Maybe your 3 strings that sound kinda dead are too near to your pickup, and the pickup's pull is too strong and it kinda deadens your tone. Happened to me. Try out your bass without the pickup maybe.
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What might be wrong?
- Thread starter Frank Martin
- Start date
Will do.
Maybe it's just me, but I think it got a little bit better...
Might it be the neck "getting usd to" it's position in the pocket? Or the urethane entered it's next stage of drying hard... who knows. Still not perfect, though, but a bit better. Or maybe I just got used to it.
Another question:
I asked for mandolin frets, which are shorter than what the luthier was used to and now there's a tiny gap between the frets and the bottom of the fret slots. Might it be another reason? I'm thinking it may be as it's the slap tone that sufferes especially. Should I fill up the recess with, say, epoxy?
Maybe it's just me, but I think it got a little bit better...
Might it be the neck "getting usd to" it's position in the pocket? Or the urethane entered it's next stage of drying hard... who knows. Still not perfect, though, but a bit better. Or maybe I just got used to it.
Another question:
I asked for mandolin frets, which are shorter than what the luthier was used to and now there's a tiny gap between the frets and the bottom of the fret slots. Might it be another reason? I'm thinking it may be as it's the slap tone that sufferes especially. Should I fill up the recess with, say, epoxy?
Frank Martin said:
I really think you've gone down the path of irrelevance.
Put new strings on it, already.
Well, what might seem irrevlevant at first might turn out to be a source of problems after all.PilbaraBass said:
There's a freshly boiled set of DR LoRiders on, which have seen only a few weeks of use before that. I even tried the very same string on this and the Corvette, and the difference was easily heard.
Update:
Lately, browsing through TB and some other sites, I found out that polyurethane is basically a hard rubber...
So now I took the bass apart again, and sanded the urethane off from the neck pocket and the neck heel. Into the little recess that was between the neck's end and the pocket wall, I put a piece of leftover walnut veneer, to make the contact tight again. (First I "ebonicized" it my way: sand it a bit, to get the coarseness off, then make it black with... shoe polish!
and after that dried, a bit of TruOil. But unfortunately, the recess is still visible... whatever).
The result:
The highs are back!
It not only got a bit brighter, but now it's brighter and much clearer than the Corvette.
The difference is startling. From dull to quite bright and zingy slap/pop tone, just because of a few tenths of millimeters of "rubber" in the wrong place...
Thanks for the help and ideas!
Lately, browsing through TB and some other sites, I found out that polyurethane is basically a hard rubber...
So now I took the bass apart again, and sanded the urethane off from the neck pocket and the neck heel. Into the little recess that was between the neck's end and the pocket wall, I put a piece of leftover walnut veneer, to make the contact tight again. (First I "ebonicized" it my way: sand it a bit, to get the coarseness off, then make it black with... shoe polish!
and after that dried, a bit of TruOil. But unfortunately, the recess is still visible... whatever).The result:
The highs are back!
It not only got a bit brighter, but now it's brighter and much clearer than the Corvette.
The difference is startling. From dull to quite bright and zingy slap/pop tone, just because of a few tenths of millimeters of "rubber" in the wrong place...
Thanks for the help and ideas!
Frank Martin said:Update:
Lately, browsing through TB and some other sites, I found out that polyurethane is basically a hard rubber...
So now I took the bass apart again, and sanded the urethane off from the neck pocket and the neck heel. Into the little recess that was between the neck's end and the pocket wall, I put a piece of leftover walnut veneer, to make the contact tight again. (First I "ebonicized" it my way: sand it a bit, to get the coarseness off, then make it black with... shoe polish!
The result:
The highs are back!
It not only got a bit brighter, but now it's brighter and much clearer than the Corvette.
The difference is startling. From dull to quite bright and zingy slap/pop tone, just because of a few tenths of millimeters of "rubber" in the wrong place...
Thanks for the help and ideas!
you've just invalidated any experiment because you made two changes simultaneously....now you'll never know for sure.
however, my guess is that tightening up the neck pocket is the main reason for your regained highs.
but you haven't made and before/after recordings, have you?
so how is anyone else to judge if the difference is "startling"?
yes...i AM being cynical
The tightening up the neck pocket was to make up for the difference of the urethane being removed both rom the neck's end and the neck pocket's wall. Without it, there was a gap between them - that's why I put the thin veneer between them. 
Frank Martin said:The tightening up the neck pocket was to make up for the difference of the urethane being removed both rom the neck's end and the neck pocket's wall. Without it, there was a gap between them - that's why I put the thin veneer between them.
oh well...as long as you got back the sound you were after...that's really all that matters...
you'll have to post some recordings you know
In the middle of the quarter-year exam-season, that will take some time...PilbaraBass said:you'll have to post some recordings you know
