I believe there is no right answer to this question. I tune down a half step cause it makes me feel responsible.
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How about Fender? I beleive they have a bit of history shipping basses all over the world. Every one I've taken right of the box has been more or less in tune.
I used to detune the strings when flying. No more.
last eurotour I did with my CIJ Jazz bass, we did a lot of air travel from point to point. I loosened the strings up each time, and after about the 7th flight in as many days, I noticed a really bad dead spot on the neck around the 3rd fret. on both the D & G strings. really cramped my style playing around it.
Lucky enough, the festival circuit usually has a tech somewhere fixing things.
I phoned the stage manager in advance, and they had someone pick up the bass, take it the tech, he removed the neck, bent it back into shape, reset it, put new strings and gave it a nice setup job. about 10 min before stage time, the bass rolls up in a golf cart, good as new.
Point being, slack in the strings while flying didn't work for me. the neck was bent, but not beyond repair.
last eurotour I did with my CIJ Jazz bass, we did a lot of air travel from point to point. I loosened the strings up each time, and after about the 7th flight in as many days, I noticed a really bad dead spot on the neck around the 3rd fret. on both the D & G strings. really cramped my style playing around it.
Lucky enough, the festival circuit usually has a tech somewhere fixing things.
I phoned the stage manager in advance, and they had someone pick up the bass, take it the tech, he removed the neck, bent it back into shape, reset it, put new strings and gave it a nice setup job. about 10 min before stage time, the bass rolls up in a golf cart, good as new.
Point being, slack in the strings while flying didn't work for me. the neck was bent, but not beyond repair.
- Jun 6, 2012
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- 6,859
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- I don't wait 30 minutes after eating, to go swimming.
Nope. There are people here who know better. Who you gonna believe? I actually don't tie my shoes. I've never tripped and fallen due to them being untied. That's conclusive proof that untied shoelaces are safer than tied.
I haven't read the entire thread, so if this has already been covered, I apologize. The last bass I shipped was via Fed Ex. I've shipped a number of basses over the years using various shippers; but this time was a bit different.
I took it in all packaged up and ready to go. As the woman was measuring, weighing, etc., she asked what it was. I told her a bass guitar. A guy was standing near her and asked me, "Is it detuned?" Seeing where he was about to go with it, I told him it was detuned a bit. But then I said, "You do know though, that most experts suggest they be tuned to pitch when shipping?" He said, "Well WE will not accept one if it's not detuned."
Fed Ex also got the last laugh when they told me the price: Over $72.00 to ship a P-Bass from Memphis to SoCal. I don't think I've paid more than $40.00 to ship one in the past. If this is "the new normal" for shipping prices, looks like most of my future sales will try to go local.
I took it in all packaged up and ready to go. As the woman was measuring, weighing, etc., she asked what it was. I told her a bass guitar. A guy was standing near her and asked me, "Is it detuned?" Seeing where he was about to go with it, I told him it was detuned a bit. But then I said, "You do know though, that most experts suggest they be tuned to pitch when shipping?" He said, "Well WE will not accept one if it's not detuned."
Fed Ex also got the last laugh when they told me the price: Over $72.00 to ship a P-Bass from Memphis to SoCal. I don't think I've paid more than $40.00 to ship one in the past. If this is "the new normal" for shipping prices, looks like most of my future sales will try to go local.
Even Squier. The CV Jazz I ordered arrived in tune. The Freeman PBass was in tune except for one string that was slightly out.
I have no specific expertise, just thinking through it logically. With the neck off the instrument it is under no tension and can be packed in a smaller (more square) package to give it less exposure. With the strings tuned to pitch the headstock takes the full string tension (no truss rod help out there) so that part of the neck is already flexed closer to the limit of it's ability to flex and additional force may push it over. And being on the instrument the headstock is out on the end where it is harder to protect.
I'm not sure which concept is more misunderstood: tension, force, or sarcasm.
They're all savvy about musical instruments now. Some over here won't touch a guitar; others fool you into buying a service yet lie about the insurance, viz Parcelforce.
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No. I am saying (now for the third time) that there are varying opinions on the matter among all sorts of professionals and I subscribe to the professional opinion that tension should be removed from the neck. Pretty simple.
Whether it makes a difference or not, or whether it's actually better to tune your strings to pitch, no one has provided any sort of "scientific" explanation as to which method is better. And if you think about it, from a marketing perspective it would make sense for instrument manufacturers to send insurance letter ready to be played out of the box if detuning only helps marginally or if tuning doesn't hurt. Don't you think?
Personally, it gives me a sense of comfort to know that there's no tension on the neck shipping. I have spoken to luthiers (guys that make instruments) and they have concurred
And I actually detune bases that I store for a while if I know I'm not going to play them for a while. All too many times I have gone back to a base I haven't played for quite a few months and found it with the boat neck. Likely from the tension in the strings.
This is what I like to do. My preference.
You guys can all enjoy your own preferences. Tort, flat wound's, whatever floats your boat. Ostensibly, it's a free country.
No. I am saying (now for the third time) that there are varying opinions on the matter among all sorts of professionals and I subscribe to the professional opinion that tension should be removed from the neck. Pretty simple.
Whether it makes a difference or not, or whether it's actually better to tune your strings to pitch, no one has provided any sort of "scientific" explanation as to which method is better. And if you think about it, from a marketing perspective it would make sense for instrument manufacturers to send insurance letter ready to be played out of the box if detuning only helps marginally or if tuning doesn't hurt. Don't you think?
Personally, it gives me a sense of comfort to know that there's no tension on the neck shipping. I have spoken to luthiers (guys that make instruments) and they have concurred
And I actually detune bases that I store for a while if I know I'm not going to play them for a while. All too many times I have gone back to a base I haven't played for quite a few months and found it with the boat neck. Likely from the tension in the strings.
This is what I like to do. My preference.
You guys can all enjoy your own preferences. Tort, flat wound's, whatever floats your boat. Ostensibly, it's a free country.
No.
(Edit: Well, I no longer work at Bass Central, so I really can't speak for them, but we won't here. It is pointless, has no positive attribute, and utterly destroys our factory setup)
Deal breaker.
- Jun 6, 2012
- 4,837
- 6,859
- Disclosures
- I don't wait 30 minutes after eating, to go swimming.
Yes, except ALL the major makers disagree with you and the "professionals" you are in agreement with. Yes, you're free to do as you wish. Me? I'll go with the opinions of the people who make the worlds best basses.
I've had 23 Gibsons (basses and guitars). All had been taken out of the house many times. They would (or continue to, in the case of my ones I still have) inevitably get bumped and whacked in to things like any other bass. One in particular (the one in my avatar) took a pretty nasty fall not in a case. No issue. Only one had a broken headstock, and that happened years before I got it.
Since luthiers (as opposed to big companies) were brought up, every bass I have ever bought from one of them has also come in standard pitch.
if its an acoustic ,chambered/hollow body you detune to accommodate possible massive fluctuations in air pressure than could cause undue stress on structural integrity ,thats true of ANY ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENT ( unless its graphite )....solid body electric guitars and basses , no need to detune
Hey now!
Don't you all know that strings under tension can cause the delicate glass neck and truss rod to break?
Don't you all know that strings under tension can cause the delicate glass neck and truss rod to break?
I think the idea that strings should be slacked when shipped or not in use is from a dark dismal past when only a handful of instruments had hardy necks on them. I left an MIM J at my dad's place to avoid having to carry one every time I went and the first time I returned, the strings were slacked on it. I asked him what was up with that and he told me when he was a teenager (he's in his 80's now), one of his guitars got a warped neck after it was left under his bed for a few months while he was being punished by having his music privileges revoked. Apparently the neighborhood instrument expert told him it was certain death to a git-fiddle to leave it tuned to pitch when it was not in use for more than a week or so. That was not the first or only time I've heard pretty much the same thing, mostly from older country pickers or musicians schooled by those older folks.
Anywho, I explained to my dad that modern necks were engineered to live well while in tension and it was best to leave them that way. I don't think he believed me at first but he left my bass alone and seemed a bit surprised when upon the next visit my bass was almost in perfect tune after sitting out on a stand for almost a month.
I reckon the old ways die hard among the gray beards.
Anywho, I explained to my dad that modern necks were engineered to live well while in tension and it was best to leave them that way. I don't think he believed me at first but he left my bass alone and seemed a bit surprised when upon the next visit my bass was almost in perfect tune after sitting out on a stand for almost a month.
I reckon the old ways die hard among the gray beards.
I purchased a used Ibanez af75 from GC's website about four weeks ago, it arived with the strings loose and the truss rod untouched from the point at which the strings were last tuned. It took five days for the neck to settle.
I really wish they had left at least some tension on the strings. It's fine now after several adjustments, but there was a point I thought I'd have to return it. It shipped in a hard shell case, plenty of bubble wrap in a large cardboard box. I'm sure it would have been fine with tension on the strings and I wouldn't have had to fool with getting the neck back in shape. The whole experience convinced me that stringed instruments should have tension on the neck when shipping.
I really wish they had left at least some tension on the strings. It's fine now after several adjustments, but there was a point I thought I'd have to return it. It shipped in a hard shell case, plenty of bubble wrap in a large cardboard box. I'm sure it would have been fine with tension on the strings and I wouldn't have had to fool with getting the neck back in shape. The whole experience convinced me that stringed instruments should have tension on the neck when shipping.
