bassbarber Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 hi peeps bought a electro acoustic bass and when its tuned it sound alien. the best way of describing this when you play a guitar and you dont grip the strings hard enough it makes a "twang" noise, i know its not me holding the strings tight enough. so i was wondering if it was the strings if it may need electro one or semi or something like that ??? please help peeps it sound horrid thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubs Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 I'm not sure I really understand the question, but acoustic basses do tend to sound a bit "twangy”, if that's the right terminology. What bass is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbarber Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 its a swift music london one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilb Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 Action too low? Neck bowed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbarber Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 the neck isnt bowed just checked it, wot dose low action mean ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash_sak Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 perhaps stating the obvious but does it sound 'off' if you imagine the sound of an acoustic guitar. Cause i have an acoustic bass n acoustic guitar n they sound relatively similar. So if it sounds like an acoustic guitar then there probably isn't anything wrong. (i hope that doesn't seem patronising, but at with the guy above. I dont actually understand the problem) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Sounds like you have fret buzz. If you're lucky it just needs a setup which you can learn to do yourself or take it to someone who knows what they're doing. A decent luthier would charge around £30 for this. If you're not so lucky it may also need the frets leveled which would be around £70. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KennysFord Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Could it be phosphur bronze strings they usually come fitted with perhaps. Try some flatwound strings on it and get it set up properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbarber Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 how would i kno if it was fret buzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 [quote name='bassbarber' post='452618' date='Apr 2 2009, 06:05 PM']the neck isnt bowed just checked it, wot dose low action mean ???[/quote] Action is the height of the strings above the frets. [quote]how would i kno if it was fret buzz[/quote] If you listen closely you'll hear that the buzz seems to be emanating from the frets, usually a couple of frets up from the problem fret. Is the buzz coming from all the frets on all strings, or just at certain positions? Does the problem go away if you play more softly or fret the string really hard right behind the fret? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbarber Posted April 9, 2009 Author Share Posted April 9, 2009 yes its at a certain position and yes the problem goes away if i play softly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 If it's just happening on a single fret the problem is likely to be the level of the frets - probably one that is to high or not seated properly (ie it has either lifted slightly or was never tapped down enough - though don't go randomly banging the frets with a hammer, you'll damage them!). It could be that the one you're fretting is too low and that's what is causing the problem, but it's more likely that you've got a high fret. If you've bought this new from a shop, you should take it back and ask them to sort the problem for you. If it's from a private seller on ebay or secondhand, you've got to decide what you want to do - the cost of taking it in for repair is likely similar to what you paid for the bass and trying any work yourself that isn't reversible could cause more problems. Raising the action is normally the easiest way of curing the problem, but this isn't easy on an acoustic bass. I suppose you could consider bodging it by putting some paper between the problem string and the bridge saddle. If that solves the problem and doesn't leave the action too high on that string you could maybe try making things a little tidier by building up the saddle with an epoxy like Araldite. Incidentally, this all refers to a buzz from a single fret. There are lots of things that can cause fret buzz - you should probably take a look at the sticky in the repairs section about setting up a bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassbarber Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 thanks just got to think of what to do with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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