Dead Flat?

[jazzyvee]

I recently put some D'addario Chromes (flats) on my elan 4 and been playing it a lot recently to decide if i really want to keep the flats on. However i have stumbled across two dead spots on the E string  at Ab and Bb. Everywhere else seems to be fine.
 I never noticed any dead spots in that place with roundwound strings. I'm hoping it is just a dodgy string but it seems to be more evident when the filter is closed or almost closed but not noticeable with the filter more open.
Any ideas?

[Spoilers!]

Hi Jazzy,

From the way you describe it, it sounds like you're getting upper harmonics on those notes but not so much of the fundamental.  It's not choking out against the neck?  Any buzz on those notes when you play it unplugged?

My first thought is a bad string.

Ken

[sonicus]

D'addario Chromes (flats) in my experience had a string tension that I liked. They seemed to have a nice snap .

[Spoilers!]

They were my go-to for many years for the same reason.  Eventually I started drifting toward lower tension sets, but I still haven't found a set that checks every box for me.

[jazzyvee]

No buzzing at all Ken, in fact i do want to lower the action a bit. This might be ear fatigue but have just put the bass down from practice and what I tried during my session was opening the filter till the dead spots seemed to disappear then knocked off some of the treble on my preamp and it seemed to make a difference. Also just to check i put the old round wound E-string back on and again closed down the filter and didn't get the dead spot, so like you i'm inclined to think it's a bad string in the pack.
I've just had a look on-line and the cost of one E-string is almost half what I paid for a full set of strings from Guitar Centre in Palm Springs.

[fclef6]

Jazzy…I had a similar experience with an E string on a set of Thomastik flats and the place I bought them from hooked me up with the manufacturer, who was nice enough to send me a new one. It was indeed a wonky string.

[BeenDown139]

https://club.alembicguitars.com/index.php?topic=27081.0

done the bunk string thang..

[jazzyvee]

I had a real good play of this bass over the Friday evening and the weekend making small adjustments to lower the action in stages. The bridge is down as low as it will go and now the bass seems to be fine, a much lower action and, interesting that the strings feel less tight. Will try again tonight after making changes yesterday and see how the land lies. I haven't measured anything, just opened the filter so that I can hear better any buzz and adjusted things till it felt right. I did have a refret when the bass was refurbed so if the dead spots are still evident, I may have to get the frets dressed.