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Neck Dead Spots


TPJ
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[quote name='synaesthesia' post='57358' date='Sep 8 2007, 12:03 PM']Nothing new in that sort of behaviour in the branded forums. The Alembic, Rickenbacker, insert your brand 'here' etc etc etc forums are places where blasphemy and sacrilege cannot be tolerated.[/quote]

No, Rickenbacker has always been cool. At least with me. They have admitted "dead spots" and even described them at length and have listened to their customers input and improved their basses. The new vintage switch, thinner neck profile and adjustable poles on their pickups for the 4003 series basses came from complaints about quiet "e" strings and other remarks. That company listens to their customers. And the year long wait and high resale shows the high quality of the instrument.

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  • 2 months later...

[quote name='synaesthesia' post='57358' date='Sep 8 2007, 10:33 PM']Nothing new in that sort of behaviour in the branded forums. The Alembic, Rickenbacker, insert your brand 'here' etc etc etc forums are places where blasphemy and sacrilege cannot be tolerated.[/quote]


Ironically Epiphone forum is just the opposite albeit in the extreme. ie Epi seem to completely ignore anything posted on the bass forum, Good bad or indifferent.

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[quote name='jammie17' post='101484' date='Dec 8 2007, 08:02 PM']No, Rickenbacker has always been cool. At least with me. They have admitted "dead spots" and even described them at length and have listened to their customers input and improved their basses. The new vintage switch, thinner neck profile and adjustable poles on their pickups for the 4003 series basses came from complaints about quiet "e" strings and other remarks. That company listens to their customers. And the year long wait and high resale shows the high quality of the instrument.[/quote]

From GWbasses website in his restoration of a Ric:
[quote]A block of lead had been put in a hollow spot in the back of the fingerboard... weird, huh? I talked to Rickenbacker and they said it was for helping to eliminate dead spots.[/quote]

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[quote name='chris_b' post='14204' date='Jun 8 2007, 02:11 PM']- Use a Fatfinger, to increase the mass of the head. It does work.[/quote]

I'd just like to say I bought a Fatfinger and it made not one iota of difference, to either my Fender Jap Precision or the American Fender Deluxe Precision I had for a short time (which incidentally had several serious dead spots that were just shifted around when adjusting the truss rod).

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[quote name='steve66' post='57036' date='Sep 7 2007, 03:32 PM']I was able to "fix" the a few notes (lack of sustain) on the G string on a buddy's Fender Jazz by taking the neck off and installing brass inserts and machine screws in place of the stock neck screws. If anyone is looking to try this, It did require some drilling in the stock neck holes to make room for the inserts. after measuring, I used a drill bit stop so I wouldnt drill through the neck completely. Other than watching out for that, its a fairly easy mod, and holds the neck to the body very tight.[/quote]


Interesting...what prevented the brass inserts from just pulling out?

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[quote name='martthebass' post='13772' date='Jun 7 2007, 07:48 PM']When I got my Sterling it had a dead spot at the 5th on the E - not a good place. None of note anywhere else. If you post on EB forum about it they tend to get a bit shi**y. Strangely it wasn't noticeable acoustically only when amped up. Anyhow tweaked the rod a little (just an 1/8th turn - more relief) and now the bass seems to have settled down the problem seems to have dissapeared. I gather the G string deadspots are pretty classic.[/quote]



When you talk about tweaking the truss rod, by how much do you mean, how many turns. the bass is a fretless fender jazz reissue ?

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  • 4 weeks later...

My BTB405QM has developped a HUGE deapspot on the 9th fret and above in areas...
The sustain is so bad it's almost instant decay. Strings have been changed many times, different guages and materials.
Frets have never been a problem, it's not fretting out it's just...goes "Duff" in said area.
My BTB556MP however still sustains forever.

Any ideas?

Edited by Kongo
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  • 5 months later...

I have had 2 MM Stingrays and both have had dead spots. On my current one I have started using a fat finger on the headstock to increase the mass which improved things slightly. I have also tightened the truss rod which helped quite a bit. I also use an Ashdown dual band compressor which helps. The G string will always feel quieter, although when playing through a PA it sounds fine.

On my 80's Charvel there is no problem anywhere. These basses are loud, sustain for ever and are built like tanks. If I had more room in the band van and strung it more often with fresh strings I would use it on some songs where I play on the mid to higher part of the G string just ot get over the issue.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Don't forget about room resonances and standing waves.

My covers band went to a different rehearsal room to usual, due to where the amp was in the room (a small combo) the room loved the note A flat. a nightmare for playing the the key of A!

you know how the note feels weak when you play a wrong note in the mix?? every other note was like that. Nightmare

Jack

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='867638' date='Jun 14 2010, 11:32 PM']Just found this vid which offers a surprisingly clear illustration of how deadspots work.

[url="http://www.wimp.com/rubenstube/"]http://www.wimp.com/rubenstube/[/url][/quote]
Damn. I wish I hadn't seen that. I now want flames coming out of my bass neck. The pattern would change every time you change a note. Fretless = continuously variable flame patterns!

Asbestos glove mandatory though, so the technique might suffer a bit.

A barbeque attachment for those summer gigs? "Quick - play an 'E' the sausages are getting burnt but the burgers are still underdone"

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='867638' date='Jun 14 2010, 11:32 PM']Just found this vid which offers a surprisingly clear illustration of how deadspots work.

[url="http://www.wimp.com/rubenstube/"]http://www.wimp.com/rubenstube/[/url][/quote]

:) Awesome!

My Overwater original has an irritating dead spot on the D at the 7th - TheFat finger went some way to fixing it but the bass is so finely balanced ~I started getting a bit of neck dive though the shape of the bass ( explorer-esque) causes u to rest ur left arm on the body.

Best cure was standing holding the end of the head against a door frame :rolleyes: not ideal.

BB

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