquid cash flow on toys. Damn it!
That looks like a sander was a bit hungry.
If the bass was beat up and used for all of these years,
I'd think it was just all the years of a thumb wearing it down, but it looks like the bass was hardly ever played and it's more like a sanding error from the factory.
Take a look at your Sadowskys and Lulls fifty years from now. I'll bet you that their fingerboards are rounded from wear then, just like that Fender is now.
Take a look at your Sadowskys and Lulls fifty years from now. I'll bet you that their fingerboards are rounded from wear then, just like that Fender is now.
There is that.
