How to deal with dead spot (P bass)

[EJWW]

Hi all, advice required please. 

I've recently acquired a second hand Matt Freeman Squier P bass which is lovely. It's very light, great low action and sounds wonderful. It's strung with Fender flats.

However during my first gig with it last night I discovered that there is a very noticeable dead spot at the G (E string, 3rd fret). Its much quieter than the other notes and the bottom completely drops out of the sound which is dreadful when you shift up when playing the chorus of 'Play that funky music'.

I adjusted the EQ to boost the mids a little and that seemed to alleviate the problem slightly but that might have been in my head only. 

Is this a common dead spot on P basses and is there anything I can do about it? Very disappointed to find a problem with an otherwise great instrument. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. 

[chris_b]

A Fender Fat Finger might help. They sell it as a sustain device, but it also adds mass to the head and that can either lessen or remove dead spots. It might just move the dead spot up the neck to a less noticeable position.

Before you spend any money, can you get hold of a G clamp? Clamp it to the head of the bass (ensure you protect the finish). If the G clamp sorts the dead spot then then so will the  Fat Finger, but in a nicer package. If the G clamp doesn't work then neither will the Fat Finger.

[itu]

Ned Steinberger told about the deadspots while he developed the L-2. He said he tried to reduce the effect and shaved a serious amount of wood from the headstock. It seemed that the deadspot (or spots) started to climb higher up the neck. He decided to cut the headstock off completely and the deadspot (or spots) went so high, they did not affect the sound anymore. His design is a classic example of the "form follows function".

By the way, before you take the saw...

[EJWW]

On 21/12/2019 at 13:52, chris_b said:

A Fender Fat Finger might help. They sell it as a sustain device, but it also adds mass to the head and that can either lessen or remove dead spots. It might just move the dead spot up the neck to a less noticeable position.

Before you spend any money, can you get hold of a G clamp? Clamp it to the head of the bass (ensure you protect the finish). If the G clamp sorts the dead spot then then so will the  Fat Finger, but in a nicer package. If the G clamp doesn't work then neither will the Fat Finger.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to try this and see what happens. 

 

[Hellzero]

If you've got a clamp-on tuner always clipped on and that it acts on the dead spot, I mean creates it or remove it, you'll know which way to go too.

In fact, that's the reason why Leo Fender modified the headstock and shape of the neck when creating the Jazz Bass : the dead spot.

The dead spot on the G string between the D and E is a well known fact on four strings headed basses. 

The problem with the P-Bass is that it's often precisely on the note and not in between. It's mass, strength of the wood, type of strings and truss rod tension related, all interacting to create that dead spot that simply is the resonance frequency of your instrument.

ALL instruments (and in fact everything on earth) have a dead spot, but builders knowing that hide it in between two notes by the construction itself, so you won't notice it.

Even pianos like Steinway have one, that's why players take so much time to choose their instrument before buying it. First thing they search is if the dead spot will annoy them, their playing and what they play, then comes the sound itself.

You can also try to simply change the brand, gauge or type of strings you use or even add a few turns of strings over the tuners, this can work. Some players have glued a coin on the back of their headstock (you can try with double sided tape) or hung a small bag with some weight inside on a tuner. Putting higher or lower mass tuners can also solve the problem.

There are many ways to get rid of it. Some are cheaper than cheap, others are very expensive, without speaking of the snake oil ones.

The Fender Fat Finger is great for that because you can move it on the headstock and find THE best place for getting rid of that dead spot, but it's not what can be called cheap for what it is.

Another very often forgotten source of dead spot are the screws themselves. Are they all well secured and very tight fitted. Check this first, and especially the neck plate ones.