I have an old no name ply bass that I can't seem to get completely comfortable with. It just seems to tight tension wise. Even with gut strings on it. I have tried various strings Raised saddle extended tailpiece cable none of these things really made much of a difference The bridge is at about 6 1/2" high It has had a set up at the luthiers who fit an adjustable bridge & dressed the neck. The scale lenghth is about 41" or so, same as my carved bass. One thing I noticed when comparing things to my carved is that the notches in the nut may be just hair or so higher. Could this make that big a difference? Also the neck angle is steeper Could this be a soundpost issue somehow? Soundpost to tight? The bass actually has a really nice tone and it's driving me a little nutty as to why I can't seem to get it to feel better. Any suggestions? Kevinlee
Actually Kevin, all the stuff you've mentioned above could be a problem. What kind of strings are you using? What genre are you interested in? ( jazz, classical....arco, pizz ?) It's surprising how bringing down the nut a bit can loosen up your action. Don't go TOO far. The old "business card" width rule applies. When you say "raised saddle" do you mean just a thicker bottom saddle, or an actual "boot"? This can sometimes be a last course of action for tight basses....this would be a job for your luthier though and probably not inexpensive. Let us know.
Right now I have Corelli 380 on there. I had Gut on prior to these. I don't do any arco playing, none that counts anyway just pizz and some slap. I play with a few different bands doing Bluegrass, Rockabilly Swing, Honky Tonk/country swing and the occasional Jazz gig. The raised saddle was one my luthier made for me out of ebony. It was about 1" high and sat on top of the fixed saddle. I had a picture of one from an old Italian bass and he modeled it after that. It really didn't seem to make much of a difference though. Yea the nut might be the place to focus on. I mean I had gut strings on this thing and it still felt tight. It's not unplayable by any means, just not where I would like it. Does the soundpost ever have any bearing on tightness factor? Kevinlee
Please explain fingerboard camber, and how one remedies it's excess? Nothing I'd try, just trying to get educated
Camber is the scoop or relief in the board, correct? If my camber is excessive, I need the board flattened out a bit perhaps. Also on this bass it seems the relief/scoop is more in middle of the board. I think I would prefer it more towards the end of the fingerboard. Does this sound logical? Kevinlee
I dunno if Arnold and our other luthiers will agree, I suspect they will. Alot of us players think (rightly or wrongly) that there's a "Sweet Spot" for the sound post in relation to the bridge. The "Mojo" part of this may be a little "out" for serious luthiers. I just feel there's a place for the sound post to be in on most basses and if ya get it in there, everything just opens up in terms of sound and more importantly, to me, the action. I feel, if the post isn't in the right place that it can tighten the sound and the feel... most definately!
Well in the case of this bass it sounds damn good. So it's just a physical thing. I might have the board redone and maybe have the soundpost adusted a bit just to see what happens.
