Howdy folks! 
So this week-end I wanted to conduct 2 experiments. I try to make it as short as possible because really, not many people would like to reproduce them!
EXPERIMENT NUMBER 001: I always had a big issue with my Cort GB34A. They kind of like designed the bass with the neck joint to the body too "flat". Which induces: bridge saddles at their minimum cannot make the action being low, even with a super flat (and well made, I gotta admit, Cort!) fingerboard and fret job ; pickups need to be way inside the body and then there's no much grip for your thumb to rest... ; slapping is hard when you have few space between the strings and the pickguard.
So, my idea was to buy a piece of wood that I would place between the neck joint and the body to lever up the neck and have more room for slap, more room for the pickups, and also a bit more possibility to bring down the saddle. But then I remembered that I had a piece of wood... which is called a A4 white sheet of paper. I folded it and it was the perfect size for the neck joint. With the 4 screws being in the field of the folded piece of paper.
Then, I screwed everything back together:
TO BE HONEST: I had that bass for 6 years and it has always been hard to play hit because I could never really get a "easy to play" action. Even with low tension strings such as Elixir (to me they feel that way)... And then that trick just went good! The tone and sustain didn't change, I'd even say it IMPROVED (to my taste) because of the action making the overall tone more to my taste (more zing... like they say!). It was a complete bargain and I fully enjoy playing my bass now.
Ok. Time for the next one.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER 002: I had previously tried to boil plain stainless steel .045 .100 uncoated strings. To my surprise, it resurrected the E string very much (not like new but a lot! — and we all know that E string is going to die first). 15 minutes in medium boiling water did the trick, and drying them just after of course.
Then I went again with my "E string-aged" set of Elixir Nanoweb Nickel-plated .045 .0105 coated strings. But you gotta be aware: it will do the EXACT OPPOSITE.
The reason for that is simple: even boiling water for 20 minutes won't kill or "blow/burn/consume" the plastic coating... to be honest it made it all pealing apart but still stuck the strings somehow.
In result: The E and A now sound "mellow", the G and D still have some 'bright' tone but like aged, not shinny new, but not as 'advanced-aged' as the E and A. They tend to resist more than the two other strings, surely because their coated is less important than on the E and A. To be clear: BOILING COATED ELIXIR STRINGS WON'T HELP THEM BUT THE OPPOSITE.
Hope you had a fun read!
So this week-end I wanted to conduct 2 experiments. I try to make it as short as possible because really, not many people would like to reproduce them!
EXPERIMENT NUMBER 001: I always had a big issue with my Cort GB34A. They kind of like designed the bass with the neck joint to the body too "flat". Which induces: bridge saddles at their minimum cannot make the action being low, even with a super flat (and well made, I gotta admit, Cort!) fingerboard and fret job ; pickups need to be way inside the body and then there's no much grip for your thumb to rest... ; slapping is hard when you have few space between the strings and the pickguard.
So, my idea was to buy a piece of wood that I would place between the neck joint and the body to lever up the neck and have more room for slap, more room for the pickups, and also a bit more possibility to bring down the saddle. But then I remembered that I had a piece of wood... which is called a A4 white sheet of paper. I folded it and it was the perfect size for the neck joint. With the 4 screws being in the field of the folded piece of paper.
Then, I screwed everything back together:
The A4 sheet is stuck for good!
In the end, I didn't move the saddles, and the action went good! Just small modifications to make it perfect... You can see the shift of coloration on the maple part of the neck!
Ectobassma is an happy player!!
TO BE HONEST: I had that bass for 6 years and it has always been hard to play hit because I could never really get a "easy to play" action. Even with low tension strings such as Elixir (to me they feel that way)... And then that trick just went good! The tone and sustain didn't change, I'd even say it IMPROVED (to my taste) because of the action making the overall tone more to my taste (more zing... like they say!). It was a complete bargain and I fully enjoy playing my bass now.
Ok. Time for the next one.
EXPERIMENT NUMBER 002: I had previously tried to boil plain stainless steel .045 .100 uncoated strings. To my surprise, it resurrected the E string very much (not like new but a lot! — and we all know that E string is going to die first). 15 minutes in medium boiling water did the trick, and drying them just after of course.
Then I went again with my "E string-aged" set of Elixir Nanoweb Nickel-plated .045 .0105 coated strings. But you gotta be aware: it will do the EXACT OPPOSITE.
The reason for that is simple: even boiling water for 20 minutes won't kill or "blow/burn/consume" the plastic coating... to be honest it made it all pealing apart but still stuck the strings somehow.
In result: The E and A now sound "mellow", the G and D still have some 'bright' tone but like aged, not shinny new, but not as 'advanced-aged' as the E and A. They tend to resist more than the two other strings, surely because their coated is less important than on the E and A. To be clear: BOILING COATED ELIXIR STRINGS WON'T HELP THEM BUT THE OPPOSITE.
Hope you had a fun read!
