XylemBassGuitar

[quote name='apa' post='1203550' date='Apr 18 2011, 06:21 AM']They are no where near each other. There are two wires. A thick one and a thin one. Now when I took it apart i did make a note of it but lost it. I do remember there the connections where and its pretty obvious. The thick one was to the vol pot body (You can see where the old solder was) and the thin one (Im assuming the hot wire) was to a white wire coming from the preamp. A[/quote] It does seem more like a p/u problem. Have you done a lot of soldering before? Maybe one of the solder joints is cold (i.e. the solder/parts didn't make a good bond)? Did you have to heat any of the parts a little longer than usual? It's possible to damage electronics with the heat from a soldering iron. Also, how well did the new fretboard glue to the neck? Got any tiny glue lines between the two or is the joint invisible? By the way, I really like the look of the bass after your mods!

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1207754' date='Apr 21 2011, 05:16 PM']I would check the nut slots, if they are too tight they might deaden the sound, they should be just a little wider than the string. Also if your nut is a cheap plastic one, it is better to replace it with a better quality one, such as bone, reconstitute bone, tus-q, graphite. I am sure any of these will improve the situation.[/quote] True, the nut slots should be cut properly, and a non-plastic nut will probably make a little difference BUT... Keep in mind that the nut is only part of the equation when the [i]open[/i] strings are being played; as soon as you press a fret the nut is no longer part of the equation (for the most part at least). I gotta agree with the rest of the posters in asking if the B string has [i]ever[/i] sounded good...knowing that answer will help a lot, there are a ton of things that could be causing the issue.

[quote name='davydisco' post='1037318' date='Nov 25 2010, 10:31 PM']hello can anyone help and recommend a video/books on the bass as i cant really progress so i need some recommendations for a novice player can anyone give me their opinions please thankyou[/quote] Do you already know how to read music or are you completely new to music [i]and[/i] bass? Let me know and I can recommend a few books. There are also a lot of informative videos on YouTube, though you may have to do a little digging to find the gold.

I've never had a chance to play the 714BS, but the BB424's are pretty sweet! I'd be surprised if you were disappointed with either one. I did notice that the pickups of the BS are reversed and much closer to the neck, so I would imagine that the BS is more boomy like you mentioned and will probably give you a little less punch than the BB424. Also, in general, manufacturers will do a little better job leveling the frets and setting up signature models as opposed to regular models like the BB424.

[quote name='DRussell21' post='1040610' date='Nov 28 2010, 04:34 PM']@XylemBassGuitar Without sounding rude, I noticed that you said about the six strings and i was wondering if that was a mistake or are your measurements meant for electric guitars? If it was a mistake then the relief with the added card to my nut gives a reading of around 0.3 mill. Without the added card it reads 0.25. So is it safe to say there's nothing drastically wrong with my relief? The action is 0.4 on my E string and 0.45 on my G.[/quote] Woops, yep my bad. I did mean 4 strings, not 6, but the measurements are meant for bass and not guitar. I work on both basses [i]and[/i] guitars so much that sometimes I get things mixed up. Sorry for the confusion! The relief on the neck does sound like it's pretty good, it is fairly safe to say that there is nothing wrong with the relief itself. When you say that the action is 0.4 on the E and 0.45 on the G, do you mean centimeters? (sorry, I'm from the States, this base 10 measurement system is difficult for us Yanks ) If you do mean centimeters, that's pretty high action (if not pardon, the mistake). You might still consider taking the beast to a good tech or luthier for a setup, they could probably work everything out and bring the action down at least a little. It's very interesting that you were able to solve the buzzing problem on 5 frets by raising the nut. That makes me wonder, can you hear the buzz through an amp or just from the strings themselves? It is possible that the bass has "backbuzz" where the portion of the string [i]behind[/i] the fret you are pressing is what buzzes, instead of the string length in front of the pressed fret. Though this [i]can[/i] sometimes be heard through the amp (it is rare), backbuzz is usually only heard from the strings themselves. Beyond that, if raising the nut fixes the problem and you're happy with that as a solution (and you've heeded neepheid's warnings about the method of fixing the nut) I'd say stick with it!

[quote name='alanbass1' post='1034298' date='Nov 23 2010, 12:47 PM']Hi Anthony, welcome aboard. I was based in Kansas City '05 to '08 and happened to pass through Durango when we went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon - I think we took the 550 off the I70 to see some friends in Farmington en route.[/quote] Cool! A surprising amount of people know about Durango. Good 'ol Farmington too. Way back in the day when Durango was about half the size it is now (and there was no WalMart or Home Depot) you had to drive the hour to get to Farmington to go to things like malls with more than three shops and bowling alleys, ah the good 'ol days. Thanks for your welcoming words guys.

Hey Dan, Keep in mind that the nut will only affect the buzzing on the [i]open[/i] strings. As soon as you press down on a fret, the nut is taken out of the equation. So, raising the nut would probably help with any open string buzzing, but the 1st - 5th frets will probably still buzz. I do agree with neepheid's suggestion for raising the nut though, especially if it buzzes on the open strings. If it doesn't buzz on the open strings I would forgo adjusting the nut. Have you checked the relief and action heights? We could probably help diagnose the problem a little better if we knew how much relief the neck had and how high the action was at about the 12th fret. My apologies if you already know how to measure these (not trying to be presumptuous at all here): Get a ruler with either millimeter or 1/32 inch divisions (or better yet, a set of feeler gauges). Relief: Put a capo on the first fret and press down the low E string at the 17th fret, now measure the distance between the 7th fret and the bottom of the string (you can also just have someone hold down the string at the 1st fret if you don't have a capo). [i]Usually[/i], you'll want about 0.28 millimeters of relief. Much less and that could be the cause of the buzz. Action: Just measure the distance from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the string without pressing anything down. Many times if the first five frets are buzzing for all 6 strings it means that the guitar has too little relief, but it is tough to diagnose a guitar without seeing it. Let us know the measurements and we can probably help a bit more. Alternatively, just as you had mentioned, it is always good to take it to a good luthier or tech so they can see the full guitar and really find out what is going on. -Anthony

Hi Gang, Anthony Olinger with Xylem Handmade Basses & Guitars here. I just recently discovered this forum and am really excited to start conversing with some bassists from across the pond! I just moved my shop from Chicago, Illinois to a great little town in a valley of Colorado called Durango. The air, attitude and mountains out here are wonderful and the music scene is surprisingly happening for such a small town. You can go out and see a very good band almost any night of the week, and tons of bigger acts come here. My band opened for Dead Prez a few months ago and I got to go see the Thievery Corporation before that. I guess they like the town a lot too! Now I just have to work on getting the Scissor Sisters to come out this way. It's great to once again be in a place with lots of rock climbing too. Anyway, I'm really psyched to contribute some of my knowledge and experience to BassChat and see what I can learn from everyone here as well (it's amazing the information you can find on a forum these days). Anyone interested in chatting about basses, building, playing or anything else just drop me a line, I'd love to hear from you. My musical tastes are pretty eclectic and I love virtually anything that is idiosyncratic. I'm a big fan of Primus, Bob Log III (see him live if you get a chance, seriously), Gogol Bordello, all kinds of jazz, blues and rock greats, as well as a lot of the artists signed with Def Jux (especially El-P and Aesop Rock). I'm always looking for new ideas, theory and techniques in music, so if anyone would be kind enough to send their avant garde ideas my way it would be much appreciated! See y'all around the forum. Cheers, Anthony

A few things that helped me improve my improv (in no particular order): 1) "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine...even if you hate jazz this book still has [i]tons[/i] of ideas, both rhythmic and tonal, and the ideas can be used in most genres (especially the rhythmic ideas). Keep in mind that this book is thick and somewhat complicated... 2) Another book, "Expanding Walking Bass Lines" by Ed Friedland. This one has even more good rhythmic ideas and is much simpler than The Jazz Theory Book, but still just as useful. 3) If you are trying to improve in the rhythmic arena particularly (and you may have already done this), play in a bunch of weird time signatures like 7/8, or practice fitting three bars of 4/4 into four bars of a tune that's in 3/4. Also, practice knowing where you are in the rhythmic structure. That is, tonally you know "I'm playing an A, now an E, now G, etc." but do you also know "right now I'm playing the third 16th note of the second quarter note (the seventh 16th note of the whole bar), then I'm going to play the first eighth note of the fourth quarter note?" Hope these help!