neck dead spots

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ive got a '93 Fortess one 4 stringer and have only had it a few months but when live i notice a dead spot on the 7th fret on the G string! it plays but lacks any resonance to it and as a result is very much quieter than any other fretted notes on other strings or indeed anywhere else on teh fret board. Any ideas how i can remedy this?? i have a low action and use flatwound strings
 

DiMarco

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Does it buzz when you play that note unplugged? If that's so inspect the 8th and adjacent frets and see if it is seated correctly.

If it is only on one string on one fret and that fret looks normal it could also be caused by a resonation problem, which can be hard to pinpoint and fix.
 

jester

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Is it a maple neck? I have that as well on my 1993 maple neck. Must be something with the year/era of construction, your neck is one of the very first bolt on necks actually. As far as I can understand from its center of balance, my neck lacks the steel reinforcing rods that were introduced much later. Perhaps this has something to do with it. I fixed this issue completely by attaching a small weight on the headstock. If you can afford it and like experimenting with such stuff, get yourself a Groove Tubes FatFinger, or alternatively use a metal capo attached to the headstock. Your bass balances great so you won't have dive issues from the added weight. With the FatFinger the problem will go away 95% and you will get a slightly more "stringy" or "piano" tone as opposed to "woody" tone. Best of luck. :)
 
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Florin

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Hi,

Dead spots are found on any bass on this planet, more or less :)

Our WENGE or OVANKOL warwicks have less, still if you are anal with this you can hear them. And 7th to 9th fret on G string is a classic spot for a dead spot...

Some have on E string on F# and that's a bitch... Never seen a Warwick with that though...

I am not sure what to do, I guess the best thing would be to live with that. Some strings sound better than others... You can easily play thise notes on A string, and have more place for soloing.

I know there are some tricks, like a weight on the headstock, etc...but IIRC they don't cure this, they just move the dead spot in a different place.

Maybe Alex have a better answer than me...
 
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Do I read correctly that thus maple necks would be more affected, or is it just depending on build/year?
 
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dead spots are not that unusual,almost every bass i have had has some notes that just dont respond like it should,very little sustain...fretless bass nearly all have them...my thumb however i have never noticed it....i myself would do a fret level check and a set up just to rule out any of the normal problems.and from my own personal point of view flat wounds could also be some of the problem try rounds and see if it helps,just again to see if it cures the issue...but even after all the checks you might find that is just a little quirk of that instrument,you learn to work around it or you sell it and buy something else,think anyone that played a few years thats had quite a few guitars have sold them on just because they did not work for them in some way or other.
 

Nachobassman

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Our WENGE or OVANKOL warwicks have less, still if you are anal with this you can hear them. And 7th to 9th fret on G string is a classic spot for a dead spot...

That´s correct. Compared to my Fenders, my two ´wicks have almost no dead spots on the classic g string frets. Don´t know if it´s due to Ovankol, or the graphite bars, or the combination of both, but it seems to work.
 
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cheers for the replies guys, the neck is indeed wenge/wenge will have a local lutier check it out for me see if there is any ffret issues!
 
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Well, other than baddly dressed frets it could be if the material is not uniformly dense. Though I would estimate that Warwick is checking the resonance of their woods before building. Otherwise I will have to drop my idea of a maple necked bass if I run more of a risk of getting a very pricy plank of wood ;)

Joke aside, I would really like to have an answer if it is related to certain materials being more affected then others.
 
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have a maple neck nt5 aria since 1991 and never had an issue with anything,hung on a wall for years and put in its case when i moved here,took it out and it was still in tune..no flat spots no dead notes no bending,one of the most stable necks i have ever had..i had a 70s jazz and it was a nightmare with all of the above...
 
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[video=youtube;n7yAi4-L95w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7yAi4-L95w&feature=feedrec_grec_index[/video]

ummmmm maple neck....i love it :)
 
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well, yeah, wondering if maple NT means that I may run into issues, but hopefully Warwick is testing for their resonance other than humidity. Would be cool if someone could confirm it.
 

jester

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Some have on E string on F# and that's a bitch... Never seen a Warwick with that though...

I used to own a Cort A5 with a NASTY dead spot on G on the E string. Especially when in full volume through a big amp/PA, it went "boom" with very little harmonics. Really nasty to compensate for with technique.

Also there's dead spots and DEAD spots. Warwicks I find have much milder dead spots that still have harmonic content and ring through at least when playing short notes. For longer notes the lack of sustain could still be evident.

I know there are some tricks, like a weight on the headstock, etc...but IIRC they don't cure this, they just move the dead spot in a different place.

In both cases where I used FatFinger for the dead spots, the resonant note moved one tone down (D -> C for my Streamer) but ALSO the effect was much much less on that new note, practically trouble free. :)
 
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well, yeah, wondering if maple NT means that I may run into issues, but hopefully Warwick is testing for their resonance other than humidity. Would be cool if someone could confirm it.

no neck without deadspot. no maple neck without deadspot. a lot of warwicks with maple necks. not a lot of complaints.
Seems quite safe. BTW: "G-Strings are for strippers" ;)
 
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Well, wood has to resonate at some point :) Was just interested to know if Warwicks have less issues due to better selection or if it depends on the wood used and ovankol/wenge offer better resilience due to a more uniform structure and density
 
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multilaminated necks are also less likely to have dead spots.

it could be interesting how Warwick chooses the woods, but I can guarantee there's nothing like a machine testing every single piece on it's resonancial abilities.
It also wouldn't change the fact that dead spots are due to the construction of the instrument itself and will appear anyhow. All woods used TONEWOODS (i.e. selected for their tonal abilities) are dried and therefore have good overall resonance.
If there should be some biiiiiiig probleme with a huge deadspot nobody could handle because it made the bass suck so hard,... there's a QC. They'll find it.

Did you know that old TVs tellys (tubes) were able to implode? They all are. WOOOOOP and they implode. I grew up just in front of one, anyhow ;)
And I think most Stradivaris have a deadspot, too
 

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multilaminated necks are also less likely to have dead spots.

it could be interesting how Warwick chooses the woods, but I can guarantee there's nothing like a machine testing every single piece on it's resonancial abilities.
It also wouldn't change the fact that dead spots are due to the construction of the instrument itself and will appear anyhow. All woods used TONEWOODS (i.e. selected for their tonal abilities) are dried and therefore have good overall resonance.
If there should be some biiiiiiig probleme with a huge deadspot nobody could handle because it made the bass suck so hard,... there's a QC. They'll find it.

Did you know that old TVs tellys (tubes) were able to implode? They all are. WOOOOOP and they implode. I grew up just in front of one, anyhow ;)
And I think most Stradivaris have a deadspot, too

Long time no see, Bojan, and you're definitely the voice of wisdom these days.
 
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I've also noticed a teeny bit of a dead spot in that classic area on my $$, but it's nothing to write home about. I rarely sustain using notes around that area of the neck anyways :p
 

Florin

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I had a discussion with Alex, and he clarified some stuff I knew.

The bottom line is nobody knows why the dead spots appear, so nobody can cure them. What is possible to do is to move them inbetween the fretted notes. So adding or removing mass helps.

Different tuners, fat finger, different strings, etc.

Cheers,

Flo
 
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Haha , thanks guys. As many of you know I worry about any given details when designing/picking stuff, so the tought of a big bucks CS bass having big problems is, well, a little thought of horror :)

Well, lets I shall trust the Custom Shop and the QC to do it right :) Hopefully ;)
 
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