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NS Design Club
- Thread starter Danny O Danny
- Start date
Unbelieveable. It has been raining several hours during the day over here. We had >80% during the day and still >65% at night. And that's just a normal day in April.
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It actually does rain here, though not often. When it does, though, it's sometimes a brutal downpour, and it might raise the humidity to even 100% for a short while. It eventually will dry out & drop back down in a couple days. So as you can see, this is no place for instruments that are "faint of heart", unless you give them special treatment. I thought about adding humidifiers in my cases, but my luthier said that was just harder on them because they hit all that dry air when you take them out to play them. And they actually do adapt.
Not the best location in the world to live in for wooden instruments as it seems. I'd probably go for basses with graphite necks. I highly recommend the Status Musicman Stingray neck. I have a custom bass equipped with it. Absolutely rock solid against humidity or temperature changes. Once tuned it keeps it forever. And it does not sound sterile or artificial at all.
I have two guitars with same. This photo shows the CF rods. Note: not my guitars in this image.
I think more and more builders are finding this beneficial. Ned did it in his Synapse design for Gibson years ago. Unfortunately, it was too stiff and resulted in some snapped truss rods, but he was ahead of his time (once again). It's been refined and is now more widespread.
Frankly, I was surprised that my soon-to-be-here WAV-4 didn't have a graphite rod in the neck. But it does have a dual action truss rod, which is a good thing.
My new-to-me WAV4 arrived today safe and sound. What an interesting bass! Plays great--really nice action--plus its balance is perfect and it's well set up. Let me preface my remarks about its sound by saying it has tapewounds on it. I've never used tapewounds, so I have no real point of reference. To me, it sounds sorta jazz-bass-like--a good thing. I was surprised by the depth the piezo under the bridge has. The highs on it sounded a little crisp, even with the tapewounds on it, but as far as I was concerned, the bass could be played with only this pickup if need be. Then there's the EMG. To me, it sounds as bland as other EMG passive pickups I've played. How can a company make such great active pickups and such "tame" passive pickups? That was disappointing. Since the output of the bass was a little low, I adjusted that pickup closer to the strings, which helped both the output and the tone of it. And it's a beautiful metallic white. My first bass over 50 years ago was a white jazz bass, and my '88 Steinberger XL2 is white, so I have a soft spot for white basses. Feelin' like a keeper to me!
All that being said, I'm looking for string recommendations for the WAV4. I know I'll probably get a hundred, but if you'll give me a recommendation and tell me why, I'll consider it. I should say here that I basically prefer roundwounds except in the studio, and I have a G&L JB-2 with flats on it set up specifically for that purpose. But I'll consider rounds, flats, tapes (the ones on it are D'Addarios), anything short of bailing wire.
All that being said, I'm looking for string recommendations for the WAV4. I know I'll probably get a hundred, but if you'll give me a recommendation and tell me why, I'll consider it. I should say here that I basically prefer roundwounds except in the studio, and I have a G&L JB-2 with flats on it set up specifically for that purpose. But I'll consider rounds, flats, tapes (the ones on it are D'Addarios), anything short of bailing wire.
Can’t go wrong with GHS Balanced Nickels or GHS Pressurewounds on a WAV 4 to help tame the piezo
Thanks! I will check into those!Can’t go wrong with GHS Balanced Nickels or GHS Pressurewounds on a WAV 4 to help tame the piezo
So far, less string recommendations than I thought, but I've looked at the GHS pressurewounds, which are unexpectedly hard to find (but I did) and the balanced nickels (same). Has anybody tried TI flats on a WAV4?
Also, if you've played tapewounds on a WAV4, please give me your impressions. I've never played tapewounds on any bass, so the ones on this WAV4 are a new experience to me. There are things I like and things I'm not sure of.
Also, if you've played tapewounds on a WAV4, please give me your impressions. I've never played tapewounds on any bass, so the ones on this WAV4 are a new experience to me. There are things I like and things I'm not sure of.
My string questions got little response. That was a surprise as everybody and his uncle seems to have opinions about the best strings. Here's another question that's really way out there. I love EMG active pickups. But as much as I love them, I hate EMG passive pickups. I bought my WAV4 under the impression the EMG was active, like in the Steinberger Synapse. I find the EMG in the WAV4 dull and uninteresting. Of course, I have a bevy of exes that say the same about me. So here's the question: Has anybody ever changed out the EMG pickup in the WAV4 (or in any NS Design bass guitar)? And if so, what did you use? Or what would you use if you were going to get that radical?
I never did however, your quest of changing pickups out of the WAV can be challenging since the pickup are radiused.
I don't know how much that matters. The strings on every bass follow a radius, yet the pickups are flat. The radius looks pretty cool, but my guess is that inside that case is a plain ol' EMG HZ passive and that only the case is radiused. Ask yourself this: Why would EMG use completely different uniquely shaped magnets for a company as small as NS Designs? I wish I could cut it open to see, but then I'd need a new pickup for certain. I'm not saying that NS Designs is lying to us all, but maybe, just maybe, EMG decided the cheapest way was to supply them with pickups they were already set up to make and drop them into different cases. Man, I'm a cynical bastard, aren't I?
I just looked it up on the NS website and the radius is 15"/ 380mm so not all that far off flat anyway. Plenty of guitars work fine with flat poles a 7.25" radius.
Well it is a starter bass. I’d honestly look into the CR line if you want a better pickup that’s active.
The only thing I could see is that, with individual bridge saddles, which the NS Designs don't have, it would be possible to perhaps adjust the A and D strings down a little closer to the pickup, but even then you'd be limited by the radius of the neck. Of course, the "Radius Pickup" is rounded at each end, and nobody I know makes a pickup shaped like that. My measurements show most any regular soapbar pickup will drop in, but there will be a small gap at the ends where the body is rounded. I could either devise some kind of filler or just say "Looks okay; the heck with it." Another thing I need to check is how it connects into the preamp. That I haven't yet looked at.
