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Peavey Forum V Surprise

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,282
120,408
Metro St. Louis


I have had this bass maybe six years, and yesterday I finally realized that it has a bridge that adjusts for string spacing!:rolleyes: I have not got it even yet since space between GD and EB is about 20mm and the spacing of the inner strings is 17-18mm. I am trying to get it to maybe 18mm for all of the strings. I have also noticed that this bass sounds a bit thinner through my new cabinet while my Sterling sounds perfect. Through every other amp, it sound a bit like a Ken Smith.
 
That's a classic, and dig those radiused faces on the pickups. I'd kill for radiused faces on my pickups again... :)

I think it sounds pretty good, kind of a mix of your Stingray and a P?

L

Yes it is sort of a P/Ray mix. Ultimately, I think humbuckers may really be my tone more than Jazz Basses, no matter how much I love Marcus and Jaco.
 
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Yes it is sort of a P/Ray mix. Ultimately, I think humbuckers may really be my tone more than Jazz Basses, no matter how much I love Marcus and Jaco.

Yeah I'm a humbucker guy myself after all those years with my Carvins and the L2K, but I'm adapting to single-coil life with my jazz and precision bass.

In fact, if I could play on just the bridge PU, I wonder if my ears could handle a moderately loud gig. With my humbucker equipped basses I couldn't get the lows down enough to not aggravate the "blur" problem with my hearing. I like a fat tone, but my ears can't handle loud lows anymore.

With the jazz bass or especially the tony franklin on just the bridge PU, I could probably handle a reasonable volume gig.

Playing in tune live is another matter, but you know one thing at a time... :)

L
 
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76BB0E2C-4A1B-470E-8929-ABD99641427B.jpeg


This is the adjustment I came to after centering the A string. G-D is 19mm, D-A is 18mm, A-E is 18mm, E-B is 19mm. Now I need to get that action lower.:meh: The bridge is Spector style where bridge pieces are moved by hand, not screws.
 
View attachment 3967808

This is the adjustment I came to after centering the A string. G-D is 19mm, D-A is 18mm, A-E is 18mm, E-B is 19mm. Now I need to get that action lower.:meh: The bridge is Spector style where bridge pieces are moved by hand, not screws.
Are you getting these numbers inside to inside right at the front of the saddle? Or where the string sits on the saddle?
 
I had the same thing with my 1994 Fender


I have had this bass maybe six years, and yesterday I finally realized that it has a bridge that adjusts for string spacing!:rolleyes: I have not got it even yet since space between GD and EB is about 20mm and the spacing of the inner strings is 17-18mm. I am trying to get it to maybe 18mm for all of the strings. I have also noticed that this bass sounds a bit thinner through my new cabinet while my Sterling sounds perfect. Through every other amp, it sound a bit like a Ken Smith.

I had the same thing with my Fender 1994 Jaco tribute. I knew all the time that bridge allows it, but why did i didn't do it - i don't know. I was afraid the the string will not be in the middle of pickup magnets and the sound will get bad, but i just did it and everything is fine.
 
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Do the saddles have any up/down movement in the slots? If not, probably the only way to get the action down is to grind material off the bottom of the little assemblies.

I had to do that on my Brian Bromberg. It was the "S" model that had the Carvin bridge on it. But it was a fretless so the saddles bottomed out before I could get the action low as I wanted. Brian Bromberg told me that Carvin would grind them down if you asked, but I already had the bass so.... Off to the workbench I went with a piece of 80 grit taped to the table.....

So you might see how much "meat" you have on the bottom of the little assemblies and how far down you can go. That might do the trick.

L
 
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Do the saddles have any up/down movement in the slots? If not, probably the only way to get the action down is to grind material off the bottom of the little assemblies.

I had to do that on my Brian Bromberg. It was the "S" model that had the Carvin bridge on it. But it was a fretless so the saddles bottomed out before I could get the action low as I wanted. Brian Bromberg told me that Carvin would grind them down if you asked, but I already had the bass so.... Off to the workbench I went with a piece of 80 grit taped to the table.....

So you might see how much "meat" you have on the bottom of the little assemblies and how far down you can go. That might do the trick.

L

The slots do allow up and down movement. You can see the screws in the bridge picture I posted.
 
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Cheese - your B string saddle appears to be backwards. Was this done intentionally to allow for the piece the string rests on to go far back enough re: intonation? Surprised as you are using a tapered B and usually the saddle is farther up.

Just curious.

J