Extended Peg Head For Low B = better B?

[PhatBasstard]

Hey PB-
This is an honest question. If this is the case how is it that one 35 inch scale bass can have a horribly floppy B, while another say a Roscoe has an incredibly tight B yet they sound the same note? Same note, vastly different tensions. Right?

Vastly different tensions on two 35" scale instruments? Not if the string guages, types, and (obviously) pitches are the same. How about nut slot depth or bridge height or neck relief or amount of magnetic pull on the strings due to pickup type or distance from the strings (something that is not given enough consideration in setups).

Why does one bass sound and play vastly different from another of the same model and setup? Too many variables in materials and manufacturing to say for sure most times.

I use a .120 B vs the .125-.135 that seem to be the norm, so mine should be "floppier" than most. Neither on any of my old 34" scale instruments nor on my current 35" scales were they ever "floppy" (even hipshoted down to A).

On the flipside I've played basses that other players have said had a floppy B and had no such problems. Also played some pretty high end instruments that were supposed to have "B strings from God", and was not impressed.

Until every material and manufacturing method becomes a total constant, there are always going to be anomalies.

 

[temp5897]

Vastly different tensions on two 35" scale instruments? Not if the string guages, types, and (obviously) pitches are the same. How about nut slot depth or bridge height or neck relief or amount of magnetic pull on the strings due to pickup type or distance from the strings (something that is not given enough consideration in setups).

Why does one bass sound and play vastly different from another of the same model and setup? Too many variables in materials and manufacturing to say for sure most times.

I use a .120 B vs the .125-.135 that seem to be the norm, so mine should be "floppier" than most. Neither on any of my old 34" scale instruments nor on my current 35" scales were they ever "floppy" (even hipshoted down to A).

On the flipside I've played basses that other players have said had a floppy B and had no such problems. Also played some pretty high end instruments that were supposed to have "B strings from God", and was not impressed.

Until every material and manufacturing method becomes a total constant, there are always going to be anomalies.

I've played some basses that were supposedly well made as well and thought the B string felt absolutely terrible. Almost unusable. Even on a 35 inch scale. Oh well...I am no expert on the matter, and like I said I don't even play the B string so it doesn't really matter to me. I just find the topic interesting.

 

[Nick man]

I think a tight or floppy B has more to do with the way the body fits together and how stiff that is rather than the tension of the string. Its just physics.

Peace
Nick

 

[PhatBasstard]

I think a tight or floppy B has more to do with the way the body fits together and how stiff that is rather than the tension of the string. Its just physics.

Peace
Nick

True. A big factor. As I said in the previous post, "materials", and how rigid those materials are would definately count.

 

[temp5897]

I think a tight or floppy B has more to do with the way the body fits together and how stiff that is rather than the tension of the string. Its just physics.

Peace
Nick

I dunno, I've played basses with pretty stiff necks that had bad B's in my opinion. Besides, when you get into multi laminate necks with dual truss rods, etc and the B still is awful...how can you attribute it to materials? Assuming the bass is "well made"...

 

[PhatBasstard]

I dunno, I've played basses with pretty stiff necks that had bad B's in my opinion. Besides, when you get into multi laminate necks with dual truss rods, etc and the B still is awful...how can you attribute it to materials? Assuming the bass is "well made"...

With the fact that no two pieces of wood are the same (corbon fiber is more consistant, but still not perfect), there are just going to be certain combinations of materials (strings included) where, for whatever reason, the string doesn't resonate well.