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Double Bass NS Design: bridge height

H

Hannes

Mar 28, 2006
16
0
#1
hi!

When i use the piezo pickup on my ns design bass (cr) some notes sound dull. I think I have to change the bridge height so that the strings can resonate better. Could this help? I read the instructions on the Ns design homepage, but I'm not sure how much I can change the bridge height. Do I have to be aware of sth. special? How "hight" should the bridge be?


thx!
 
#2
Hannes,
Raise or lower the bridge to the height desired. This wont hurt anything. However, if you detune the strings then adjust the bridge, retune, your stings should sound better for a short time. Sounds like you need new strings.
Sam
 
#5
Hannes said:
Do I have to be aware of sth. special? How "hight" should the bridge be?
thx!
Click to expand...
Hannes, I have a US 5 NS Bass, I have raised the bridge to where I can put my finger tips between the strings and the fingerboard. I use Spirocore weich strings thatve been on over 2 years. They still sound good. If you are using the stock strings, they are probably dead. I have never had a problem with the 5th string.
Sam
 
#6
Hannes -- I'm not an electronics guy -- in fact I'm electronically challenged -- but I'll offer a comment and others can correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't believe string height would affect how the piezo pickup performs. I believe the piezo pickup is built into the bridge, which means string height wouldn't matter.

It's the magnetic pickups that would be affected by string height, since they're located directly below each string.

I hear occasional dull notes when I have the arco-pizzicato knob set to arco (bowing) and I play pizzicato. This is different from the magnetic-vs-piezo control. The arco-pizzicato control is the third control knob down. Counterclockwise sets it fully on pizzicato, and clockwise sets it fully on arco. In the latter setting (arco), when I play pizzicato I will occasionally hear dullness -- not quite deadness, but dullness, but this is designed into the instrument to helpl simulate old-time, non-sustaining double-bass sound.

I hope this is helpful and I didn't confuse the issue. Good luck.
 
#8
Hi, I just bought a NS Design Cr4t eub. I have the dullness problem describes in this thread with the G String. I tried raising the action with the high end of the bridge. It helps but the improvement become audible only when the action is too high to be confortable... any othe solution?
Thanks, Simon
 
#9
Simon, the piezos need pressure on them to get the best sound ( as you found when you raised the string height.) You did not mention the strings that are on your Cr4t and you haven't filled out your profile. Perhaps with a stiffer or heavy set of strings or maybe just a stiffer G string you could have the lower string height you want but still have the needed pressure on the polar pickups to get a good sound.
 

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