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New bass and a dead spot.......

#41
That action is way too low for a P bass, period. The bass was designed with a set of factory specs. you can play with them some, but if you really drop the strings that low you are going to encounter many problems.

Super low action is a problem in many ways, although many here will argue with me. You don't get what I feel is a proper string vibration. Often the strings wind up too close to the pickups. The saddle runs out of adjustment room.

That is an odd spot for a dead spot, for sure, but to me it is clearly your setup, and where the saddle adjustment screw hits. I suggest you setting the bass up using the Sadowsky method (just google Sadowsky bass set up) and redo the bass completely. I bet the dead spot goes away from the low G and moves to the high C#.

All you guys who play with super low action, if you really want that, you need to buy a bass like a Ritter, F, Fodera, Brubaker, Carl Thompson, etc. that were designed with super low, perfectly straight in mind. The necks on Fenders were NEVER meant for super low action. Leo would laugh at all of you.
 
#42
I appreciate the additional thoughts. The neck relief isn't way out of line for Fender specs. I could straighten it a bit more and raise the saddles some. I intended to do this last night but didn't see it being worth the hassle at the time (tired). But when I get home this afternoon I'm going to go ahead and do it. I'm going to check the frets as well. It's bugging the hell out of me. This is a PERFECT time to do everything I can to fix it. A true "learning" moment.

As far as the neck radius, I also thought it was 9.5. Then I saw where someone said it was 10. I decided to go to Fender's website for actual specs and set up info. It turns out that the neck radius is actually 7.25".

Does anyone have a good photo they could post of their neck relief and/or the measurement at the 8th fret (capo on 1st, fretting the last). Here are Fender suggestions:

Neck Radius Relief
7.25" .014" (0.35 mm)
9.5" to 12" .012" (0.3 mm
15" to 17" .010" (0.25 mm)
 
#43
TRichardsbass said:
That action is way too low for a P bass, period. The bass was designed with a set of factory specs. you can play with them some, but if you really drop the strings that low you are going to encounter many problems.

Super low action is a problem in many ways, although many here will argue with me. You don't get what I feel is a proper string vibration. Often the strings wind up too close to the pickups. The saddle runs out of adjustment room.

That is an odd spot for a dead spot, for sure, but to me it is clearly your setup, and where the saddle adjustment screw hits. I suggest you setting the bass up using the Sadowsky method (just google Sadowsky bass set up) and redo the bass completely. I bet the dead spot goes away from the low G and moves to the high C#.

All you guys who play with super low action, if you really want that, you need to buy a bass like a Ritter, F, Fodera, Brubaker, Carl Thompson, etc. that were designed with super low, perfectly straight in mind. The necks on Fenders were NEVER meant for super low action. Leo would laugh at all of you.
Click to expand...


I hadn't read your post before posting my last one. I appreciate the info. The best thing that could happen in this situation is for me to find out it's ME and not the BASS. I don't want to send this bass back......
 
#44
suddenlysane said:
I appreciate the additional thoughts. The neck relief isn't way out of line for Fender specs. I could straighten it a bit more and raise the saddles some. I intended to do this last night but didn't see it being worth the hassle at the time (tired). But when I get home this afternoon I'm going to go ahead and do it. I'm going to check the frets as well. It's bugging the hell out of me. This is a PERFECT time to do everything I can to fix it. A true "learning" moment.

As far as the neck radius, I also thought it was 9.5. Then I saw where someone said it was 10. I decided to go to Fender's website for actual specs and set up info. It turns out that the neck radius is actually 7.25".

Does anyone have a good photo they could post of their neck relief and/or the measurement at the 8th fret (capo on 1st, fretting the last). Here are Fender suggestions:

Neck Radius Relief
7.25" .014" (0.35 mm)
9.5" to 12" .012" (0.3 mm
15" to 17" .010" (0.25 mm)
Click to expand...


My mistake...I wrongly assumed the bass was setup properly.
 
#46
@mongo2 - I set it up according to the correct 7.25" radius specs and used the Fender website to make everything as close to their specs as possible. I even tried changing the E string using an old string first and then a brand new Fender 7250m .105. The only things I haven't done yet are straighten the neck a bit more than it came from the factory (which is real close to factory specs already) and try setting it up using the Sadowsky method. I have two other Fender P basses and neither have this issue. Their neck relief is set very close to how this one is. However, I would not be at all surprised to find that a truss rod adjustment and saddle height adjustment does the trick after reading everyone's suggestions. I'll know this afternoon.
 
#47
That setup looks very wrong for the E string, that's where the problem lies. Why is the barrel so far back compared to the other strings? And the end of the screw is touching the bridge plate, its at such a weird angle. It's so far back that the rough windings of the string are on the barrel. I've never seen a properly intonated and set up bridge look like that, this is not right.
 
#48
mertz44 said:
That setup looks very wrong for the E string, that's where the problem lies. Why is the barrel so far back compared to the other strings? And the end of the screw is touching the bridge plate, its at such a weird angle. It's so far back that the rough windings of the string are on the barrel. I've never seen a properly intonated and set up bridge look like that, this is not right.
Click to expand...

That is how it looked when I first set it up in order to get the intonation right. I have since corrected how the saddle sits but cannot get the intonation back where it was.

This morning I straightened the neck and raised the saddles and even rolled the E string around to where the flattest side of the string wraps sit on the saddle (the only way I can get it even remotely close to proper intonation). I guess the next step would be to shim it. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that.

Someone mentioned headphones and it may just be a dead spot in the room. It would be a dead spot only with that particular bass because the others sound fine. But because it was suggested, I'm going to try it with headphones, a Hartke LH500 head and 2x10, a Ampeg PF500 head and 1x15, and again with the Ampeg Micro VR and 2x10 but in a different room.
 
#49
This may be way off.

I recently restrung my five string with a set that had a larger gauge B and I had to move the saddle back quite a bit to intonate it. So, what would happen if you went with a .100 instead of a .105?

I know that's an unacceptable change for some. If I bought the bass (brand new?) and it had these issues, I'd return it before I shimmed the neck. How far does a buyer have to go to be satisfied?
 
#50
Immigrant said:
This may be way off.

I recently restrung my five string with a set that had a larger gauge B and I had to move the saddle back quite a bit to intonate it. So, what would happen if you went with a .100 instead of a .105?

I know that's an unacceptable change for some. If I bought the bass (brand new?) and it had these issues, I'd return it before I shimmed the neck. How far does a buyer have to go to be satisfied?
Click to expand...

The Road Worn actually comes with a .100 E string. I replaced it with a new .105 just to see if it would make a difference. It didn't. I've tried everything I'm willing to try at this point. It's going back tomorrow. I hate sending it back but like you said "How far does a buyer have to go to be satisfied?". I've gone as far as I'm willing to go.
 
#52
RCCollins said:
Sorry if I missed this, but did you re-check the frets below G on the E string? it wouldn't take much irregularity there to deaden the G...
Click to expand...

It was boxed up yesterday and shipped out today. Before packing it up I took a quick look at the frets. If there was anything out of place, I didn't see it (I used a six inch long metal ruler). It may have been something simple for some of you but I'm pretty new to this stuff and just didn't feel comfortable messing with it anymore. I think it was in my best interest to just send it back and get another one. I'll have a new one here before the end of the week. We'll see how it goes.......
 
#54
Brad Johnson said:
Shimming a neck is not much of a hurdle and easily reversible.
Click to expand...

And knowing that bothers me a bit but I had to draw the line somewhere. I guess my feeling is that if I have to remove the neck of a brand new bass in order to TRY to find an issue it shouldn't have to begin with.....it's not the bass for me. That being said, I may not feel the same way if I encounter something similar in the future.

There were 3 signatures on the inspection card. One of THOSE dudes should have shimmed it. The dead spot wasn't a "hint" of dead spot or a "slight bit" of dead in that area. It was a full on fast decay to thudness. Is thudness a word? :eyebrow:
 
#56
CPA: And what are these "royalties" you received for licensing the name Thudness to someone? Is this for real?

ME: Oh, it's real. I was thinking of things I could trademark, and Thuddenly it hit me!
 
#57
suddenlysane said:
And knowing that bothers me a bit but I had to draw the line somewhere. I guess my feeling is that if I have to remove the neck of a brand new bass in order to TRY to find an issue it shouldn't have to begin with.....it's not the bass for me. That being said, I may not feel the same way if I encounter something similar in the future.

There were 3 signatures on the inspection card. One of THOSE dudes should have shimmed it. The dead spot wasn't a "hint" of dead spot or a "slight bit" of dead in that area. It was a full on fast decay to thudness. Is thudness a word? :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

My point was that it was a lot less trouble than the rest of what you did. But I agree, for you returning it was the right thing to do.

You don't have to remove the neck to shim it. Just loosen it.
 
#58
Dead spots are generally due the resonance of the wood. When that resonance interferes with the vibration of the string at certain frequencies, you get dead notes. In more extreme cases, you get wolftones, or unwanted and unpleasant harmonics and oscillation.

There are fixes, adding weight to the head stock changes the resonance.

A new bass, I would have sent it back too. This can happen to any bass, QCs guy can easily miss this, it can be subtle and they don't play the bass for more than a few minutes.
 
#59
I received the replacement this morning. It wasn't at all what I expected when I opened the first box. I could tell right away that it wasn't a factory resealed bass. I began to feel a little sick to my stomach when I pulled it out of the gig bag and it looked as if someone with shaky hands and a crescent wrench tried to set it up. I also noticed that it was not as sexy as the last one (wood grain). I made a phone call and requested a refund right away. I figured I may as well just drop the whole idea and go another direction.

Well, I started thinking that there was no reason to not play it while I waited for the return authorization. The set up went well (it was WAY off of factory specs). I set the intonation without having wraps on the saddle of the E string or having the bolt on the bridge bottom. It sounds amazing. It plays great. Now what do I do? The last one seemed buggy but was beautiful. This one plays amazing but is ugly as hell. Did I somehow offend the Bass Gods and am suffering the consequences? Or have I just become that old grumpy picky SOB that my father was? Oh no......this can't be good.......
 
#60
The one I sent back:

DSC_0946.jpg


The replacement:

DSC_0949.jpg


Two piece bodies on a sunburst should be even shouldn't they?
 

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