Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses

[tymbrewolf]

Back to pinned bridges. Could one not use washers on the strings to turn any pin bridge to pinless.

Wood strap buttons can look nice especially if you are careful with your guitars

 

[Don M]

Back to pinned bridges. Could one not use washers on the strings to turn any pin bridge to pinless.

Wood strap buttons can look nice especially if you are careful with your guitars

Are pinned bridges drilled through or just partially drilled?

 

[macmanlou]

Are pinned bridges drilled through or just partially drilled?

They are drilled through, both bridge and body.

 

[Don M]

They are drilled through, both bridge and body.

Thanks

Back to pinned bridges. Could one not use washers on the strings to turn any pin bridge to pinless.

I would say yes.....but I don't know for sure....

 

[hushnel]

Could one not use washers on the strings to turn any pin bridge to pinless

You probably could, depending on the proximity of the bracing, and you would want the washers to lay flat on the bridge plate. It’s possible they may buzz, maybe not if they were small enough and the tension seated them evenly. If I was going to try this I would find a small thin washer that fitted the G string then drill out the proper diameters holes for the D, A, and E. Personally I would just stick with the pins.

 

[skycruiser]

A word of caution on the Ibanez short scale ABGs (AVNB1E and AVNB2E, possibly others). My new bass has a defective wire braid over the pickup that causes very severe variation in string volume. It is worn clean through in a ~1/2" length of the pickup, which I'm guessing causes uneven compression of the pickup and the resulting uneven volume. Fortunately I'm able to get an exchange, but I'm considering switching to a completely different bass. Wire braid is suitable for shielding, but seems like a poor material choice to use under compression. It is compressed and constantly in compression vibration in use, so over time it seems like those wires will all give out and break. I haven't seen these in person, but searching google for "under saddle pickup" I don't see many that are covered in wire braid. Normally they have a plastic conformal coating of some sort. Anyway, I'm not sure yet which way I want to go with this but leaning toward not getting another Ibanez, possibly not an acoustic. I need to decide in a couple of days. I will only have one bass for quite a while most likely and the ABG may not be the most practical choice now that I have an amp.

 

[hushnel]

Thanks for the heads up, I’ll pull the saddle tomorrow and take care of it. I figured I’d wait until a string change, I get a slightly less signal off the “E” string. I’ve been wanting to take a look at it.

 

[skycruiser]

I would love to see a picture of someone elses pickup. Mine is shown below. I don't know exactly why they used wire braid over the pickup. It's a good shielding material but not sure about compressing it under a saddle. And I don't know how something like this could have gotten through Quality Control at Ibanez, or if it means my bass went through some sort of trauma before it came to me. Supposedly it was a new bass, and otherwise looks new.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Being a tech, I see lots of the flexible, braided piezos. They are very durable, and as long as the bottom of the slot is nice and flat, they perform well.

I’m sorry about your bad luck, but that looks like physical damage, not wear.

There’s no way that a plastic or bone saddle is ever going to chew up the metal braid like that.

As long as you didn’t chew up the braid up with a tool of some sort, you are owed a new pickup.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Thanks for the heads up, I’ll pull the saddle tomorrow and take care of it. I figured I’d wait until a string change, I get a slightly less signal off the “E” string. I’ve been wanting to take a look at it.

The most common cause of signal imbalance from string to string, is uneven pressure on the piezo.

Make sure that the saddle isn’t so tight that it binds in the slot. If you have to jam it in, that could be the problem. Don’t go crazy with the sandpaper when you thin it down- you only need to take off a few thou.

Check that the bottom of the saddle is perfectly smooth and flat. If there is moulding flash on the bottom of the saddle, scraping it off can be enough to resolve the problem.

The other possibility is that slot in the bridge is uneven. This is harder to correct, so consider taking it to a tech if that’s the issue.

 

[hushnel]

I pulled the saddle this morning, it’s a little looser than I like, it’s some kind of plastic, I did draw a pattern so I can rough cut a piece of Corian. On a dead flat surface it did wobble a small bit, I leveled the bottom/contact and put it back together.

The transducer didn’t have the mesh.

Thanks Steve, I totally agree with your bridge/saddle assessment.

For those that don’t have experience with pins make sure that when installing the pin that it slides past the string ball and the ball end is not resting on the bottom of the pin when you tension the string. I didn’t bother slotting the pin hole. The contact is fine, no real chance of hanging up on the pin tip, if your aware installing the pin.

 

[skycruiser]

I pulled the saddle this morning, it’s a little looser than I like, it’s some kind of plastic, I did draw a pattern so I can rough cut a piece of Corian. On a dead flat surface it did wobble a small bit, I leveled the bottom/contact and put it back together.

The transducer didn’t have the mesh.

Thanks Steve, I totally agree with your bridge/saddle assessment.

For those that don’t have experience with pins make sure that when installing the pin that it slides past the string ball and the ball end is not resting on the bottom of the pin when you tension the string. I didn’t bother slotting the pin hole. The contact is fine, no real chance of hanging up on the pin tip, if your aware installing the pin.

View attachment 3456351

Thanks for sharing the photo of your hushnel. That looks more like what I inspected when I pulled my saddle. Apparently they "upgraded" to a flakier design for the AVN series. On mine the slot and saddle surfaces are smooth and flat.

 

[SBassman]

Great posts everyone.

 

[hushnel]

Even with the bridge flat the E string was still a bit weak. I pulled it and check the level, made a few more passes. Still had the problem. Figure it had to be the slot. I’d pluck the E and push down on the bridge and the volume would increase. Went back in, added a little aluminum foil under the E. Back together it worked but now the A and G were weak. I added the same amount of foil under the string positions of the saddle. It worked. The transducer itself seems to have steps in it. When I have the time I’ll cut a new bridge, level the saddle slot, maybe find a better transducer. I’m thinking the problems are the transducer, I’ll know for sure when I check the Saddle slot.

 

[OtherLisa]

Howdy all,

I'm looking to buy a Taylor Mini Bass and am wondering if there is any real difference between the 2017 and 2018 releases that anyone here knows of.

Thanks in advance!

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Howdy all,

I'm looking to buy a Taylor Mini Bass and am wondering if there is any real difference between the 2017 and 2018 releases that anyone here knows of.

Thanks in advance!

I played some older-stock Taylors that had fairly serious intonation issues as early as the 9th and 10th frets.

I played a recent delivery about a month ago, and the intonation was perfect.

The older ones were mahogany back and sides, while the newer one was flamed maple.

I don't know the manufacture dates of any of them, but it's suggestive...

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Killer sound from an Esteves 30" scale nylon-strung bass (in other words, a larger, all-solid wood version of the Taylor/Guild/Ibanez guitar-scale basses)...



It's up near the beginning of the video.

Esteves has two models- the PSCB in the video is all solid wood, with Rosewood back and sides. It costs about 2,700 Euros, while the PS75 (25mm shorter scale, laminated back) is around 1,200 Euros. Available in 4 or 6 strings.

 

[SBassman]

Wow. That was a stellar video. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Djadja]

Killer sound from an Esteves 30" scale nylon-strung bass (in other words, a larger, all-solid wood version of the Taylor/Guild/Ibanez guitar-scale basses)...



It's up near the beginning of the video.

Esteves has two models- the PSCB in the video is all solid wood, with Rosewood back and sides. It costs about 2,700 Euros, while the PS75 (25mm shorter scale, laminated back) is around 1,200 Euros. Available in 4 or 6 strings.

Amazing player...

 

[OtherLisa]

STEVE thanks much for that intel. I really have been wondering as the used prices on the ones identified as 2017 seem lower than otherwise.

I'm also wondering about the Guild Jumbo Junior Acoustic-Electric Bass -- has anyone tried it as a point of comparison?

That Esteves is gorgeous but sadly out of my price range...