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"Dead Spot" question...

#5
In my experience the wood type makes very little difference although, come to think of it, I didn't have any dead spot problems with either of the ebony fingerboarded basses I owned. In the end I think overall mass of the neck has more to do with whether or not dead spots will be apparent on a bass. You might want to do a search - you'll find the subject of dead spots comes up fairly frequently on this forum.
 
#9
Yeah, most of my basses have some "less than ringing" spot somewhere on the neck, but I have never had it affect actually performing anything... I mean, I've hit those notes, but only in passing, not dwelling on them and holding them out long enough for anyone to notice the lack of sustain compared to other notes.

To me, it's been a non-issue. But it gives us something to talk about besides "what color pickguard?...."
 
#10
How many of you are using flats? ;)

Nothing will reveal dead spots liike flatwound strings. They don't make them, but they certainly bring them out in the open!

I don't think I've ever played a bass (certainly not a conventional one) without dead spots. If you think yours doesn't have them, I'll assume:

You don't know what a dead spot is, or what one feels or sounds like, or..

You've hidden or minimized it with really twangy roundwounds, technique, or compensatory adjustments elsewhere in the signal path.
 
#12
Yeah, I've had them on just about every kind of neck & fingerboard except one.....composite. The same goes for "wolf notes". They're not on every wood neck bass, but they're on a lot of them. Fenders usually have one (dead or very live) between the C & E notes on the G string. Sometimes they can be eliminated or minimized by set ups, different strings or different bridges & neck adjustments, but not always. I have two basses with composite necks &/or fingerboards. One is a custom Elrick 5 string with a composite fingerboard on a wooden neck & the other is a Modulus Jazz with a composite neck. Neither has any wolf or dead notes anywhere on the neck & both are on many records.
 
#13
Bongolation said:
You don't know what a dead spot is, or what one feels or sounds like
Click to expand...

I see the term come up all the time but I don't know what it is or what causes it. Only thing I noticed on my basses and guitars is that they sound duller in the upper frets, if you compare the E at the 12h fret and the E at the 7th fret, you can hear that difference, but I don't think that is what people refer to as dead spots. So what it is exactly ?
 
#14
Professor Jones said:
I see the term come up all the time but I don't know what it is or what causes it. Only thing I noticed on my basses and guitars is that they sound duller in the upper frets, if you compare the E at the 12h fret and the E at the 7th fret, you can hear that difference, but I don't think that is what people refer to as dead spots. So what it is exactly ?
Click to expand...

You can do a search on the subject but I'll offer a concise definition. A "dead spot" is the term typically given to a note on a bass whose fundamental "dies" much faster in relation to the other notes' fundamentals. What is typically left is the sustain of the upper harmonics (a fifth above the fundamental is often the most obvious). Dead spots vary in their severity and what one person considers a dead spot could very well go undetected by another.
 
#17
I've got 1 note (D on the G-string) that's less 'live' on my custom 5-string '51 TeleP bass. I never notice it playing most things, but it's enough to mess with tracking on a pitch shifter or octaver. If I know I'm going to using an octaver or such I just toss a Groove Tube FatFinger on the headstock and the problem is gone. Everything rings true and the octaver/pitch shifter tracks fine.
 
#18
EagleMoon said:
I agree that all basses have dead spots to a degree. I've found much more intense ones on maple fingerboards however.
Click to expand...

This would make sense if you consider maple's reputation for being "brighter" than, for example, rosewood. I find basses that are "brighter" sounding often emphasise the upper harmonics more and this can further obscure the weak/fast decaying fundamental of a dead spot.
 

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