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Double Bass Ok, so I'm back with new problems.. It's been awhile..

bassfacer22

bassfacer22

Sep 3, 2011
1,709
445
North America NorthEast area..
#1
Some of you may remember or know me as the guy trying to get the most smoothest and easy playing like butter bass setup and sound with all kinds of different pickups and having luthiers making 4 bridges for 1 bass just to try things out.. and trying out all kinds of mic's and pickups ..

Well, I'm back, and yet again have more setup problems.. This time with a Shen bass. It's not my personal bass, just what's available.

So, basically I'm running into the problem where I can't find the happy medium where the bridge feet go and in relation to the feeling of playing the bass. There seems to always be some problem wherever I move the bridge.

So what I am experiencing is this, the Ab on the G-string is very loud and sustained (through the realist pickup) but then the B note is dead and/or the G-string is off..

Then I move the bridge feet the right/left and then all the sudden the Lower B on the A-string is dead and the A-flat on the Gstring is now ok..


Meanwhile the feel of the string, tightness/looseness changes and then it's not to my liking..

I hope this makes sense, but basically who/how would I know what is causing the certain frequencies to be louder and dead just by moving the bridge over slightly and am I supposed to make a new bridge finding the sweet spot where the notes are are balanced?

And why doesn't everyone else experience this kind of thing?

Do I have the bridge completely off? I mean I have it centered (by my untrained eye) in the middle of the G -treble side Cleff notch..


I guess my point is, when I move it one direction, something gets better and then something gets worse..

I can't just have it where I have only something gets better!?

I just am so tired of all the problems of wood and the crap you have to deal with.

I'm already looking into Carbon fiber Basses, but I'm not even sure if that will solve what I'm experiencing.

I will try to take videos and sound of what I am talking about so you can really get an idea of what I mean.

I'll upload those tomorrow.

I think once you hear and see it, some of you may know or have experienced it before as well.


Basically I can't find a bass that just works and is full sounding and has no problems no matter how much I go to luthiers and try different pickups..

Video/sound coming soon. Stay tuned.
 
#2
bassfacer22 said:
I just am so tired of all the problems of wood and the crap you have to deal with.
Click to expand...
"Many are Called, but Few are Chosen."
Seriously - stop moving your bridge around - it needs to be placed in its intended spot and left alone. It is the Soundpost fitment that should be first checked by a Qualified Luthier and THEN adjusted.
IMFO, of course.
 
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#4
bassfacer22 said:
I guess my point is, when I move it one direction, something gets better and then something gets worse..
Click to expand...

Newton's 3rd Law
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#7
I did get an adjustable soundpost for my bass. It´s made by the german luthier diastrad and for now called "Klangzauberstab", but it will get another name for international distribution. It´s lightweight, easy to adjust and my bass sounds even as never before. No dead spots, very resonant over all strings and troughout the whole fingerboard.
 
#8
It could be wolf and “sheep” notes. This is happening with many basses. They change with strings (different tension, different mass distribution in the underlengths) with soundpost position and bridge position.
There are weights for the underlengths to tame these resonates and anti-resonances or devices that could be put onto the top.
But if these resonances are strings soundpost repositioning would be the first choice. If you do not have a luthier close enough, you might temporarily move the bridge north or south about one to three cm maximum. This changes the string length and interval positions a bit, but it should only be done temporarily.
If it is not your instrument, you can experiment with weights at the underlengths (try different positions on the underlength) on the string with the problem. Even an office clamp might give a first hint if nothing bass-specific is available. But don’t expect too much from a weight anyway.
 
#11
bassfacer22 said:
What if one of the feet is slightly lower or higher than the other? I mean in terms of where it sits in the middle of the F-notch? Know what I mean?
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Then you have a different string length for each string this becomes more extreme the shorter the fingered string gets. I would not recommend that.
I would start with weights at the underlength of problematic strings if the problem is on one string only/mainly at the same pitch (underlength resonance). If it is on the same pitch on different strings it is coming from the resonance box, so moving the bridge to verify would be the right thing to do. If it helps, a visit at a luthier with a soundpost repositioning should follow soon since the bridge feet won‘t fit correctly at the new position on the top.
 
#12
Ok here is what happens

Please have a listen and tell me what do you do to solve these problems which have haunted me for a long time with bridges and pickups..

When I move the bridge north or south it does change things but then it seems to cause a wolf tone or wobble on the A where as the recording you hear is on the G instead.

I basically then move it more and I get the B note on the A string dead or the Db is dead on the A string then and then one time i even had the C note on the G string too loud!
 

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#16
bassfacer22 said:
So what I am experiencing is this, the Ab on the G-string is very loud and sustained (through the realist pickup) but then the B note is dead and/or the G-string is off..
Click to expand...

Three thoughts (bolding above added):

1) Are you getting the same sonic results acoustically, or only through the pickup? If the latter, you may be making adjustments to the bass to try to solve a pickup problem. The Realist is one of my least favorite pickups for many reasons, but one of these is the way it amplifies different notes and ranges inconsistently. Because it is designed to sit over the bass bar, the degree of bass bar vibration it picks up versus general top vibration is all out of whack to my ears. When I used one this aspect of it, among many others, was very frustrating.

2) What are the strings and string heights on this bass? Dead spots could also be a string or setup issue, especially if the setup is really low to the board. In my experience, when the strings are set a bit higher above the board, they tend to be less prone to choke or over-ring.

3) Changes in wood are part of the nature of the beast with DB. There are a ton of variables that can make a bass feel different from one season to the next, or even one day to the next. I've been on gigs where a weather front came in and completely changed the action of the bass during the course of the gig - and yes, these were indoor gigs, never mind the outdoor ones. I used to worry about these things a lot more than I currently do. Over the years, I've learned to bond with a single bass and understand the different "moods" it can go through, and over time the body learns to adjust to these almost automatically and just roll with it.

At this point, I've been "married" to the same bass (my third) for 15 years, and the same wife (my second) for 20. Neither are perfect, but both are likely far closer perfect than I am! Rather than fussing about trying making them more perfect to make my life easier, it makes a lot more sense to adjust my approach to them as their moods change within the given ranges they inevitably do; at least adjusting my approach is within my power to do.
 
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#19
DoubleMIDI said:
Doesn‘t work for me.
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It sounds like a resonance of some sort. Is it only a problem when amplified, then perhaps a different pickup is the solution. Otherwise, I hate dampening my bass in any way to the point that I won't attach anything to my tailpiece. But if there is a resonance in the string, afterlength, tailpiece, tailgut system, it might help to dampen the afterlengths, for instance weave a strip of foam rubber across the afterlengths. Or perhaps shorten the tail gut (if it is long).
 
#20
You're overcorrecting.

First off, your fastest way to solve these issues is to take the thing to someone with years of experience on a wide range of basses.

If you want to experiment yourself, then you need to take detailed notes. I think the first place you need to start is to learn how to adjust soundpost position (this is what luthiers do, not skating the bridge all over the top of the bass) and put the bridge in the standard position and keep your cotton-pickin' hands off it.

From what I have read and heard, you're doing the analogue to trying to fix an ignition problem by rebuilding the carburetor.
 
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