There's a song in the band I want to do but the singer/bass player said he couldn't do both on that song at the same time. I've been wanting to do this song for 2 years so I offered to play bass. He loaned me his old, beat-up 4-string Ibanez to practice at home. The strings were literally rusted so I:
Chopped the strings off
Taped the fretboard
Sanded the discoloration off all 22 frets
Lemon-oiled the fretboard
Hydrated the fretboard with mineral oil
Cleaned & polished all but the fretboard and hardware
That was Sunday. I researched Ibanez to find there 4-string basses have a standard string gauge 45-68-80-100. Therefore I went to GC and bought a two pack of D'Addario EL170TP regular lights. On the package it said they're brighter sounding than nickel plated steel. I emailed D'Addario and they said the strings are NPS's but brighter sounding.
I put graphite in the nut slots & bridge and strung it up. My first ever bass stringing. Seemed just like guitar stringing on a meatier level. I think I only wrapped once thinking they're all wound strings and grab well and wanted to have less wraps for less stretch. I tuned/stretched/tuned/stretched then played My Sharona through my Fender HRD guitar amp. The low E string is much louder and mushier than any other strings. When I'm playing the G octaves the low G sounds pissed off and the high one is not as loud.
I see the T-risers (whatever they're called—individual bridge piece) are funky. The one for the low is on like a 45-degree angle where the upper side is really low. Is that low action on the low E causing it to be louder than the rest of the strings?
I've never done an intonation on guitar or bass but I'm seriously thinking about spinning some of those allen screws on the T-risers to lower the action. It's too high on most of the strings. And I'm thinking about raising that one side of the low E T-riser. Any of you bass players out there have any ideas, suggestions or comments?
Lastly, I was thinking about cutting these strings off and put regular NPS strings (GHS ML3045 baby boomers regular light NPS 45-68-80-100) to get a mellower tone. That is, unless the D'Addarios will mellow out in a few hours of playing. :shock:
Summary of questions:
1. Is the "clankyness" of the strings the frets due to the super bright strings or normal with new bass strings?
2. Why is the low E louder than other strings?
3. Will playing this 4-string bass through my Fender tube amp damage it?
4. Should I jump on it and adjust the T-bar things up/down to my like of action at the expense of actual intonation? I don't know if it makes a big deal on bass.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
2. Why is the low E louder than other strings?
4. Should I jump on it and adjust the T-bar things up/down to my like of action at the expense of actual intonation? I don't know if it makes a big deal on bass.
The closer the string to the pickup, the bigger the current induced in the pickup, hence the louder that string sounds. The t-bar being at an angle will be making the string lower and hence louder. They should all be level really.
I'd move the strings as low as possible, then adjust them all to get an equal volume from each string, then you'll probably need to redo the intonation (string length). On my old 'el cheapo' bass, I had to raise the pickup on the top strings side to get the volumes balanced without fret buzz.
Personally I'd say if it's just for practice then 'close' is good enough - bvut then I'm quite a sloppy bassist :)
Sadly, I'll be using this junko bass for just one or two songs at each gig. Yea, for practice at home I could deal with it but I would not subject a crowd to it because the volume level change is annoying.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Can you not use the bassist's bass for those couple of songs?
I used to do that, swap my guitar for his bass just for a couple of songs - it's not ideal (I'd always have to give him the evil eye for giving it back out of tune etc.), but it'll get you by.
careful about running a bass thru your standard electric amp. the speakers wont take the load.
I hear ya dogbite. I won't run that bass through my tube amp again. I came up with another solution to not killing my amp. I'm listening through headphones which can handle the lows.
The bass player would probably rather me use his bass because it's always at practice/gigs. I don't like it because it's a 5-string with that low B doing nothing but taking up space. The bass is heavy. He plays with the bass lower than I'd like. I'd want to cinch up the strap to not kill my left wrist which would not be cool cause I'd hand it back to him and it would be to high for him. Who knows. Maybe I'll try his bass again at practice Friday night.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Go ahead and adjust the string height,I would'nt be too worried about tonation as bass' are generally not as sensitive as 6 strings.I would also check the pick up height.As a quick fix you could try adjusting the pick ups so that they they are angled away from the E string.This should be easy to do just by turning the screws either side of the pick up.
Even though your listening through your head phones your amp won't thank you for it.Keep the channel volume or gain and the bass eq as low as possible and use the master for volume.
Hope this helps.
My Band: http://www.myspace.com/thelanterns2010
playing whilst drunk is only permitted if all band members are in a similar state!
What about adjusting the practice bass to get the best sound you can from it and if it doesn't come around enough to use on stage, then what about using the strap from the practice bass on your bass players bass when he hands it to you. Then when your finished, change straps back to his and hand it back to him. That way your not adjusting straps, just changing them.
Joe
Good call, never thought about switching straps. One good thing is I've been getting much more comfortable playing that junk bass and the song. Maybe this weekend I'll adjust the action. Does anyone know a link or article that talks about "normal" specs for intonating a regular 34" bass? I have a Peterson tuner which is very accurate. I just need to know how.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Intonation's easy on a bass, especially if you have - as you do - a very precise tuner. Basically every string fretted at the 12th fret should by exactly in tune with the harmonic at the 12th fret - just tinker with the length until the two notes match. As long as the action isn't rediculously high, that's all you need to do. (Helpful as ever, I forget which way to move the bar, but you'll soon know :))
Logically, it seems a fretted 12th note would never equal a 12th harmonic right above the fret. My (fuzzy) logic is, any time you fret a note, you pull the string note sharp a little.
"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."
Corbind, that's exactly what intonation adjustments compensate for.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Indeedy. Also, as the amount of bend required to change pitch is non-linear, moving the string down to the frets is also a very small movement comparitively.
Intonation is a big deal on a bass if youre playing with a guitar, like as a gig situation, but make the action work then intonate, google Guitar Intonation and youll find great guides. Just play with it and itl work. And if your bass has P&J Pickups I think they cause the volume level discrepencies because on my p&J Ibanez the bottom strings are louder than the bass-er strings. Its better to compensate for tone by playing softer than tweaking pickups and stuff. Just play around and find what works.
SHUT UP ABOUT IRON MAIDEN SOLOS AND GO PRACTICE!
-Manitou
