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Double Bass Palatino Megathread part I

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#981
I play EBG and got one sight unseen (ordered it thru a local music store). I love it, lots of fun. But it's not like playing an EGB!! I went and took a few lessons just to get me going. I hope to have tiime to take a lot more this year.
Go for it!!! ;-)
 
#982
kissmybASS01 said:
Greetings all!

I'm just a lurker from across the hall in the electric bass forums, but am interested in maybe picking one of these EUBs up. As these instruments seem to be unavailable in my local area, how many of you purchased your Palatinos sight unseen, and not played? Is this a risk some of you took?:bassist:
Click to expand...

Yes I bought mine unseen from musicians friend and the first one received I had to send it back, it had cracks on the fingerboard.
They did replace it for me with another for free and it was kinda prompt but I had to call a million times to get the wheels rolling on that.

I've heard Bass Northwest has a good reputation and if you where going to buy one unseen that might the place to order from. I like my Palatino but I also have made some serious modifications to it. Go back a couple of post and you'll see my post with pretty detailed info. Some guys hear have done less mods and say they like it. I guess I'm just a little bit more picky when it comes to these things.

Good luck.
 
#983
Hi, K M Bass.

I also bought my Pal sight unseen from Ebay. I was looking for my main present for my 50th birthday, and after lots of looking, trying DBs, etc, I saw the Pal and thought it might be worth a go, with an option to return if not satisfied.

I couldn't play a DB for any length of time without my old joints complaining - but I found the smaller neck on the Pal just right. Even better now that I've found this forum, and know I'm not the only person to have bought one.

I've done some of the simple mods, and bought a Fishman Pro-EQ, that took care of the strange after-noise at G on the D string.

Mine arrived in Scotland from Germany with no problems at all.
 
#984
Well, I've taken the plunge and picked up a new Pal EUB off ebay for $503.00 shipped(after using a coupon). I couldn't pass up the opportunity to finally learn how to play an upright without spending a lot of money. This seems like the best way to go for a beginner. Low initial cost, portability, not much in $$$ to make it better.
I figure lessons will cost me plenty though. :)
This thread was invaluable in making my decision.
 
#985
akmusicfreak said:
Yes I bought mine unseen from musicians friend and the first one received I had to send it back, it had cracks on the fingerboard.
They did replace it for me with another for free and it was kinda prompt but I had to call a million times to get the wheels rolling on that.

I've heard Bass Northwest has a good reputation and if you where going to buy one unseen that might the place to order from. I like my Palatino but I also have made some serious modifications to it. Go back a couple of post and you'll see my post with pretty detailed info. Some guys hear have done less mods and say they like it. I guess I'm just a little bit more picky when it comes to these things.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Well, I hope I have better luck with MF than you; I just ordered mine from them last night! Can't wait; should be here by Friday.
 
#986
Got her in last night, and for the most part in one piece. The fingerboard isn't tightly glued on; slight pressure from the bottom reveals a gap about 6 inches long between the board and the neck. But it's fine for now.

Put a rubber cane foot on the peg and that seem to be working out pretty well.

I've lowered the action at the bridge as far as it will go which leaves me at about 9.5 mm on the E and 7.5 on the G. I'd like to get that down to 6.5 - 7 on E and 4 on G for mostly jazz piz playing. Should I adjust the truss rod for this? There does seem to be a pretty good amount of bow in the neck.

I've read through this thread twice over the past week as I was waiting on my bass to get here and don't recall hearing much about this. Then again I wasn't looking for it either. But I'll go back and try to find some more info on this.
 
#987
So I bought a Palatino several months ago for convenience sake (I'm on the road a good bit in a rock band, and taking a full 3/4 upright wasn't really an option). I've been pretty satisfied thus far and haven't made any mods b/c I didn't want to take the time and effort to "fix" something I could EQ out or whatever.

That said, I've recently become pretty dissatisfied with a particular aspect. The G string doesn't pick up as loud as the rest of the strings...it just sounds especially weak. I've messed with EQs and settings on my gear, and played with the (pretty crappy) bridge as much as I can and that isn't working.

I've tried searching the forums here for tips, and it's a tricky subject to search for. Anyone have any thoughts?
 
#988
i've adjusted the truss rod pretty much as far as she'll go without torquing the bolt too much, probably got about 1/3 of a turn, and there still seems tobe quite a bit of relief and the action is the same: 9.5 on the e side and 6.5 on the g, not where i need to be for the way i play. When i press down the string at half position and then again at about the F# (as i've set up EB before) there's about 1/4" of space between the string and the fingerboard in between. Is this relief normal for these basses?

Any other options on getting some lower action out of the Pal? Just looking for the typical 7mm on the e and 4mm on the g or thereabouts. thanks.
 
#989
I can't help very much as I just got my Pal a couple of days ago and don't have much experience with it, but I do remember there being a similar issue somewhere in the megathread. If I remember correctly, somebody messed with the pickup placement to resolve the issue. Maybe not. Have you tried that? Or have you tried the rubber under the pups? Maybe you could put one piece under both sides (bass and treble), one over the top of the pup and one extra on the bass side. Maybe that could even out the output? Just brainstorming.
 
#991
Scott McArron said:
i've adjusted the truss rod pretty much as far as she'll go without torquing the bolt too much, probably got about 1/3 of a turn, and there still seems tobe quite a bit of relief and the action is the same: 9.5 on the e side and 6.5 on the g, not where i need to be for the way i play. When i press down the string at half position and then again at about the F# (as i've set up EB before) there's about 1/4" of space between the string and the fingerboard in between. Is this relief normal for these basses?

Any other options on getting some lower action out of the Pal? Just looking for the typical 7mm on the e and 4mm on the g or thereabouts. thanks.
Click to expand...

Scott,
Where are you measuring the string height? Are you measuring the relief in the middle of the fingerboard, or are you measuring at the bottom of the fingerboard?

Upright basses electric or acoustic have at least a 1/4" string height at the bottom of the fingerboard. Uprights also have a bit more relief in the middle of the fingerboard than on an electric. This relief I beleive is called the scoop as well.

Uprights are a bit more finicky than your standard BG.
You don't want your string height to be like that on your BG. It will affect the sound of you instrument. It make your EUB sound more like a fretless BG and not give you enough height to dig in when you want to.
I just put a new bridge and strings on my DB and it took sanding, shaping, putting it on, taking it off, and making subtle adjustments. I did this about 3 0r 4 times, it was a little tedious.

With out more info I don't know what your issues are but here are some thing you might need done.

Reshaping your bridge ( before you do this read up on this )
Re planing your fingerboard ( take it to a luthier for this )
Adjust your nut height ( be careful with this one )
 
#992
gribuski said:
So I bought a Palatino several months ago for convenience sake (I'm on the road a good bit in a rock band, and taking a full 3/4 upright wasn't really an option). I've been pretty satisfied thus far and haven't made any mods b/c I didn't want to take the time and effort to "fix" something I could EQ out or whatever.

That said, I've recently become pretty dissatisfied with a particular aspect. The G string doesn't pick up as loud as the rest of the strings...it just sounds especially weak. I've messed with EQs and settings on my gear, and played with the (pretty crappy) bridge as much as I can and that isn't working.

I've tried searching the forums here for tips, and it's a tricky subject to search for. Anyone have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Try taking your bridge off and spinning the pickup 180 degrees.
Your pickup might have a hot spot on it. If that doesn't work the problem might be on the bridge, the groove that the G string sits in might be too deep or too wide and not transfering the info very well.

When I got my Paly the bridge was set up backwards and poorly
IMHO take that POS bridge off of there and replace it.
 
#993
Hey AK, thanks for the quick reply.

akmusicfreak said:
Scott,
Where are you measuring the string height? Are you measuring the relief in the middle of the fingerboard, or are you measuring at the bottom of the fingerboard?
Click to expand...

I'm measuring my string height at the bottom of the fingerboard.

akmusicfreak said:
Upright basses electric or acoustic have at least a 1/4" string height at the bottom of the fingerboard. Uprights also have a bit more relief in the middle of the fingerboard than on an electric. This relief I beleive is called the scoop as well.
Click to expand...

cool, I was figuring that there should be more relief than EB. It's good to hear what to expect though. I played upright back in college, but gave it up b/c after I left I couldn't afford to buy one of my own at the time. I do recall that the bass I played back then had a more playable lower action for my playing style that i'd like to achieve on this bass.

akmusicfreak said:
Uprights are a bit more finicky than your standard BG.
You don't want your string height to be like that on your BG. It will affect the sound of you instrument. It make your EUB sound more like a fretless BG and not give you enough height to dig in when you want to.
I just put a new bridge and strings on my DB and it took sanding, shaping, putting it on, taking it off, and making subtle adjustments. I did this about 3 0r 4 times, it was a little tedious.
Click to expand...

I've read through the megathread more than twice over the past week and I don't recall anyone else having to sand down the stock bridge, only doing that when getting an aftermarket like the Eminence bridge (which I plan on in the future). Then again, I haven't heard a lot about adjusting the action and what I should expect from this bass.

akmusicfreak said:
With out more info I don't know what your issues are but here are some thing you might need done.

Reshaping your bridge ( before you do this read up on this )
Re planing your fingerboard ( take it to a luthier for this )
Adjust your nut height ( be careful with this one )
Click to expand...

I appreciate the help on this. What other info do you need? Since I'm relatively new at upright I'm not sure where/how to take measurements on the neck relief, so I did it the way I've done EBs over the years. I capo, or depress, the F on the E string and then hold down the F# up the neck and measure in the middle.

The number I came up with is more than 1/4" relief there with the string depressed in those two positions. Does this sound about right? If it does, then I guess my next move is to sand/cut down the bridge, which I was hoping to not have to do. And when I do, where should I sand? The top? the bottom right above the adjusters? A little bit everywhere? I guess I can google that.

I just assumed that I could get the action that the little instruction book that came with said I could get. I'm only looking for the typical action from a bass used for jazz, somewhere around 7mm on the E side and 4-5ish mm on the G side.
 
#994
A couple of things to remember with the Palatino neck..... I don't think tweaking the truss rod is doing you any good at all. The fingerboard may have some warp along with the normal relief you find on most basses.

The bridge is too high for you and the best way to get the height down is tape a pencil to a piece of dowel and use the curve of the fingerboard to guide the line you make on the bridge to cut or sand it down.

Use a 3/8 " dowel about 12 to 18" long and hold the bridge steady so the marks are lined up correctly on the bridge. Leave your self some wiggle room and don't sand or cut down right to the line. ( once it's gone you can't add it back on. ) Use a round file to make the string grooves and a lead pencil for lube. Mark the location of the old grooves before you start sanding or cutting. A belt sander makes the job go faster but remember it can go real fast if you don't watch carefully. The top of the bridge should be at least 1/8th" thick.

You can bring the action fairly low but it won't match what you have with a slab bass. Get used to the higher action, its a more physically demanding instrument.

Easier yet is to throw the POS bridge out and get the Eminence bridge. You can sand the feet on the Eminence flat so it fits in the bridge holder. ( It may take some time to order a bridge from Gary and or convince him of the need. )

The pickup that comes with the Palatino has a weak spot where the wire is soldered to the pickup. Once that connection is broken it's toast. I used a rev solo pickup for a short while with the Palatino bridge and then with the Eminence bridge.

The Ve 500 is a good platform to modify but the quality control can vary greatly. Good luck.
 
#995
Thanks Bassbob! I've checked out your youtube videos and read your posts here on the 'thread. You've been very informative and have been a great help.

I think I'm gonna go with the Eminence bridge if I get some Xmas money under the tree. Doesn't Gollihur keep these bridges stocked?

Why'd you stop using the Rev Solo? I was thinking about getting either that or a Bass Max to just bypass the stock pups and pre.
 
#996
Scott,
It sounds like the scoop ( relief ) in your fingerboard is a little deep.
You might have a problem getting your action down much more.
I'd sand the bridge down a like BassBob says. Don't go too nuts with it.

As far as the relief in the neck the safe thing to do would be to take it to a pro and have them re plane the fingerboard.

Good Luck.
 
#997
bassbob said:
Easier yet is to throw the POS bridge out and get the Eminence bridge. You can sand the feet on the Eminence flat so it fits in the bridge holder. ( It may take some time to order a bridge from Gary and or convince him of the need. )
Click to expand...

Bassbob,

Bob at Gollihurmusic.com has Eminence Bridges for sale, that's where I bought mine, no hassle, and it came pretty quick.
I had to sand my bridge down a bit to make it fit.
 
#998
akmusicfreak said:
Scott,
It sounds like the scoop ( relief ) in your fingerboard is a little deep.
You might have a problem getting your action down much more.
I'd sand the bridge down a like BassBob says. Don't go too nuts with it.

As far as the relief in the neck the safe thing to do would be to take it to a pro and have them re plane the fingerboard.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm thinking at this point, too. After the first of the year I'm going to take her in with the Eminence bridge and get a pro setup. Thanks for the help guys. ;)
 
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