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The Ken Smith Club, Part 2

#1,221
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#1,224
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#1,225
otto B said:
Question: does anyone knows if these Gotoh GB350 RES-O-LITE Aluminum Bass fit on a KS?

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They fit. I had them installed on a heavy GN5. Few things to note however. The screws that go on the back of the headstock are not identical to the originals and I remember having a little issue there. The shafts are larger with a bit more presence at the front. Mine were gold plated and the color was more on the redish/orange side. Not a perfect fit to the bridge. The plastic buttons look & feel like... plastic, which feels weird on a Smith bass, got to admit. Having said all that they are very high quality and really do their job. On a 5 string, the neck became noticeably lighter and the entire balance of the bass changed. The instrument feels different. Hope that helped..

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#1,226
Nenor said:
They fit. I had them installed on a heavy GN5. Few things to note however. The screws that go on the back of the headstock are not identical to the originals and I remember having a little issue there. The shafts are larger with a bit more presence at the front. Mine were gold plated and the color was more on the redish/orange side. Not a perfect fit to the bridge. The plastic buttons look & feel like... plastic, which feels weird on a Smith bass, got to admit. Having said all that they are very high quality and really do their job. On a 5 string, the neck became noticeably lighter and the entire balance of the bass changed. The instrument feels different. Hope that helped..

View attachment 7013538
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Thanks for the feedback.
 
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#1,227
The worship leader in our church (who is a semi-professional Contemporary Christian recording artist and performer) complimented the sound of the bass I was using last Sunday. He said he felt it in his chest, but the notes were all clear and articulate. I thanked him and said that it is due to two things; I tweaked the mids a bit higher on the amp that sends the signal to the board, and it is a Smith. I mean, c’mon… A Smith compared to anything else…

Love my Smith!
 
#1,230
I have a question if you don't mind. Ken daid on his forum that he likes 1/16 neck relief on 7-9 fret on his basses. But how?! 1/16 is about 1.6mm! If I would setup bass like that I would probably destroy my neck! What is wrong with it? I'm not American so maybe inches are not my thing but google says me clearly how much in mm is 1/16 lol what's your settings in your KS's? Someone measure maybe after buying new one setting by KS himself? Thanks
 
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#1,231
jb90 said:
I have a question if you don't mind. Ken daid on his forum that he likes 1/16 neck relief on 7-9 fret on his basses. But how?! 1/16 is about 1.6mm! If I would setup bass like that I would probably destroy my neck! What is wrong with it? I'm not American so maybe inches are not my thing but google says me clearly how much in mm is 1/16 lol what's your settings in your KS's? Someone measure maybe after buying new one setting by KS himself? Thanks
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I think you might be mis-interpreting how he is measuring.
First, you hold down the string (where the neck meets the body? Not sure where Ken prefers the hold down point), and then you measure the relief. 1/16” is not unreasonable when the string is fretted as stated above.
 
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#1,232
I've only had 1 smith, but for what it's worth that bass liked a little more relief than I typically set my bass necks to. I never measure, just eye it up, make an educated guess for a starting point, then play to get the feel for what's going on and adjust from there.

I press 1st fret and 15th, looking at the space between the low string and 7th fret. Usually wants to be about the thickness of a playing card.
 
#1,233
deepender said:
I think you might be mis-interpreting how he is measuring.
First, you hold down the string (where the neck meets the body? Not sure where Ken prefers the hold down point), and then you measure the relief. 1/16” is not unreasonable when the string is fretted as stated above.
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So he doesn't hold 1st fret?
Copy/paste from his forum:
" check your neck relief, press down the E or B string (lowest on that bass) at the 1st and 15th frets at the same time using 2 hands. Do this with the Bass on your lap in playing position, not on a bench. Look at the space between the 7th and 9th fret from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. This is the amount of relief you have. I personally like about 1/16th" relief to 1/8th" at the most in this area. You can use the 24th fret to press down instead of the 15th but from the 15th to the 24th it's about the same level."

So i guess he hold 1st and 15th and he likes 1/16th relief. Sth's wrong here...
 
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#1,234
jb90 said:
So he doesn't hold 1st fret?
Copy/paste from his forum:
" check your neck relief, press down the E or B string (lowest on that bass) at the 1st and 15th frets at the same time using 2 hands. Do this with the Bass on your lap in playing position, not on a bench. Look at the space between the 7th and 9th fret from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. This is the amount of relief you have. I personally like about 1/16th" relief to 1/8th" at the most in this area. You can use the 24th fret to press down instead of the 15th but from the 15th to the 24th it's about the same level."

So i guess he hold 1st and 15th and he likes 1/16th relief. Sth's wrong here...
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That's consistent with what @deepender said. What are you not liking about this?
 

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