miikebass Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 So, after years of buying used basses I splurged and bought myself a new Mustang Vintera. Was never super happy with the sound from day one. The A string isn’t as ‘alive’ as the others. And worse, the 4th, 5th and 6th frets on the A are particularly dull and ‘thumpy’. Hard to explain. Fretting the 5th on the A compared to open D are noticeably different. I installed flats soon after buying it. Have since refitted the original strings but still no good. Have had it to a guitar tech. He set the intonation and messed around with pickup heights. Not really any different. I contacted the seller. They asked about pickup heights. With last fret pressed down I have 3.5mm between pickup and bottom of the A string. They asked me to raise it a bit. I did. No difference. They also said basses generally have dead spots which involve a section of the neck producing a short sustain and less volume and is incredibly common. This is very annoying considering it’s a new bass and I’ve never struck this before on any bass I’ve ever owned. I’m thinking of swapping some decent pickups into it. Nortstrand or Lollar. Should I? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudpup Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 Don't mess with it. Take it back to the seller for a further chat about it. If you played it in the shop you may struggle to get a better outcome but if you bought it online you can probably return it if you haven't had it long. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miikebass Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 1 hour ago, Mudpup said: Don't mess with it. Take it back to the seller for a further chat about it. If you played it in the shop you may struggle to get a better outcome but if you bought it online you can probably return it if you haven't had it long. Yep bought it online in June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miikebass Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 Their claim that dead spots are incredibly common. How should I respond? Like buying a new car and being told not to use 3rd gear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 This does sound like a setup issue — I have owned a couple of vintera mustangs and once set up they had no issues like this. Dead spots are annoying but i’ve only seen them localised to a single fret of a particular string, never a bunch of adjacent frets, and I’ve never had one on a mustang bass. If there is a friendly basschatter near you who is particularly experienced with bass setups it could be worth having them take a closer look to investigate the problem. Where are you located? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miikebass Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 8 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said: This does sound like a setup issue — I have owned a couple of vintera mustangs and once set up they had no issues like this. Dead spots are annoying but i’ve only seen them localised to a single fret of a particular string, never a bunch of adjacent frets, and I’ve never had one on a mustang bass. If there is a friendly basschatter near you who is particularly experienced with bass setups it could be worth having them take a closer look to investigate the problem. Where are you located? I’m in Australia. So a bit of a drive. As mentioned I’ve had my guitar tech look at it. Could it be a pickup issue? I’m happy to pay for a decent set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 Pickups won't help, usually a dead spot can be heard acoustically too. Check the strings are seated properly (i.e bent over the bridge) firmly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miikebass Posted November 3 Author Share Posted November 3 17 minutes ago, ped said: Pickups won't help, usually a dead spot can be heard acoustically too. Check the strings are seated properly (i.e bent over the bridge) firmly. Interesting. Acoustically it’s basically silent. Comparing to my P bass which rings out evenly across all strings Anything there I might be missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan63 Posted November 3 Share Posted November 3 So it's dull sounding in the area the truss rod does most work, and dead sounding generally - it's much more likely to just be a poor neck made from a piece of wood that just doesn't vibrate, or there's something slightly out in the truss rod pocket/skunk stripe if fitted), or maybe the glue up of the fingerboard to the neck, rather than anything to do with the pickups - wood varies and that's why some are good, some are great, and most are functional, but a few are dogs My CV Mustang is slightly less resonant on the A string frets 5, 6 and 7 and that corresponds with an obvious knot that is visible in the grain on the back of the neck, but overall the instrument vibrates okay - it's a heavy one though only just under 9lb, Nato (sort of mahogany) body. I don't think Fender check the vibration of the completed instrument and reject dead sounding ones, I don't know if even PRS do that with their US made premium instruments despite Paul maintaining that a non vibrant instrument will never sound good - he wants a string to ring out acoustically for 17 seconds plus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted November 15 Share Posted November 15 (edited) On 03/11/2024 at 01:28, miikebass said: So, after years of buying used basses I splurged and bought myself a new Mustang Vintera. Was never super happy with the sound from day one. The A string isn’t as ‘alive’ as the others. And worse, the 4th, 5th and 6th frets on the A are particularly dull and ‘thumpy’. Hard to explain. Fretting the 5th on the A compared to open D are noticeably different. I installed flats soon after buying it. Have since refitted the original strings but still no good. Have had it to a guitar tech. He set the intonation and messed around with pickup heights. Not really any different. I contacted the seller. They asked about pickup heights. With last fret pressed down I have 3.5mm between pickup and bottom of the A string. They asked me to raise it a bit. I did. No difference. They also said basses generally have dead spots which involve a section of the neck producing a short sustain and less volume and is incredibly common. This is very annoying considering it’s a new bass and I’ve never struck this before on any bass I’ve ever owned. I’m thinking of swapping some decent pickups into it. Nortstrand or Lollar. Should I? That doesn't sound like a 'dead spot' which typically has a much narrower range (1 fret, not 3!), so I lean towards blaming the setup, maybe uneven frets? Can't diagnose from here. I know you say you took it to a 'tech' but... there are techs and there are Techs. A lot of people just use the term very loosely and frankly are not very good at it. If returning it is an option, it might be the simplest way to solve this. If not, find another tech (reputable) for a second opinion. Don't bother with pickup replacements etc, that's not where the problem lies. Edited November 15 by mcnach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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