Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: TheKimmer on July 21, 2020, 02:29:26 PM
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Order of correction suggestions: raise d string? adjust truss? Drink more beer?
Straingz:
New: Rotosound Swing Bass 66 strings
.040, .060, .075, .095
Round-wound.
Heps me?
Oh yeah! I hate to tinker with stuff.
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Yeah.
Me (I wish) practicing some Bach Cello stuff, always working on my reading and repitoire.
Always a critic around tho'!
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Greetings and welcome!
There are a lot of good threads on setting up Alembics in the Must Read section...it’s really easy once you get the hang of it...
http://club.alembic.com/index.php?board=29.0
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BB,
Welcome to the club, plenty of skilled tinkerers here that can help guide you to a better setup.
More details if you can.
How long have you had this bass?
What bass/ scale length is it?
Was it recently de-fretted and had an epoxy finish added? By a professional?
Are the Roto’s a deviation from your normal string choice (brand, material, gauge, etc.).
What is your problem? String buzz? Dead Spot?
Paul
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Welcome! Looks like a beautiful bass, would love to see more pics.
I have a (factory) fretless Guild M-85 - the D at the 7th fret on the G string sounded dead, I thought maybe there was a groove worn into the fretboard causing it to buzz and not sustain. But I got a Fender Fatfinger (https://shop.fender.com/en-US/accessories/miscellaneous/fatfinger-guitar/0992180100.html) - it clamps onto the headstock and affects dead spots. I couldn't believe it - no more dead spot! That D note sings now.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40906385883_8d24b68bf3.jpg)
Can't guarantee that is what is happening with your instrument, but if you have a clamp or something you might be able to experiment and see if it has an effect. Make sure to protect the instrument though - I used a little piece of felt because I thought the silicone might affect the finish.
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OP says in the subject line that the problem is a buzz and possible fingerboard dip - which could just be wear from those rotos. For that I'd say start by raising the bridge just a hair to see if you can get rid of it without loosing any "good" growl from elsewhere on the fingerboard. If you can't get it to go away it may be time to resurface it. Tricky business on a fretless.
Hieronymous, you can also achieve this by simply pressing the end of the peghead into the wall. But in my experience the results are that the dead spot simply changes locations...
Jimmy J
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OP says in the subject line that the problem is a buzz and possible fingerboard dip - which could just be wear from those rotos. For that I'd say start by raising the bridge just a hair to see if you can get rid of it without loosing any "good" growl from elsewhere on the fingerboard. If you can't get it to go away it may be time to resurface it. Tricky business on a fretless.
Jimmy J
I agree with Jimmy. I have a custom David King fretless 5 from early in his career. We tried a number of different coatings for the fingerboard until we arrived on epoxy and it took some doing to get it just perfect. 30 years down the road, it's due again.
Rotosounds are notorious for chewing up fingerboards. I really love the sound of DR Sunbeams on a fretless and they are quite a bit gentler.
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PS Lovely bass!
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Just got around to seeing these helpful posts! I'm Alembic Club noobie - so email routed this to junk
I will post some more pix - showin' side leds etc. . .
Yeah Thor did a beautiful de-fret epoxy job on what was already a beautiful bass. ~$650 expedited turn around.
This is my second one, picked up in 2003.
Sold my 'circa 75' BB back in 84 when I needed money to get married (boo!)
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I need to get out more often.
http://www.woodwiz.com/epoxy/index.html
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So.
Arggh!
I don't wanna raise me action maties, i.e., raise the D and G end of the string bridge.
I am compelled to ride low.
"All my friends call me the 'low rider' " 8)
If I decide to dive in to a truss-adjust, do I make it bow towards me, or make it bow away from me?
Geez!
Freakin' Physics is a hard nut to crack!!
. . . do we bow down in middle of the neck or bow out: make the 7th thru 15 bow out ? (as if I even have a handle on this).
And how does one go about doin' any of this without a peacock-feathered fairy duster and an Alembic magic wand!!!!?
OH! and throw in some more mind-numbing 'purple magic con-fus-ion' of the Evil One's magic mirror on the wall?
(cos the epoxy neck mirrors my distorted, yet pretty face staring stupidly back at me)
"Hep's me Paw!" - Ellie May Clampit, speaking for the Kimmer . . . Thx y'all!
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Think of the truss rod as just pulling the opposite way against the tension of the strings. In your case you want to try to add a bit of "relief" or get a little bit of "bow" back into your fingerboard, right? So you want to loosen the truss rod a bit and allow the strings to win the tug of war and pull the neck in that direction.
My suggestion is, loosen the truss rod nut (or nuts if there are 2) like a 1/4 turn, then physically push and pull on the neck to help it settle, then re-tune the bass and see if you notice any change. You can repeat that a few times until something happens all the monitoring the overall string height so it doesn't go beyond your low-riding specs.
Jimmy J
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THANKS!
I put down my beer earlier - and went in there and raised the action enough to get rid of the buzz: D string 7th fret at first octave A.
I need some buzz/mwaoh! - as Buzz is at the level where it should be on a fretless/epoxy.
BUT!
String action is now stratospheric and -er-ummm- unplayable for me.
Me's got tiny little itty-bitty hands - thats why I have a BB!
So I need to lower the action back to my JP Chromatic Fantasy rendition level playin' - and then crack open that 'walnut' of the truss-rod's cover and introduce more 'relief' bow?
Thanks for the metaphor: "let the string tension win"
Dumbie Question: for the purpose of ascertaining a kinda 3D orientation of all this, help me on the following.
When I have my baby BB straped on: after I finish adjusting the rodz and all.
Then the tuning head will move away from me in space-time - correct? Just ever so slightly . . . ?
Figuratively - I should imagine my left hand pushing - ever so slightly - the head stock away from me - out into the room?
High Five friend! Or the lower four, as is my case ;D
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That's right, you've got the concept. As you have the bass on, the tension of the strings is trying to pull the headstock away from you while the truss rod inside the neck is trying to pull it towards you. So a bit less tension on the truss rod should be like you pushing the neck away while holding onto the body. Get in there and try it...
It's a balancing act regarding the height of the bridge vs the truss rod adjustment. If you hold the bass up to your face as if it were an extension of your nose ... you can sight down the edge of the fingerboard to see if it's bowing one way or another. Should be near flat but it needs to have some relief in the direction of the strings.
Give it a go - you won't break it.
Jimmy J
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Brown Bass
I cranked back -uh- counter clockwise rotated - both the truss rods - about a whole turn, 3 quarters?
And the fret buzz - D sting at 7th fret - the 'note often most often visited first' our first octave A - the noise is now history.
🎻🍾 - champagne for everybody in the room!
🍾Dom Perignon!🍾 Only the best for the best!
Thanks Alembic Culb!
Pour yourself another one me! LOL!
Careful tho' - I need to play tonight, and sticky fingers ain't cool!
Plop plop fizz fizz, oh! what a relief it is! HaHa!
Mucho Thanks to this room's membership!
I was instructed -simply- about how to 'introduce' neck relief!
AND IT WORKED!
Ahhhh! No more fret noise!
Doctor's diagnosis: cause of issue : new to Florida - the neck probably swelled due to humidity . . .
Thankz y'all!
I owe the room some pix of the gloriously recovered BB patient! Coming Soon!
Damn! So Cool! Bass is back to sounding super-normal!
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Kudos KimmyJ - thank you!!! thank you!! thank you!!
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woohoo! :D
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All that trouble of adjusting the neck and the bridge was for naught! BooHoo!
The brand new Rotosound lights' D string seemed to have had a tiny little kink in it around the seventh fret location (mine is fretless).
I restrung the D with an older string and the buzz vanished!
"F"!
Or in this case: "D", or "G"-string! haha! So full of myself! Pardon.
Anyway, I restored the neck tension(s) - tightened 'em back up - and lowered the action to my usual razor thin margins.
She sings again like a birdie!
Need to add a topic in the 'club' that strings can be kinky! LOL!
And when they own up to their "kink", they will f-ing drive you nuts!
No pun intended - or - well a tiny kinky pun night be intended!
The first time in many years that I've encountered a rouge string in such a particularly weird place.
It was a perfect storm to trip up on such a gnarely string buzz on my 'precious'!
DISCLAIMER: the topic is related to FRETLESS!
Fretted -uh- units, will likey forgive tiny kinks, like we all should in real life, socially, anyway! :P
But, what with the pan-demonium - "cough" I am practicing, daily, quadruple durations now
And well, this hiccup had me freaking @220 BPM w/64th quintuplet notes . . . Ha!
Stay safe me' droogs: Girls and Boyz!
See you on the other side . . . 🎻