Double Bass question about fingerboard thickness and playing difficulty..

[jaybary]

Hello bassists, I'm kind of new in here
I'm having a quick question about setting and playing.

I noticed that my fingerboard is thick, but gets thinner as it goes down to the end of the fingerboard. And the space between strings and the nut at the top, the name card just stuck in there. but the string action is higher than average.
(10-12-13-15cm from G to E). I use velvet garbos except Gamut Lyon on G.

Should I dress the fingerboard to make it same thickness?
because these days I feel like my action is unnecessary high and for me it gets in the way to make even tones and volume in E and A string(pizzicato), and i assume it may be related to this uneven thickness from top to the end of fingerboard.

any opinions?
thanks for reading

 

[Andrew McGregor]

The fingerboard thickness is all about structure... it has nothing much to do with the playability. It is normal for fingerboards to taper toward the end. On the other hand, that high action could be improved, and part of that may involve, after reducing the bridge height, redressing the fingerboard to get its curve right, which will help but not because of any reduced thickness but instead by getting the shape of the space between string and fingerboard right. Don't assume that will be necessary however, take the bass to a luthier to get it looked at properly.

 

[uprightben]

Making a finger board that tapers is one way to correct the neck projection. Could be that the person that did that knew what they were doing and did it for a reason. Anyways, thinning your fingerboard at the nut end will not lower your string height, the bridge would need to be lowered to achieve that.

 

[jaybary]

thanks for answering guys