Cernael

Yup, as I said, it's 2 cents off, in theory. The 24th fret one should be dead on (in theory). Of course, if you go into too simplified theoretical abstractions, you shouldn't need intonation at all...and the 12th fret is better in that case, as it makes it rightest around where you play the most; lower 12 frets.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='252374' date='Jul 31 2008, 11:15 PM']For that last double stop, you could always play it with an open G or fifth fret D, with a fifth fret harmonic on the A string.[/quote]
Isn't that harmonic really an octave too low?

If you're gonna use a harmonic, I suggest playing the E-string at the 15th fret, while fretting the G-string at fret 14, and playing an artificial harmonic at the imaginary 26th fret.

[quote name='Clarky' post='252140' date='Jul 31 2008, 05:16 PM']Hi I have read the threads on intonation today (wish I had read 'em before!) but have seen some recommend using a tuner at the 12th fret for matching the note and harmonic and others say the 19th.

(...)So which fret should it be?[/quote]
Both should work, and give the same result; you could use one and then check it against the other. 24th fret would work too, if your bass has that many.

If they don't yield the same result, it may be because of issues with action, string stiffness, and/or the nut being in a slightly "off" position (which is what the "Buzz Feinten system" is all about); neither of them are things you really can do much about, and oughtn't be noticeable enough to really bother you anyway.

If it does anyway, and you don't use open notes much, you might consider putting a capo on the first fret and intonate at the 13th, 20th and/or 25th fret instead; that will concentrate all the bad intonation on the open notes. OTOH, IMO this fall into the category of "overzealous nitpickery".

EDIT: Someone in the pinned Badass thread on top said that the 19th fret position is preferrable, because, being of a higher pitch, the notes are easier for the tuner to pick out correctly.

Makes sense to me.

OTOH, a natural (overtone/harmonic) 12th (octave + fifth) should be 1902 cents (100ths of a semitone) while the equal-temperament 12th is 1900 cents, or, one fiftieth of a semitone flatter. Of course, that is not a difference that is perceptible by humans (I think the treshold lies somewhere around 20 cents, generally), but, yeah. 24th fret wouldn't have that problem, and is even higher in pitch, for the benefit of the tuner. (Overzealous nitpickery, sure. Or you can view it as amusing trivia.)

Heh, yep, it's an H&S.

I was actually planning to use the stock toggle switch; closer examination shows it's a single-pole switch, though, so I guess it'd have to build one preamp for each piezo, and place them before the switch (that'll probably turn out to be cheaper than getting a new toggle switch, as they're around €6 in parts).

On another hand, no, I probably won't need to have both necks active at the same time; maybe I should replace the toggle with yet another push/pull, and use its pot as piezo volume?

[quote name='Alun' post='249150' date='Jul 27 2008, 10:35 PM']Every tendon that you use to wiggle your fingers about has to travel through a very small passageway – your wrist. Imagine your drinking through a straight straw – the liquid flows quite easily. Now, bend the straw in the middle and try again – still getting some liquid through but you have to try harder. That's effectively what's physically happening with your wrists, so I strongly recommend keeping your wrists as straight as possible.[/quote]
This, while part of good advice, is a false analogy. Tendons are housed in sheaths with next to zero friction; bending the wrist doesn't really make it harder to move the them.

What it actually does is make the distance between the elbow, where the relevant muscles are attached, and the fingers ever so slightly longer (or shorter, in the case of the flexor muscles), meaning that the muscles must work at the extreme end of their range, where they're generally weaker. Also, since you're at the extreme range, you have less...ehh...wiggle room.

Try this; make a tight fist. Now, bend your wrist in the direction of the palm, and try to hold the fist tight. Does it open up a bit anyway?

For chordage - pick up a book or something on the CAGED system. Derives all manner of chords from five basic shapes - all in all, an all-encompassing, systematic approach.

Guitar Techniques has been running an article series on it recently; issue 147-152 (jan-may 2008), so if you happen to know someone who subscribes, see if you can borrow them and have a look.

So. I've got a double neck bass (5str fretted/4str fretless) for which I've gotten a set of no-name piezo bridges (like this), and now I'm pondering how to wire it all up.

The bass is pretty much akin to this one, for reference.

I'll be building [url="http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html"]Don Tillman's FET preamp[/url] to power the piezos.

Here's a start at the wiring scheme I'm considering.


The stereo pots should control volume for neck and bridge pups, respectively; the switches on the right should toggle the neck+bridge pups in series/parallel for each neck; the tone pots should control each neck. ()

Do they?

I should add some controls for the piezo unit as well; volume and some kind of tone? What do people usually have for on-board piezo controls?

I'll probably have a separate tele jack for the piezo unit, possibly with a switch to add it to the magnetic output.

Suggestions/corrections?


On another note: the intonation range on the piezo brigdes is a bit less than on the original - I've got about 1 cm between min and max settings (a few mm more if I remove the spring); how should I position them? with the max setting at exactly 86 cm from the nut (12th fret is 43 cm from the nut)? Or should I risk some mm more?

Thanks,
/Tomas