JJ Bass Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 (edited) Hi, Little help please! I've had a Hohner B professional for a few months and I can't seem to quite set it up right. It plays really well and for a budget bass and its bloody good but it seems to have more tension on the strings than other bass I've ever played! I use either 30-50-70-90 or 25-45-65-85 strings and the tension just seems too hard for those strings. I've tried some expensive and cheap strings but nothing seems 'quite right'... The action is as low as possible, the neck is straight (apart from a dead spot on the 17th fret on the A) The only string which seems very light is the 35 I have on the D which I tried as an experiment!! I had the same string set up on my Status S1, Zoot, Status Eclipse, Schecter etc and they all seemed fine, although they were obviously alot more expensive. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds good, but for bending the harmonics and strings bending I can only bend up 2 notes and with those strings I should be able to go higher if I wanted to! The strings don't even sound 'that' thin on the bass.. Any ideas? I've tinkered with most things on the bass, and if I mess with truss rod the dead spot gets worse! Help please!! Edited May 4, 2011 by jonannlou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Some basses are just like that. My old Ibanez BTB had amazing string to string tone and balance, but it always felt as stiff as a board. I think the 35" scale contributed to this but all the same, it made my left hand fingertips like bloody steel. Maybe a pro setup could address the issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 I didn't even know they made string sets that light, could you maybe use the bottom 4 of a 6 string set (high c and down) then tune them to standard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ Bass Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 [quote name='Ross' post='1220644' date='May 5 2011, 09:22 AM']I didn't even know they made string sets that light, could you maybe use the bottom 4 of a 6 string set (high c and down) then tune them to standard?[/quote] Thats what I'm doing already The 25 does disintergrate quicker than a 30 but for bending its something else, sounded great on my Status S1 - [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dRP2kRjiC0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dRP2kRjiC0[/url] 30-90 are available, but not by many makers, I also use 30-85 as my sponsor sometimes throws me some freebies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ Bass Posted May 5, 2011 Author Share Posted May 5, 2011 [quote name='Chris2112' post='1220480' date='May 5 2011, 12:20 AM']Some basses are just like that. My old Ibanez BTB had amazing string to string tone and balance, but it always felt as stiff as a board. I think the 35" scale contributed to this but all the same, it made my left hand fingertips like bloody steel. Maybe a pro setup could address the issue?[/quote] I'm not sure how much a pro set up would be???? I seem to be able to set a bass pretty well myself as I'm pretty patient and know how I like a bass - low and fast!!! I'm not totally sure what scale the bass is, as I haven't checked as most basses look small on me as I'm a big bugger!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Your problem is not one of [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/tension.htm"]tension[/url] but one of [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/myth/perception.htm"]compliance[/url] or "stiffness" of the string. If you string two basses which have the same scale length with the same make and gauge of string and tune them both to the same pitches the tensions in the equivalent strings on each bass will be the same. However the compliance may well be different. If you've read the articles in the links you'll see that compliance is affected by what happens to the string between the witness points (the nut or zero fret and bridge saddle) and the string anchors (the machine heads and the bridge/tailpiece). The overall stiffness of the neck and neck joint if there is one will also have an effect on the compliance. Is this bass very susceptible to changes in string gauges and types - are you having to adjust the truss rod more often than usual? Personally I would take this bass along to a really good bass luthier along with one of your other basses that you are happy with and explain your concerns and get them to have a good look at it. The other thing that comes to mind form your post is that you have a lot of very nice basses that seem to work as you want them. Is there any special reason why you are expending so much effort making this particular bass work for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ Bass Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 [quote name='BigRedX' post='1220980' date='May 5 2011, 01:14 PM']Your problem is not one of [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/tension.htm"]tension[/url] but one of [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/myth/perception.htm"]compliance[/url] or "stiffness" of the string. If you string two basses which have the same scale length with the same make and gauge of string and tune them both to the same pitches the tensions in the equivalent strings on each bass will be the same. However the compliance may well be different. If you've read the articles in the links you'll see that compliance is affected by what happens to the string between the witness points (the nut or zero fret and bridge saddle) and the string anchors (the machine heads and the bridge/tailpiece). The overall stiffness of the neck and neck joint if there is one will also have an effect on the compliance. Is this bass very susceptible to changes in string gauges and types - are you having to adjust the truss rod more often than usual? Personally I would take this bass along to a really good bass luthier along with one of your other basses that you are happy with and explain your concerns and get them to have a good look at it. The other thing that comes to mind form your post is that you have a lot of very nice basses that seem to work as you want them. Is there any special reason why you are expending so much effort making this particular bass work for you?[/quote] Hi, and sorry for the late reply. I've only the one bass at the moment, all the others get sold/traded depending on finances etc.. I've wound back the bridges as far as possible and even though he truss had to be slighly tightened it doesn't need playing about with. When I first tried 25-85 on my status they almost felt too thin, and on this hohner it feels like a heavier guage. Maybe another thing, but sometimes when re-stringing (I do this alot due to my slapping!) if I don't get the string right it will play/sound like a dead/old string, but if I re position it on the tuning peg it'll sound right - how odd!!! Any thoughts? It has a cheapo graphite nut, and the steinberger bum on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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