knirirr Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago Recently, I asked for a luthier to adjust the action on my bass, which involved some wood carving on the fingerboard. The action is now as low as some better quality basses I've played locally, and also as low as my EUB. But, I hear a lot of clattering and buzzing whilst playing which I find rather annoying, and reducing it means raising the action very high again. The luthier thought this sound acceptable for jazz, but I wonder what other people think. Therefore, I have made a few recordings of me playing some Gilbert Isbin pieces (rather badly, because I've had COVID for a week and it's still not gone) in case anyone wouldn't mind commenting: https://recorder.google.com/43fb1265-5969-4064-996e-7c20d26b1833 https://recorder.google.com/0b950f73-0d85-45a9-b6ef-ca5d44c94638 https://recorder.google.com/d95f9708-351b-4ab4-8c5c-04a853b12f22 Does that sound like a reasonable amount of string noise? Quote
NickD Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago (edited) I guess it's personal tolerance, but I don't hear anything there that would bother me in a band context. It mostly seems to be when you're hitting the low notes hard, and even then it's not in Ray Brown rattle territory, and I'm pretty sure he used to do it deliberately for effect. For the buzzes, that's usually a fingering issue, which won't have shown itself with a higher action, as that's more 'on and off'. Personally, I'd work on my technique a bit, and just get on with it. For me it's part of the charm, it sounds imperfect, human. Edited 9 hours ago by NickD 1 Quote
knirirr Posted 8 hours ago Author Posted 8 hours ago Thanks. Strangely, it sounded a lot worse when I was playing, and also when I played it back on the phone speakers. Quote
NickD Posted 8 hours ago Posted 8 hours ago Your head is right next to the rattle when you're playing. I'm guessing someone a few feet in front of your bass wouldn't notice. Quote
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