B4CE set-up questions

Greetings -

I just received a B4CE and it is quite a bit of fun. There are a couple of issues with it and I would be grateful for any guidance you might have:

The 2 significant issues: The bridge is lifting and the piezo has a hum. This is an auction item and the seller is being really cooperative and will rectify the issue to my liking.

First question: What is the likelihood that the bridge lift and the hum are related? (the bridge is up only at the area with the pins, and lifted roughly the thickness of a credit card (scant). The saddle appears to be slightly pulled forward - off square with the bridge - in the direction of the string tension. The piezo is silenced by touching the end pin/jack. The action is somewhere around 3mm at the 12th. I have never played a bass before but it seems playable and has good acoustic volume. Hard to say what the effect of resetting the bridge would be on the action, but I expect it would be minor.

Second question: what would be a typical height for the E at the 12th? I imagine there is a range.

Third question: With the seller paying, does resetting the bridge seem like a big deal to any of you? I like older guitars and I have become accustomed to view some work to be like maintenance. First thing out of the box is a bit of a rub, however.

I will be recording with this instrument and the hum in the fishman would be a fatal flaw. It was undeclared by the seller and I have no experience with these at all.

At this point, I am tending toward keeping it, the seller thinks it might have happened in transit - the strings were at full tension, and the packing between the case and the box was pretty light. The seller is eager to make it right for me.

And besides if I keep it, I am only 97 behind Grot.

I would be grateful for any thoughts you might have. My tech will weigh in too.

thank you,

Ned

No answers for you. All the hum problems I have had with mine are directly related to the fact that the cord I always seem to grab has an intermittent short. Once it is plugged in and "adjusted" it works but I do have to fiddle with the cord to get sound and no hum. I know it is the cord because I have the same problem with other basses. Seems there is a lesson I am not learning :wink:

I'll measure the action on mine if it helps but since the bridge is not "user adjustable" "it is what it is" and I have not worried about it. I did have some buzzing but since the neck is straight it was buzzing caused by lousy technique and not the bass. That at least is being fixed.

If you are going to see a pro, I'd just follow their advice, whatever it is.

I've never had any work done on a fixed bridge but it doesn't seem to phase a lot of acoustic guitar owners. If the seller is willing to work with you and you have a luthier you trust I'd get an estimate, agree with the seller about how much each of you pay, have the work done and have fun playing.

Thank you Frono - good counsel on all points.

I would be very grateful if you could give a measurement - I use a dime for 1.3mm and a nickel for 2mm. I am at $.15 right now. The tone is great, but I can't quite imagine playing anything that requires really graceful movement between strings.

I am a bit caught in the acoustic vs. electric action debate.

thanks again,

N

I am not a bassist, but I would skip the Piezo and play the bass into a Condensor Mic.

frettedstrings said:

I am not a bassist, but I would skip the Piezo and play the bass into a Condensor Mic.

Click to expand...

Piezo is already built into the bass so might as well get it fixed.

Mic is almost certainly a better choice for a real studio where the only thing it will pick up is the bass but PU, IMO, is still a preferred option if it is a home studio type of environment or some types of performance venues. That's probably because I'm the sort of klutz who knocks over mike stands but does not trip over cords and inadvertently yank them out of whatever they are plugged in to.

Two dimes.

I stacked coins and then slid them across the 12th fret. I could do that with two dimes but a dime and a nickle hit the strings.

I have not measured all of my basses - real life is getting in the way, besides if I take one out I want to play it - but my electrics with user adjustable bridges are slightly lower. Maybe a nickle on the JS and perhaps as low as a dime on the Starfire.

Thanks Frono - most useful. 2.6 mm = two dimes.

Unfortunately the seller has moved from a "I will do everything to make sure you are satisfied with the transaction" to "use the insurance money to fix the bass." According to my tech, it is a substantial repair. I did not buy an instrument that needed a big repair, I thought I was buying one in excellent condition. Sigh. There must be a happy person who buys internet guitars out there who has not had this experience.

I will post the resolution, but I should probably be a bit quiet while the details are worked out. I still give the seller the benefit of the doubt. I believe that he genuinely wanted to sell me a good instrument. Unfortunately, his knowledge of packing acoustic instruments was not as I was led to believe.

Thank you all,

Ned

Hum- could be anywhere- poor shielding of the wire from the piezo to the output (or the pre-amp if so equipped) would be the first place I'd look. Second is (if it doesn't have a pre-amp) that the impedance and output level of passive piezos is generally a bad match for most amps, especially regular guitar or bass amps. The low output means you have to turn the amp up higher, so you're amplifying all the noise in the system. Another place to check is the output jack itself. Make sure the shield of the PUP is attached to the sleeve lug of the jack with the hot of the PUP connected to the tip of the jack, not reversed.

I'd also invest in a can of good contact cleaner. Caig's De-Oxit is available from lots of sources- it's a Peavey accessory item as "Funk Out" and it's sold by Hosa (the people who market the plethora of adapter cables most music stores have), and Fender sells it. Spray a small amount onto your cable's plug, and then insert and remove it from the jack several times. Oxidation builds up on those jacks pretty easily over time and this could help remove it.

Bridge pulling isn't good no matter how slight. If the bridge is actually lifting off the face of the spruce enough to see and slip a sheet of office paper in, it needs to be fixed. The lifting bridge MIGHT be associated with the hum, but not likely. More likely is that you're not getting as good a pressure on the piezo element under the saddle as you should and it's not putting out the volume it's capable of doing. But the lifting bridge is in my opinion a bigger factor in the instrument's stability and condition than in the electric sound.

John

excellent reply. thank you. I think you are right that the piezo hum and the bridge lift do not share a root problem. However, I suspect they share a common cause - some sort of impact during shipping. The tension on the strings raised the bridge, and the piezo lost some portion of it ground. The seller reports that the bridge was sound and the pickup quiet prior to shipping and I believe him.

The tip on cleaning the jack is great. Never thought to use the male as an applicator. I have some pot cleaner that will be perfect. I live in the high desert where oxidization is not much of a deal, but now that you bring this to mind, the first time I plugged in, the jack did feel somehow sticky.

thanks again

N