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weather change

wrench45us

wrench45us

Guest
Aug 26, 2011
1,325
295
#1
I had my 5 string Steinberger Spirit set up for the 1st time in almost a year and it was playing fine.
Then in the northern plains we had a cold snap and coincidentally the wife and I discoverd when we felt the need for heat that a power outage in September had taken out the electronics/motor modules on the furnace
So long story short it was 50-55 degrees in the house for about a week till we got a new furnace installed.

I didn't practice that week, just stayed under quilts.
I've been playing again for a few days and checked the tuning last night -- every string was 1/2 to 3/4 of a tone sharp. When I tuned it now I'm gettting, not a buzz, but a rattle on the lower strings, lowest frets.
Do I just raise the bridge for those strings?
Take it back to get it re setup fopr climate change or wait for stabilization or ???
 
#2
wrench45us said:
I had my 5 string Steinberger Spirit set up for the 1st time in almost a year and it was playing fine.
Then in the northern plains we had a cold snap and coincidentally the wife and I discoverd when we felt the need for heat that a power outage in September had taken out the electronics/motor modules on the furnace
So long story short it was 50-55 degrees in the house for about a week till we got a new furnace installed.

I didn't practice that week, just stayed under quilts.
I've been playing again for a few days and checked the tuning last night -- every string was 1/2 to 3/4 of a tone sharp. When I tuned it now I'm gettting, not a buzz, but a rattle on the lower strings, lowest frets.
Do I just raise the bridge for those strings?
Take it back to get it re setup fopr climate change or wait for stabilization or ???
Click to expand...

Look in the stickies section for setup/adjust truss rod how to's. It sounds like you just need a wee bit of a truss rod tweak.
 
#3
How long has the bass had to re-acclimate to normal temperatures? Sometimes it just takes a day or two for things to settle back in correctly. If you haven't already, wait a few days before making any adjustments.

It does sound more like a truss rod issue than anything at the bridge. Buzzing at low frets only, especially on the thicker strings, can indicate a loss of relief in the neck.

Unless you have some setup experience (or are willing to learn about setups on this instrument), you might want to take it to a good tech for a setup.
 
#4
It's been a week since we got heat back, but we keep it pretty cool in the house -- 62

so it has to adjust to that. The tech told me there woudn't be a settle period from the setup adjustments, but that weather would affect it.

It's fret 1 on the B E and A string and fret 3 on the B and E

so it does sound like I should take it back in

Thanks
 
#6
sounds like 1/8 of a turn counter-clockwise and wait a day

I'll look it over this evening

I hate to be without while it's in the shop for standard 3-4 day turnaround esp if it's something potentially simple and does no harm.

I would like to think the working range wouldn't be that sensitve to temperature ship vs my house, but maybe so as temperature seems to have a hand in all this
 
#7
wrench45us said:
sounds like 1/8 of a turn counter-clockwise and wait a day

I'll look it over this evening

I hate to be without while it's in the shop for standard 3-4 day turnaround esp if it's something potentially simple and does no harm.

I would like to think the working range wouldn't be that sensitve to temperature ship vs my house, but maybe so as temperature seems to have a hand in all this
Click to expand...

FWIW, it's not the temperature that causes the wood movement, it's change in relative humidity. The two are inter-related, but not the same thing.
 
#8
Funny, I have been playing bass since 1978 and never had an issue with any bass no matter what the weather conditions. Now my main basses are a 2008 MIA Precision and a 2011 MIA Jazz Deluxe and I am constantly adjusting the truss rod, bridge and intonation on both of them.
 
#9
Kmonk said:
Funny, I have been playing bass since 1978 and never had an issue with any bass no matter what the weather conditions. Now my main basses are a 2008 MIA Precision and a 2011 MIA Jazz Deluxe and I am constantly adjusting the truss rod, bridge and intonation on both of them.
Click to expand...


It's getting harder and harder to get the same quality of wood that was common 30 years ago.
 
#13
I couldn't get hold of the guitar tech, so I gave the truss rod 1/6 of turn CCW

seemed to relieve all the rattling except the lowest fret on the lowest string.
I think I'll live with that for a while before going any further

The humidity in northern winters can get into the 20's and we're still in the 40's.
 

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