Bass Issues.

  • Thread starter Thread starter ste20man
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ste20man

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Hi.

I have recently borrowed a bass and am having some trouble with tuning it. The problem is that when it's tuned it holds the E A D G strings very well when you play the strings open, but as I've gone up the bass, the notes on each string get progressively worse, and by that I mean shap #.

Each string is 19 -23 cents sharp when I play the 12th fret.

It's not good enough for recording purposes.

I have tried using a screwdriver and changing the intonation but with no success. I had a look down the length of the guitar and I can't see any obvious warping. Am I missing something here?

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks for your time, Ste.
 
My advice would be to take it by a shop and get an opinion from someone who knows everything about the matter.
 
It definitely sounds like intonation. You say you changed it, but do you know how to do it correctly? You adjust the string length so that the harmonic (pressing lightly on the string at the 12th fret, without pressing the string onto the fret itself) should sound the same frequency as when you press the string down onto the fret.
 
Yeah 19-23 is a lot. Are you sure the neck isn't bent ? And how old are the strings ?
 
Could be strings, seem not too bad. Borrowed off of a friend and didn't ask, was just exited to have a bass for the song I'm doing. I checked up on intonation on the web and followed this procedure.

Harmonic on the 12th - play a note on the 12th as watch the difference. The tuner says 20 cents sharp so I backed the saddle(I think its' called that) away from the pickups using a screwdriver but no matter how far back I went there was no real change in the 20 cents at all.

Went the other way, toward the pickups to see what would happen and there was no change there either.

This is an encore bass so I'm not expecting miracles from it but it's useless unless I can get this sorted.
 
Like Guitaristic said, take it to a shop. 2~3 cents out wouldn't be a problem. 20 is another note ! While one can argue that a person playing an instrument should know how to adjust it, many of us don't so it's best in the hands of someone that does.
 
I think I would take it to a shop but I'm on time constraints. Have to have it back by Tuesday. Really gutted. I've found a good site that talks about maintaining a bass so I'm going to work through that today and then look somewhere else if I can't make progress. Thanks for all your advice, appreciated, Ste.
 
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