Work got busy and I hadn't taken my 1941 American Standard out for rehearsal in a month. It was like a different bass. String height was way high. Adjustable bridge was pulling upward. Volume was lower. Did some research here and learned that that kind of change is common with the incredibly high humidity we've had steadily this month in the Northeast. Things were better after I brought the adjusters down a couple turns and straightened the bridge. I used to have a carved bass that didn't react this much to the summer weather, but this ply's top really expanded, which I found surprising.
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Double Bass Summer changes on a ply
- Thread starter wilsonn
- Start date
It's time for a full setup on that baby.
You'll probably need to adjust the truss rod:
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You'll probably need to adjust the truss rod:
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Reading this kind of makes me feel better, oddly enough. I have much the same happening; action went from about a quarter inch under the G at the end of the fingerboard to at least a half inch. It worried me because I spent much of the winter and spring rehabbing this bass and I was afraid some of my work came undone. (Long story short that probably should be its own thread, but part of it involved removing a previous owner's repair to a broken neck using Gorilla Glue, regluing it with Titebond III on the recommendation of my luthier, doweling it, and redye/refinishing the fingerboard, among other things). But the neck seems stable, the crack hasn't opened up, soundpost is still up . . . Nothing seems wrong aside from the absurdly high action. I'll be bringing it to my luthier to look at, but hopefully it's just the bass showing off its weather forecasting prowess. ("It's not a bug, it's a feature!")
I play gigs all summer long outside in North Carolina in the humidity and rain and don't get that much variation in any of my ply basses. You may want to check your bridge position and have a good look at that neck joint. It sounds like more than just humidity. Those early 3 digit American Standards are fantastic sounding basses. I've got a 1936 and a 1950 on benches right now, both getting a new neck.
".... titebond III...and doweling...."
you might want to look for another luthier....
j.
www.kaybassrepair.com
www.condino.com
".... titebond III...and doweling...."
you might want to look for another luthier....j.
www.kaybassrepair.com
www.condino.com
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I live Western New York (Buffalo area). This spring/summer has been pretty abnormal, especially with the drought we've experienced. Now it's back to being super humid after being very dry for months.
My bass too has behaved differently, and I play mine at least every other day. It's not so bad that I would need setup work done. I've played gut for years now, but this year has been almost unbearable to deal with the changes.
Thanks for the confirmation. After James' post above, I checked the neck joint. The bass is solid. Not too long ago it had a full service with Bill Merchant. It's just the weather. I closed it up with a dehumidifier for 48 hours and it seems to be coming back to its senses. I've never seen a ply move this much, though.
