Why is one of my basses so much more difficult to play?

In my experience, a lot of that will have to do with how much more sensitive Jazz-style setups tend to be, meaning they tend to put out exactly what's put into them, whereas Ps and MMs sort of "smooth over" the action. It will make you a better bassist in the long run.

Of course, the above doesn't account for arguably simpler factors like your hands just preferring the layouts of your other two basses or whatever, but I think what you've just described is part of why J basses tend to be so divisive, even within the same person.

 

In my experience the J should have the thinnest neck and should be easy to play.

you will probably need to adjust your action to match the Stingray which you find easiest, neck thickness may feel different but they should all feel familiar if set up properly.

 

Could be any number of reasons. I am comfortable with P width necks (40 years on them), so I am not comfortable with thinner necks.

 

So you are saying the Jazz is a difficult bass to play. Could you describe exactly what your right hand is doing.

ATM I don't know why that should be. Do you get the problems standing up or sitting down . . or both? Maybe change the position of the strap?

If you like the sound so much, I'd put the other basses away and focus on the Jazz until it feels like home.

 

I suspect that it has to do somehow with the placement and/or angle of your right hand when you pluck. For example, if you tend to anchor your thumb on a pickup, then your hand will be in a different place on each bass because the pups are in different places. Or, maybe the different body shapes cause you to play closer to or further from the bridge (where the stiffness of the strings differs) on one bass versus another. Or maybe you just need to adjust your strap length differently for the different bases due to their varyious shapes and sizes. There are probably other possibilities too, but you get the idea: Look carefully at the position and angle of your right hand when you play each bass -- perhaps by playing in front of a mirror -- and see if you can spot a difference about your right hand when you switch from bass to bass. If you're finding one bass the easiest to play and another the hardest, you might focus on those two because any difference should be most apparent between the extremes.

I'll be interested to hear if this helps you figure it out....

 

First make sure your Jazz has propper, and by that I mean factory recomended setup. You can find specs here. Yes, it is very good idea to start from there. No, most people can't do good setup by eye, no matter how much they insist on it.
Than, take it in sitting playing position and look at it from above. Body, than space beneath the strings, than strings. That space is VERY important, because it dictates the angle of your picking hand wrist. Check that space (and angle) on all three of your guitars.
I'll bet you are like me, less than 1 cm (1/2 inch), and angle is uncomfortable.
If it is so, than reply and I'll give you advice how to fix this.

 

Yes, it can be that, and it can explain this:

 

Since the OP specifically said that the playability problem "only/mainly affects the right hand", then, assuming he's right handed, I don't think all the comments about neck curve, action, etc. are likely to be relevant. Those would affect the left hand more.

The first thing I would look at is the string spacing at the bridge. Since the basses in question are not actual Fenders or EBMM's, but "high quality thirdparty brands" (whatever that means), it's not clear how close they are to actual Fender or EBMM designs. For actual Fenders, I would expect the spacing from the center of one string to the center of the next to be about 19mm at the bridge, while an EBMM StingRay would be more like 17.5mm (at least, that's what it is on my Ray 5 -- not sure what a Ray 4 would be as I've never owned one). If these basses are like that, it could just be that the OP's right hand is more comfortable with narrower string spacing.

Another possibility is that his third-party StingRay simply provides him with a more comfortable place to anchor his right thumb while playing.

The advice to start from a proper factory-standard setup is good in any case, but it may not be directly helpful to solving this particular issue.

 

You say all strings are the same. My experience is same strings different bass - not the same. Strings on one bass do not necessarily sound or feel the same on a different bass.

 

I missed that thanks, I wish people would call these for what they are: copies, or for example Jazz inspired to make it easier to answer these kinds of questions because I was thinking, well, a Jazz and a Precision have the same string spacing at the bridge so I was kind of confused.

 

This is me as well. I find many of my bassist friends who started on guitar play J-basses which makes sense, coming from a smaller neck. I fumble all over myself on a J-neck. Give me a nice P-neck and I'm in my happy place.

 

My first 5 string was a Fender AmDlx J5. It just never felt right to play with my left hand (right hand was fine.). I later got a G&L L2500 and a Rumblefish 5. I asked my repair guy why those two played great and the J sucked. He told me they all had the same strings and were all set up with the same action. He said he had noticed the same thing but couldn't put his finger on what the issue was.

Well, that adds exactly nothing to the solution, eh?

 

For me, difficulties with the right hand are generally caused by a) no ramp/pickup face under the plucking fingers, b) too wide of a body, or some strange body shape or c) untreated neck dive.

c) is the deceptive one, since, because we're all so accustomed to playing Fender style instruments where neck-heaviness is basically built-in, we often are trying to hold the instrument in place with the plucking arm without realizing it. On some basses we can cope with it, but on others with different shapes, pushing down on the body with the forearm interferes with free movement of the plucking hand a little more, causing more problems.

a) is something I suck too bad as a player to adapt to, so I practically have to have either a ramp or a pickup face to pluck over. I envy all the great players who sound great plucking over totally dead air.

But because of that, a thin jazz pickup at the bridge is the only one that gives slight problems. Only the inner parts of my fingers come to rest on the PU faces, and the outer part of the pad kind of falls off. In the past, I've fixed this with goofball attachments on the sides of the PU body to make the face a little wider like a soapbar PU size. I'm in the process of making one for my current jazz bass right now. But if it has a nice fat humbucker at the bridge (or a ramp) I play significantly better.

Anyway, a couple of ideas to take a look at and see if that helps uncover what's ailing your playing on the one bass....

L

 

How's the string spacing compare between the "Ray" and the J?

I've gotten way better at adjusting on the fly over time, but for the longest, even small adjustments in string spacing gave my right hand fits. And going from a narrow spacing to a slightly wider spacing was almost harder than going from narrow to much wider, though the latter was/is tough for fast passages.

Wrist angle mentioned above is definitely a strong factor, and among other things, it can affect your plucking fingers' angle of attack, resulting in possibly dirty thumps and weird tactile feedback from the string, which might in turn throw your muscle memory off.


They are different instruments and it makes sense that each should be played a bit differently from each other....like language dialects that can be understood by each other's speakers, but not necessarily easily without practice.

 

Good that you're using the same strings / pitch (therefore the same tension) but you need to eliminate the other variables before you can blame the basses for the playability differences.

Get the action on all three basses set to the same. Probably 3/32" at the 20th fret. This may involve adjusting the truss rod, bridge saddle height and may even require neck shimming. Until they have the same action, they will feel different when playing.

Also play attention to where your R hand is plucking the strings. If you're playing closer to the bridge on the Stingray then the strings will feel tighter and it will be easier to play faster / cleaner.

Report back when you've equalized the playing field (pun intended).

 

How exactly are the two connected?

 

Maybe this was addressed already, but the string spacing and where you pluck are something to examine. Maybe your saddles don’t follow the radius correctly.

I mostly play a P, but when I had a jazz, I found the spot above the bridge was too stiff and above the neck pup was too loose.

I had a tech make a thumbrest to go between the two pups for the best thumb anchoring for me.

Muscle memory is a powerful force.

 

Being mostly a Precision player, I'm not a fan of resting my thumb on a J's pickup.
It's slippery, and narrow.
I'm working on it but it's taking more effort than I had imagined.