Photo showing string in mid vibration

Mr Bassman Sax

Mr Bassman Sax

Joined
Jun 15, 2007
Messages
856
Reaction score
3
Did a gig with my Rockbass Vampyre and as you can see on the bottom string, it's all strait and then from fret 5 down it's way off the neck. I don't imagine that photo being taken again any time soon.
 
Nice!

Yeap, One in a million shot! Especially because it was taken with a normal camera.
 
It's very cool... not only because the camera captured the string oscillation nicely, but also because it looks like you're looking straight at it!

:d
 
Great! Yeah, it looks like you are laughing and thinking: What is happening with the string? Look at it! :)
 
Heheh...maybe a dumb question but wut's happening here ...?...:eek:

Does this has maybe something to do with an ultra low key yo bass was tuned in ?....:confused:
Cause I've practised all afternoon and watched my stringz carefully but it never happened to mine...:lol:
 
da-vonk said:
Heheh...maybe a dumb question but wut's happening here ...?...:eek:

Does this has maybe something to do with an ultra low key yo bass was tuned in ?....:confused:
Cause I've practised all afternoon and watched my stringz carefully but it never happened to mine...:lol:
Click to expand...

I think that happened because he´s tuning drop-C, that´s very low (and floppy) for an "E" string.
 
That's a wave travelling up the neck after a pluck. Or perhaps it's on its way down, cause the plucking hand is kind of far from the string. :)
 
It's a 105 as well, though I do struggle to keep up fast picking sometimes due to excessive movement. Also I do a lot of alternate picking so the string really gets thrown around. I think I'll be trying those DR DDT's soon as I can.
 
You play with a pick. You downtune a lot. Why don't ya try a fiver?
 
I started with a 5 string, but discovered that the songs I was playing I never really had much use for a 5 string. Because we are a down tuned band it means a fair amount of riffage and not traditional bluesy playing, so to my limited experience theres not much use for the b. Some how a 4 string feels more natural to play and I actually found it easier to play with the greater spacing. I think I'll wait around for the DR DDT's and use a super heavy E string.
 
Well you know what we were saying about a one in a million shot?



Different camera different bass, different angle, same thing.
 
This pics real.A result of slow shutter speed iirc.
 

Attachments

  • seth_swirly_a_string_166.jpg
    seth_swirly_a_string_166.jpg
    35.1 KB · Views: 208
He is using the "MATRIX" powers, that's all!

Greg, good to have you back mate! Love ya!
 
Remember it is not the string that bends. It is only yourself!

That is an awesome pic.
 
Florin said:
He is using the "MATRIX" powers, that's all!

Greg, good to have you back mate! Love ya!
Click to expand...

Good to be back Flo.
It's a bit painful using the mouse coz of my collar bone,so I can only manage about 10 minutes at a time online.Dont make me laugh either,that's bloody agony.
 
I hope you will be 100% recovered after tha accident in no time mate!!!
 
I wished it were that simple too Flo.
It turned out the doctor didnt notice I had some bad bruising to some of my innards.I was in alot more pain for too long,so they looked again,then re-admitted me back into bloody hospital.I got back home today(25th) & feeling alot better.
To think,all of this because someone's pizza was getting cold.
 
Mr Bassman Sax said:
Well you know what we were saying about a one in a million shot?



Different camera different bass, different angle, same thing.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm gonna really stick my neck out here and say that I think this is actually not quite the same thing. Sure, both pics, and the one of the Alien, are snapshots of string vibrations. Your first pic shows what happens straight after a string is plucked: most of the string is still in a straight line but it has a little bump in it around where you've plucked it. This bump swells out like a ripple on a pond spreading all along the length of the string and bouncing back off each end. In doing so it sets the whole string moving, but the string quickly settles into a more familiar wave pattern, and the "ripple" dies away. The new wave (!) is composed of the frequencies we expect to hear - the basic tone, and loads of harmonics on top of that. This is what your second photo shows - the whole string is moving, and some of the string (around the low frets) is moving up, and some (around the pickups) is moving down.

Both pics are stunning because of the fast shutter speed combined with the low frequency of the string, but the first is more amazing because you can only get that pic in the very first instants after plucking a string, whereas your second one could have been taken up to a couple of seconds after the string was plucked.

The Alien pic is quite surprising because what you see is a very high harmonic - lots of peaks and troughs along the length of the string. By my reckoning the main frequency you can see there is 3 octaves above the open string note (so there are 8 peaks and 8 troughs, 8 being 2 raised to the power 3). I suspect you wouldn't ever see that if you played an open string on an electric bass - the Alien's body is about the same size as a dreadnought acoustic, and so amplifies those kind of frequencies more than the lower bass frequencies.

Sorry, I seem to have gone off on one here! It's just that I was so intrigued by these pics that I asked my wife, who has a physics degree, and after hearing the explanation I wanted to share it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top