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Bass too bright, loud 'clacking' when strings hit frets


1976fenderhead
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I have a Squier Vintage Modified V which I bought here long ago and is my spare bass. I love it, beautifully made. It's been set up by the bass Gallery and it feels well set tup to me. My main issue with it is that it's a very bright bass (maple body probably the cause) and the sound of strings hitting the frets when I press them is too loud! I don't mean fret buzz, I mean the 'clack' when I press a string and it hits the fret above and below. My main bass, a MIA Fender Jazz Deluxe is nearly completely silent in that regard by comparison. It's quite distracting. The strings are Fender nickel, not exactly known for being bright and which I've used many times on my main bass with no problems.

So what could I change in the bass to stop this noise being so loud? Pickups? Pickup height? Anything else?

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I know how frustrating and annoying this can be. Do you live near to The Gallery?
Have you tried taking the bass back to Martin at the Gallery and talking with him? As you know, there's more to his knowledge than your average bass tweaker.

It would be useful to hear what Martin has to say. I'm sure he won't charge for looking at it and advising.

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1475229798' post='3144160']
You're hitting the strings too hard with your right hand. If you can't lighten up on your RH technique you'll have to raise the strings.
[/quote]

It's not fret buzz, it's the 'clacking' of my left hand finger pressing the string onto the frets. There's no buzz. The sound is there even with hammer-ons.

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Tried turning the treble down?
I'm thinking that's a stupid suggestion as no-one has mentioned it yet, but that seems most obvious solution if it isn't your technique?
I mean even if it is in your technique, because it happens a bit acoustically, cutting the treble will certainly help your amplified sound.

Edited by FuNkShUi
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I have never actually used it in a gig, it's just my spare and my one 5-string bass when I want to try something on it. But at home the sound is quite loud through my rig (not too bad unplugged).

Yes, turning down treble helps, had tried it, but only if I do it to an extent that my tone gets completely muffled and dull, so that's not the solution.

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[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1475228421' post='3144143']
Yeah sure, I can ask, was asking here in case there was an obvious fix I could do myself.
[/quote]
I appreciate that. You sound like you're getting frustrated. The answer is that without seeing the bass in your hands, or in our hands, there is no obvious answer. If you were to find a solution we'd be interested to hear.

Did the "clack" happen before it was setup?

Does it clack when someone else plays it?

Do you have the bass at the same height as the other bass(es) you have that don't clack? Maybe you could try swapping straps, to check this, without re-adjusting the strap length.

Edited by Grangur
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Not frustrated at all, just short answers because I'm working. Asking at The Gallery is actually a good idea that hadn't occurred to me yet (though I thought I'd go to them to do whatever fix was suggested here, if too technical for me to do myself).

I can't remember before the setup as I did it very soon after buying it. No one else has ever played it since I bought it and it happens whether sitting or standing, so I don't think it's connected to height (when standing the bass is slightly lower).

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I have had 2 vmj's and they are quite bright and clacky especially with new strings, but they shouldnt be that different to a fender
although if your deluxe is active that could make a big difference compared to a passive bass depending on how the eq is set...
what does the vmj sound like with old strings on it ?

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Yeah, these strings are actually quite old but the bass hasn't been played much so I guess they're still sounding relatively new... Short answer is: I don't know :)

My deluxe is active, hence why I wonder if changing pickups would help... Or maybe I could try to get an EQ pedal and cut those frequencies only, so that the whole tone doesn't go dull...

Regarding pickup distances, they should actually be different than my Fender's because one is active and the other is passive. I'll try playing around with that next week, see what happens.

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First thing i would try is swapping strings and see how they sound..
do you not find new strings sound bright on your fender or do you tend to keep old strings on ?
i used a vmj with flats or old rounds in my reggae band for a long time and it sounded great i also used one with fresh new daddario's for a funk band
and that sounded good too so you should be able to get whatever sound you like really.

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