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What is a 'dead spot'?
- Thread starter tb-player
- Start date
It's a thing... Pretty much been answered several ways in above posts. It is something that bothers some and the severity of which varies. I have had it and do have it on several basses. None of which is very bad, all typically from the 5th fret to the 8th fret G string.
If I want a bit more sustain on any of those notes, I can switch positions. But typically a non issue.
If I want a bit more sustain on any of those notes, I can switch positions. But typically a non issue.
Mostly on a 4 string neck, if you tap the neck with your knuckles you'll get something between a C and a D on the G string. I think that spot on the neck is very close to being one of the nodes of the neck so essentially when you play that particular note at the fifth or so fret on the G string it will drop in volume quickly. Dead notes are more prominent at gig level volume than if you're sitting at home at conversational volume.
I never really knew what dead notes were until I was playing a song where it was whole notes at one part and on that bass it was C# that died out quickly. At first I thought my amp was dying and then I remembered, "Ah, dead notes". Played the same notes on the D string and it was fine.
I never really knew what dead notes were until I was playing a song where it was whole notes at one part and on that bass it was C# that died out quickly. At first I thought my amp was dying and then I remembered, "Ah, dead notes". Played the same notes on the D string and it was fine.
Expensive, but the Rickenbacker 4005XC is a 30.5" 24 fretter. Upper fret access is insanely good (neck heel starts at the 23rd fret) and they're pretty light. Also uses 34" scale strings because the tail is a fair way back. As of this post, Wildwood still has 8 amber fireglos in stock.
As instruments go*, they're probably likely to appreciate in value as well because they're a limited one-year-only anniversary design.
* - Instruments are a horrible investment, so caveat emptor.
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The most obvious example in my experience was a Mexican Fender Mark Hoppus I had. 5th fret G felt and sounded like I had foam under the strings: an initial attack which suddenly dies off before the note blooms.
I put a Fat Finger on that bass but it ended up moving the dead spot to the 6th fret (you can get lucky and adding/removing mass can move the frequency that sucks the note to a spot between the frets). I ended up putting an American neck on that bass which fixed the dead spot. Sold the original neck and bought a fretless neck for that bass. The American neck went on an ash Warmoth body which has turned into the most resonant, energetic instrument I've ever owned.
I put a Fat Finger on that bass but it ended up moving the dead spot to the 6th fret (you can get lucky and adding/removing mass can move the frequency that sucks the note to a spot between the frets). I ended up putting an American neck on that bass which fixed the dead spot. Sold the original neck and bought a fretless neck for that bass. The American neck went on an ash Warmoth body which has turned into the most resonant, energetic instrument I've ever owned.
Ah this makes sense. I head heard about it enough here to watch videos of people demonstrating them but had never had a bass myself that had one (never had FSOs) until I fixed up a busted Fender Jazz. It wasn’t really pronounced, but I definitely noticed it right off.
The G string dead spot is real, though it varies greatly in severity from bass to bass. I had a Squier a while back with a dead spot on the 6th fret of the G that was so bad it basically made the note inaudible. It sounded like a ghost note.
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
Or many people read about it and now think they hear it when it’s actually bad technique, old strings or an excuse to buy a new bass… lol.
I’ve owned 50+ basses and never noticed it once. After reading these explanations, I’ll chalk it up to exaggerated TB lore, based in a modicum of truth (I’m looking at you ‘neck dive’).
What is your setup like? If you have high action and a lot of relief, pretty good chance you'd never notice a dead spot.
Edit to add: Almost all necks have dead spots. The solution for dead spots is a headless neck. Fender figured this out in the 60s-70s. Yes, a Fender headless prototype exists out there.
The note’s fundamental decays quickly (and you’ll tend to hear a lingering fifth) = dead spot. Some people’s ears seem to be attuned to these inconsistencies while some remain blissfully unaware. 
Graphite necks are not immune and neither are headless necks.
Graphite necks are not immune and neither are headless necks.A bad deadspot is when a note has less volume and sustain than other notes.
Specially if its a note like a D on the A string.
Most of the the time you get the classic less sustain on the 4-7 frets on the G string.
Instead of ringing for 3-4 seconds it rings for 1 followed by an overtone.
You can play a life time without noticing these.
Specially if its a note like a D on the A string.
Most of the the time you get the classic less sustain on the 4-7 frets on the G string.
Instead of ringing for 3-4 seconds it rings for 1 followed by an overtone.
You can play a life time without noticing these.
I had this same thing on a '90s USA Jazz. I would hit the note and couldn't hear it at all. I took it back and got a Rick 4003. Since then I have built, bought and sold 100's of Fender(FSOs, Genuine & Licensed) basses and only ever saw the problem a couple more times.
I believe it's always there but only a very, very tiny amount. You really have to look for it hard to find it in most cases. So it's almost always a non-issue. Like maybe the note is 97% of the notes around it.
Or many people read about it and now think they hear it when it’s actually bad technique, old strings or an excuse to buy a new bass… lol.
I’ve owned 50+ basses and never noticed it once. After reading these explanations, I’ll chalk it up to exaggerated TB lore, based in a modicum of truth (I’m looking at you ‘neck dive’).
Much more truth than lore.
I first noticed a dead spot on my MIM Jazz long before I knew TB existed. Playing at church, there are a lot of times a bass note needs to ring out for a whole measure or two and that ain't happening when you hit those notes on that part of the G-string. After changing strings, string height, pickup height, etc, I was relieved to find out it was a common problem on FSOs.
I've never had one so bad that I felt like there was a problem with the bass. You know, something I should make a potential buyer aware of. The idiosyncrasies of tone that arise when you screw a wire onto a piece of wood and amplify it—that's what we love about this instrument. If you want every available note to have the exact same, utterly predictable tonal character every time, you play the part on a Moog.
Most of the time when I’ve noticed dead spots they were due to acoustical issues, not the instrument itself. I am not saying there aren’t basses with dead spots. But before I buy a bass, I play every note on the bass unplugged to make sure there are none.
Or many people read about it and now think they hear it when it’s actually bad technique, old strings or an excuse to buy a new bass… lol.
I’ve owned 50+ basses and never noticed it once. After reading these explanations, I’ll chalk it up to exaggerated TB lore, based in a modicum of truth (I’m looking at you ‘neck dive’).
So, because you haven't noticed it, it doesn't exist.
Perhaps you should have your hearing checked by a Professional?
D
All standard electric basses have dead spots. Period!
The theory behing dead spots can be hard to understand (and I'm no expert) but a bit simplified: Dead spots happen because the note you're playing is at a frequency that makes the entire instrument vibrate. All physical objects have a resonant frequency like this. You can't get around the laws of physics. The energy of the vibrating string is transferred to the instrument faster than at other notes/frets. This causes the vibration of the string itself to stop almost instantly. You get poor sustain and a note that dies out almost immediately.
Dead spots may be more difficult to notice if you're playing alone, especially when using a smaller practise amp as some of the higher harmonics will still ring out (while the fundamental dies out almost instantaneously). If you take the same bass and play it through a large PA system it will suddenly feel like one or several frets are completely "dead", like all the lows are sucked out and you get no sustain whatsoever.
I posted a clips demonstrating dead spots in another thread. Some people seemed to hardly notice the dead spot and this was the absolutely worst dead spot that I could find on ANY of my basses. I suspect people were listening on laptop speakers where the dead spots will be FAR less noticable than if you're listening through better speakers.
Dead spots also tend to be far more noticable when playing with a full band or in the context of a mix because the higher harmoinics that still ring out are masked by other instruments (like guitars). The result will be that certain notes completely disappear in the mix.
I own around 50 basses (and I've owned more over the years). I also work at a guitar workshop where several bass guitar end up on my bench every week. I have yet to play a bass with no dead spots. On some basses they are less problematic than on others but they're still there.
Using composite/graphite rods inside the neck is said to reduce dead spots but I have yet to see a bass with such rods that doesn't have dead spots. I've got several basses with necks of this type and some of them have really bad dead spots.
Sometimes dead spots are centered "between" two frets. In these cases the dead spots are often perceived as less strong but they also affect more frets. When a dead spots is centered exactly on the frequency of a particular note you will get one VERY strong dead spot and almost no effect on adjacent frets. These basses with one very strong dead spot centered exactly on one particular note are the worst IMO (unless that particular note is a note you rarely need to ring out with normal sustain).
I have seen some people I regards as trustworthy claim that some headless basses and/or basses with metal necks don't have dead spots (although I think they should still have theoretical dead spots but perhaps outside the frequency range of bass guitar). I have yet to encounter one of these basses though.
Dead spots are NOT the same as fret buzz, which is caused by worn/uneven frets or poor setup. Dead spots is an inherent issue with all standard electric basses and you can't get rid of it. You can add or remove mass to MOVE the dead spot though. The "Fat Fingers" (Fender used to sell them I think) that clamp onto the headstock will do this and typically move the dead spot 1-2 frets. This can be useful if the dead spot on a particular bass is on a note that you really need to sustain (like on a specific song when playing live or recording) but you WILL get a new dead spots in an nearby fret.
No amount of compression can fix dead spots. You can't bring up the volume of something that isn't there to begin with.
Dead spots can be extremely annoying. I just assembled a Warmoth. J-bass neck with graphite rods, P-bass body. I planned on using it as my touring bass (I wanted certain visual aesthetics that I couldn't find elsewhere for a specific band). It turned out to be an amazing instrument but it's also completely useless to me as it has an extremely severe dead spot on a note I really need to ring out for specific songs we play with that band. When assembling basses from seperate bodies/necks it's lottery. You will never know exactly where the dead spots will occur until the bass is fully assembled. If I buy a new neck I might get a completely different result but at this point I think I'll just use a different bass with this band. It's a great bass and the dead spot isn't really worse than average, just on a note that I REALLY needed to have normal sustain with this particular band. I can probably sell the bass and cover most of my losses but it was still a bit disappointing.
The existence of dead spots is actually a great example of how the neck/body of the instrument affects the vibration of the strings, which seems to be something the tonewood sceptics regard as a myth. "Tone" is not just about warm vs bright but also about sustain and having an even response along the neck. And yes, the wood clearly matters.
The theory behing dead spots can be hard to understand (and I'm no expert) but a bit simplified: Dead spots happen because the note you're playing is at a frequency that makes the entire instrument vibrate. All physical objects have a resonant frequency like this. You can't get around the laws of physics. The energy of the vibrating string is transferred to the instrument faster than at other notes/frets. This causes the vibration of the string itself to stop almost instantly. You get poor sustain and a note that dies out almost immediately.
Dead spots may be more difficult to notice if you're playing alone, especially when using a smaller practise amp as some of the higher harmonics will still ring out (while the fundamental dies out almost instantaneously). If you take the same bass and play it through a large PA system it will suddenly feel like one or several frets are completely "dead", like all the lows are sucked out and you get no sustain whatsoever.
I posted a clips demonstrating dead spots in another thread. Some people seemed to hardly notice the dead spot and this was the absolutely worst dead spot that I could find on ANY of my basses. I suspect people were listening on laptop speakers where the dead spots will be FAR less noticable than if you're listening through better speakers.
Dead spots also tend to be far more noticable when playing with a full band or in the context of a mix because the higher harmoinics that still ring out are masked by other instruments (like guitars). The result will be that certain notes completely disappear in the mix.
I own around 50 basses (and I've owned more over the years). I also work at a guitar workshop where several bass guitar end up on my bench every week. I have yet to play a bass with no dead spots. On some basses they are less problematic than on others but they're still there.
Using composite/graphite rods inside the neck is said to reduce dead spots but I have yet to see a bass with such rods that doesn't have dead spots. I've got several basses with necks of this type and some of them have really bad dead spots.
Sometimes dead spots are centered "between" two frets. In these cases the dead spots are often perceived as less strong but they also affect more frets. When a dead spots is centered exactly on the frequency of a particular note you will get one VERY strong dead spot and almost no effect on adjacent frets. These basses with one very strong dead spot centered exactly on one particular note are the worst IMO (unless that particular note is a note you rarely need to ring out with normal sustain).
I have seen some people I regards as trustworthy claim that some headless basses and/or basses with metal necks don't have dead spots (although I think they should still have theoretical dead spots but perhaps outside the frequency range of bass guitar). I have yet to encounter one of these basses though.
Dead spots are NOT the same as fret buzz, which is caused by worn/uneven frets or poor setup. Dead spots is an inherent issue with all standard electric basses and you can't get rid of it. You can add or remove mass to MOVE the dead spot though. The "Fat Fingers" (Fender used to sell them I think) that clamp onto the headstock will do this and typically move the dead spot 1-2 frets. This can be useful if the dead spot on a particular bass is on a note that you really need to sustain (like on a specific song when playing live or recording) but you WILL get a new dead spots in an nearby fret.
No amount of compression can fix dead spots. You can't bring up the volume of something that isn't there to begin with.
Dead spots can be extremely annoying. I just assembled a Warmoth. J-bass neck with graphite rods, P-bass body. I planned on using it as my touring bass (I wanted certain visual aesthetics that I couldn't find elsewhere for a specific band). It turned out to be an amazing instrument but it's also completely useless to me as it has an extremely severe dead spot on a note I really need to ring out for specific songs we play with that band. When assembling basses from seperate bodies/necks it's lottery. You will never know exactly where the dead spots will occur until the bass is fully assembled. If I buy a new neck I might get a completely different result but at this point I think I'll just use a different bass with this band. It's a great bass and the dead spot isn't really worse than average, just on a note that I REALLY needed to have normal sustain with this particular band. I can probably sell the bass and cover most of my losses but it was still a bit disappointing.
The existence of dead spots is actually a great example of how the neck/body of the instrument affects the vibration of the strings, which seems to be something the tonewood sceptics regard as a myth. "Tone" is not just about warm vs bright but also about sustain and having an even response along the neck. And yes, the wood clearly matters.
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Happy hunting! They should be able to do considerably better on price than what's posted. I paid ~$4k for mine in their holiday sale.
