Fact or Fiction

Turnaround

Turnaround

Commercial User
May 6, 2004
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Independent Instrument Technician - Retired
#1
New Topic - I think it might be a good idea to collect those bits of "wisdom" we all hear from a friend or some guy on the inter web and either corroborate them or debunk them. There's a lot of professional experience here on the Bench, so let's see what the pro's have to say.

I'll start. When I was a beginning player (around the last ice age), I was told by a touring bassist that you should never let your strings touch the magnets of your bass. He said it would ruin the string and make it hard to intonate.

Anyone care to "thumb up" or "thumb down" on this one? I won't offer my opinion yet - let's have the other Benchers respond.
 
#2
First time I've even heard that one!

I'm calling this one "car talk" style: "bo-o-ogus!"

My favorite myth is the one that pops up all the time on gear forums, namely that you must adjust your truss rod only like 1/4 turn at a time then wait 24 hours. If that were remotely true we couldn't do our jobs as repair guys!

Like I always say in response to this myth, adjust your neck all the way to where it needs to be, get on with your day.
 
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#5
pacojas said:
i'm calling BS on the notion that 10,000hrs of practice will create a Mastery of the Art. who made that nonsense up?!!
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see, that one i believe, i think there was real research done on that one.

(the key is, mastery comes as long as it's actually "10,000 hours" and not "the same hour repeated 10,000 times".)
 
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#7
Let's keep this on magnets for a moment.

When I started playing (just as the ice was beginning to melt) I was told the same thing. Undaunted, I immediately did it. Didn't notice any difference. Did it many times, never noticed a difference. Happens in the retail store more frequently than most would think, never created an issue.

Maybe the idea was started because folks thought the strings would become magnetized and somehow interfere with the pickups. My guess is that it does happen at some level. The core of the string is steel. The wraps are nickel plated (nickel is anti-magnetic) or stainless which has a high nickel content. Most of the string mass is not effected by magnetism.

It might be interesting to imagine how the rumor was started. Maybe a teacher told a student that because he didn't want to listen to the kerplunk through his amp? If I recall, whoever told me not to let the strings touch the pickup/magnet/polepieces thought it was bad for the speakers. Thought there might be a speaker shredding transient.

Maybe someone thought the strings would take a set from being bent? Who knows?

I think it is a non-issue.
 
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#10
202dy said:
The wraps are nickel plated (nickel is anti-magnetic) or stainless which has a high nickel content.
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I'm not sure what you mean "anti-magnetic", but nickel is ferromagnetic and is used in making Alnico magnets. Highly attracted by magnets and capable of holding strong magnetism.
 
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#14
unless you're riding in a covered wagon with wooden wheels and no suspension, i can't see how transporting your cabs laying any which way isn't an order of magnitude less "violent" than the speakers get hit with just setting them on stage and playing through them!

magnets might get shifted when you drop cabs, that's about it.
 
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#16
Turnaround said:
I'm not sure what you mean "anti-magnetic", but nickel is ferromagnetic and is used in making Alnico magnets. Highly attracted by magnets and capable of holding strong magnetism.
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Sure is. Confusing nickel with stainless, the best of which will never hold a magnet.

My apologies. Chalk it up to post-anesthesia brain malfunction.
 
#17
Fact or fiction.... you can actually hear the difference between maple or rosewood fretboards on a fretted bass. I'll accept that you can hear a difference on a fretless as the strings are in contact with the fretboard material however on a fretted bass may be debatable.
 
#20
Here's one that comes up all the time - you should only adjust your truss rod a maximum of a quarter turn at at time.

I think this may have originated from the logic that the neck may take some time to fully settle in to an adjustment, and there is some truth to that. So the advice, I think, is to turn a quarter turn, let it settle in and check to see if it needs more, rather than making the adjustment all at once only to find a day later that it has settled in and overshot the target.
 
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