Bad String?

[NFB-418]

I recently had my 4003 fitted with a bone nut and professionally set up. I had a new set of Fender 9050CLs put on in the process. Everything is amazing with this bass except the intonation at the 12th fret on the A string. After I got the bass home, I noticed that the A string is slightly flat at the 12th. Since that saddle was adjusted as far as it would go, I pulled the bridge and turned the saddle around to see if I could get a better adjustment. No dice. The string is still slightly flat. It's a mystery to me because all of the other strings are perfectly intonated.

So, is it possible that a bad string could cause this problem or is it something else that I'm missing?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

[basmansam]

I had a similar problem with my '75 4001FL. When I had the fingerboard redone, my luthier made an extra long saddle to accommodate the extra length required to bring to pitch.

[NFB-418]

I had a similar problem with my '75 4001FL. When I had the fingerboard redone, my luthier made an extra long saddle to accommodate the extra length required to bring to pitch.

Interesting. Thanks for the reply, Sam. I'm not going to fret over it. It's only off by 1 cent (if my tuner's not lying to me).

[cassius987]

This could be due to lots of little elements of the setup that aren't obvious to most of us, myself very much included, so I recommend checking it every few days and making minor adjustments to the neck until it sorts out. Sometimes I will have trouble intonating a string like this but the next time I pick the bass up, it's cured.

[slave]

I've managed to tweak this prob (not with a Ric mind you) by slightly tweaking the truss rod, so changing the length of the string.
Dunno how flat you already have the neck set tho......

[songdog]

It's only off by 1 cent (if my tuner's not lying to me).

Interesting point. I've sometimes wondered whether my tuner is listening to the fundamental or the harrmonics (which are not necessarily exactly in tune).

But one cent? Practically speaking, does that matter? Here's an experiment for you.... Tune your bass perfectly in normal playing position. Holding it by the body, not touching the neck, tilt the bass so the body faces the floor, then the ceiling. Watch the tuner. What happens?

On both of my basses (4001 with a very thin neck, and Fender with a thicker neck) I can watch it go flat when it faces down and sharp when it faces up. That's the neck flexing under its own weight. It's only a few cents, but it happens.

Now think about all the things that affect string pitch as you're playing - hand pressure bending the neck, how hard you finger the string, the usual tendency for the note to go sharp when hit hard (that's the biggest one for me, sometimes I really whack that thing!)....

Then again, your playing style may be very different from mine, and that one cent really could be significant for you.

[antonius]

Slightly flat above the 12th fret is at least better than being sharp. With the higher action up the neck it's very easy to slightly bend the note as you fret it, thus sharpening it, or in your case, cancelling out the flat intonation. Whereas if it's already sharp it can only get more sharp depending on how you play, and that is harder to live with...