Bass set up/Sound advice

los_sentidos · Post by **los_sentidos** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 9:21 pm

Ok, I've put some lovely new strings on Mindy (the Midnight Blue Player), it sounds suprisingly sweet and we recorded our practice last night, upon listening back when playing on the A it sounds great but the sound is very thin when on the D string. I have never really felt this was a problem before. I was using someone elses practice amp last night. Would it be that it was a poor practice amp? Is there something I can do to change this on the bass?

On my other bass (Monty the Montezuma) I have only played it about 5 times but there has always been a buzz/rattle on the A. I changed the strings and it's still there. It's coming from the bridge, when I play an open A and put my finger on the bridge (by the A) it stops.

The guitar shop say they can look at it next week (which is no good to me)

Any ideas?

I have no idea with regards technical stuff though lads (as you may have guessed :p)

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:43 am

If these are recent ricks, chances are the nut slots are too small for anything but ric strings and the bridge saddle slots are cut too shallow. That is enough to make the volume balance of the strings go nuts.

As for the buzz, try tightening the screw for that saddle on the back of the bridge slightly.

Id offer to fix it for ya! if only you were in london!

concordia · Post by **concordia** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:43 pm

I had the same problem with the rattle. Tighting the screw didn't help me, some people suggested buying replacement ric bridge or buying the hipshot bridge. I just use to the noise.

los_sentidos · Post by **los_sentidos** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:38 am

Cheers guys, managed to just use the 1 bass in the session, we're still mixing it as it's a 10min epic!

Owen, listened to your tracks last night - loving the bass sound - what's your set up?

stevefox · Post by **stevefox** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:34 am

Hi Ronan.
Ok, I know this post is a little old but I had to reply.
My Monty had the same rattle at the bridge on the D string and no matter what I adjusted it didn't go. Turns out the actual saddle was Rocking side-to-side on the Bridge so I removed the bad saddle, filed down one side slightly to give it a slight Concave to follow the contour of the bridge and it cured the problem. I've since seen this same problem on two other new rics, just seems the castings for the saddles are bad.
Steve