kwmlondon

I had a USA Jazz Pro that was just gorgous - FMT and it had the most gorgous tone, looked amazing, felt great but... it had the deadest of dead spots on the C 3rd fret 3rd string. It was unavoidable and it broke my heart. It's just an issue with that shape of headstock, but this Dingwall seems to be a lot easier to work around.

Okay everhone. Update time. There is a complete, 100% fix that sorts the issue completely that I've found. If I tune the bass down a half step to Bb the issue goes away. It's not a solution for me as I'd go raving mad trying to work out what I'm doing, but it's good to know it's an option. This is what Ryan at Dingwall had to say: Thanks for reaching out. In my experience dead spots can be minimized but not necessarily eliminated without, in my opinion, unacceptable compromise. To remove them completely the resonant frequency of the neck needs to be octaves above that of the speaking range of the instrument. Full carbon fibre necks work great for this but the tone for some people can be a deal breaker. We also had great luck using a clamp at the headstock. The added mass from the clamp helped a bit for sure. The major difference came from the off-centredness of the clamp, this all but eliminated the dead spots by controlling the torsional vibrations in the neck. I've heard some people have had success over the years with the Fatfinger, but if adding mass to the headstock is the goal the first thing I would try is a heavier set of tuners. I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any more questions. I asked what tuners he'd say worked and he told me "Gotoh's are a drop in, the index screws are located in the same place. Look at the standard keys, not the reso-lites." However... on recommendation from someone else I had a go at adjusting the truss rod. I'd done it as soon as I noticed the dead spot but only gave it a quarter turn so this morning I tried giving it another quarter turn which is about as much as I want for the action I like (there is still a bit of relief in the neck) and while it's not totally elimiated the dead spot, now if you didn't know where it was and I handed it to you I'd challenge anyone other than a luthier to spot it. So, that's it. It'll do me and I'm not doing anything else for the time being. I'll see how it goes when I change the strings next or if the neck needs adjustment as the seasons change or whatnot. Thanks to everyone for your input - I really appreciate your advice and support.

I mean, it may end up being less of an issue after a setup and a change of strings - won't go away but could be less noticable. These Dragonskins+ seem to be very high tension. I could try putting the old set on to see - I keep the previous set and shove in my gig bag in case of a breakage. Handy to have a precut set to hand.

I know. It's just that I do anchor myself on that part of the fretboard and now I've heard that the C doesn't sustain it niggles me! I think I can mititgate it a bit though so will report on next steps.

Gave Gregg a set of strings I could NOT get on with, hopefully he'll find they work for his application. Not strictly a purcase as there was no money changing hands but great comms back and forth about coated strings so happy to give good feedback!

you're welcome - hope they do the job!

As I've said before, I'd had a bass for years and only noticed a dead spot recently. It was very, very slight - just one note that didn't sustain as long as the others, but as someone pointed out earlier the only way to 100% guarantee you don't get them is to go headless and maybe even use synthetic materials.

Well, everything has a resonant frequency, the aim I guess is to push it to a beat where it doesn't interfere in a noticeable way with the frequencies you want to hear.

I know. Right up the dusty end... Because it's a 5er I often anchor myself from the C on fret 8 of the 4th string up to the C on the 10th fret of the 2nd string, especially as I'm learning to sight read at the moment and it's a key position to work at.

Defibrilator.

Sure!

I mean, I've tried putting a small woodworing clamp on the headstock and that makes the issue almost unnoticable so I may just get a headstock tuner as that'd probably do just as well AND be a useful thing at the same time! It's just that the bass has really good balance as it is and looks fabulous so it'd be annoying to add a lot of mass at the end and make it look like an accident. Thanks for the input btw!

Well, I’ll give it a go. Nothing to lose and while I don’t expect to be return it, I’ve had really good customer service so far and I’d be surprised if they didn’t at least offer some advice. I mean, they know people like me are often repeat customers so it would make sense to give ongoing support. I’ve met Sheldon and I think he’s a good egg.

Nobody cares….

Hmmmmmmmmm….. I mean, it’s an interesting idea but I’m going to reach out to Dingwall before making any purchases. Though to be honest, I only noticed the issue when I used a noise gate so is it worth attaching something like that to my headstock. Cheers though!