F sounds like E

[jonesbass3]

New strings and set up by the Bass Place on my Kiesel Vader....when I finger a low F on the E string it sounds like an E. what the heck? any ideas?

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

Check your intonation at the bridge.

 

[songwriter21]

New strings and set up by the Bass Place on my Kiesel Vader....when I finger a low F on the E string it sounds like an E. what the heck? any ideas?

Yup, intonation is off, and possibly the saddle height, too, because of a goofy fret. I've had weird occurrences where an unlevel fret can sound like the same note as the previous or next note, unless you alter the string/saddle height until you get the fret leveled.

 

[Zooberwerx]

New strings and set up by the Bass Place on my Kiesel Vader....when I finger a low F on the E string it sounds like an E. what the heck? any ideas?

How does it "look" on a quality tuner?

Riis

 

[byacey]

I've run into incidence of this when there isn't enough mids for the ear to recognize the pitch. The mid and high frequency content is where all the intelligibility of the notes lie. Everything else down in the low end is just unrecognizable mud.

 

[Turnaround]

Check to see if the open E string is touching the first fret. If so, the E string nut slot is cut too deep.