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Post subject: Taking care of bass guitar
Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:41 am
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Location: Bandung, Indonesia
Hi all, I'm new here and it's nice to know you all.
I'm actually a guitar player but somehow I'm interested to learn bass lately and this morning I bought a Fender Stu Hamm urge II bass MIA.
This is my 1st bass and I really love it, but I don't have any experience of taking care a bass guitar :oops:
Can you share with me how you take care of your bass?
I heard that some people loosen the string each times the bass not in use. Should we do that?


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Post subject: Re: Taking care of bass guitar
Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:18 am
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Location: Central WI
urgist wrote:
Hi all, I'm new here and it's nice to know you all.
I'm actually a guitar player but somehow I'm interested to learn bass lately and this morning I bought a Fender Stu Hamm urge II bass MIA.
This is my 1st bass and I really love it, but I don't have any experience of taking care a bass guitar :oops:
Can you share with me how you take care of your bass?
I heard that some people loosen the string each times the bass not in use. Should we do that?


I only loosen the strings when I know there could be a long delay before I play it again, like a week or more.

Since I started playing 6 string my bass gets alot less use. Pre 6 string that kind of inactivity didn't happen.


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Post subject: Re: Taking care of bass guitar
Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:39 am
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Location: Green Bay, WI
urgist wrote:
Hi all, I'm new here and it's nice to know you all.
I'm actually a guitar player but somehow I'm interested to learn bass lately and this morning I bought a Fender Stu Hamm urge II bass MIA.
This is my 1st bass and I really love it, but I don't have any experience of taking care a bass guitar :oops:
Can you share with me how you take care of your bass?
I heard that some people loosen the string each times the bass not in use. Should we do that?


Take care of it same as your guitar. As far as loosening the strings, only if it's going to travel in the case. That's the only time I loosen mine, if it's in the case, if not stays pretty much the same on the stand.

Congrats on the Stu Hamm. I had one, the original short scale model.

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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:55 am
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Thanks guys


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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:43 am
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urgist wrote:
Thanks guys


Anytime, anytime... :)

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'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:11 am
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Congrats on the new bass.

Personally, 'never loosen strings. 'Was told by a setup pro the instrument was meant to be under concert pitch and he even ships his long-distance repairs tuned to pitch.

Who knows?

BTW, Lizard Spit is personal fave cleaner-polish.


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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:22 am
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JSJH wrote:
Congrats on the new bass.

Personally, 'never loosen strings. 'Was told by a setup pro the instrument was meant to be under concert pitch and he even ships his long-distance repairs tuned to pitch.

Who knows?

BTW, Lizard Spit is personal fave cleaner-polish.


Well, well, I was told by a pro also, and he told me to loosen the strings when in case for travelling. Especially when you put it in cargo on a plane. :?

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Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:35 am
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Oh, no, now what do we do?

Maybe loosen them to dropped C# metal pitch?


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Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:39 pm
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To be honest some tension on the neck of your bass whilst it's in transit is the least of your worries if you're shipping it - baggage handlers are infamous for being able to break anything and everything given half a chance :/

Anyway, I personally wouldn't (and more to the point, don't) bother. Always good to keep tension on the neck, amongst other things it saves you having to retune all the time (which can put unnecessary strain on the neck anyway).

I could understand if you were taking a bass to a different climate (like from cold to very humid), it might ease the transition or something I guess but I wouldn't know.

Seems like a rather odd idea to me!


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:20 am
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JSJH wrote:
Oh, no, now what do we do?

Maybe loosen them to dropped C# metal pitch?


LOL, I've never had issues with loosening up the tuning, by this tho, I loosen the tension to maybe a C# from D. I've drop down tune on all except for the 5 string. And our basses don't do well below D anyways.

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Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:41 am
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I just find this on http://www.fender.com/support/basses.php :
"Because of the amount of tension on the neck, it's advisable to replace and tune each new string before removing the next string."

and find this on the Manual Book:
"Sring tention on most solid body electric guitars and basses should be left tuned to pitch during shipping" (see p. 11)

So???


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:31 am
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urgist wrote:
I just find this on http://www.fender.com/support/basses.php :
"Because of the amount of tension on the neck, it's advisable to replace and tune each new string before removing the next string."

and find this on the Manual Book:
"Sring tention on most solid body electric guitars and basses should be left tuned to pitch during shipping" (see p. 11)

So???


On the 1st point, I always replace 1 string at a time, put tension, then tune it before moving to the next string.

Funny how they say that it should be left tuned to pitch during shipping, when you buy a guitar that's ordered from Fender, it comes with the strings loose, as in no tension what so ever?? 2 of my basses came in the mail direct to my house with these strings so loose there weren't any tension to them whatsoever.

_________________
Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:20 am
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Presently I own 6 guitars (3 basses - 2 Epiphones & 1 Yamaha, 2 electrics - 1 Crate & 1 Ibanez, and 1 acoustic - Art & Lutherie).

What I do to take care of the instruments is to always keep it in its case when I'm not playing it, but also to losen the strings a half turn.

Also, with my guitars I polish the strings before and after I play, sometimes with just a damp cotton cloth and other times, depending if I have a gig, with string cleaner.
When I wipe my strings, I pinch each string with two fingers while wiping to get off the gunk that builds up under the string as well.


Changing the strings helps quite a bit too. I tend to change my strings at least once a month or after 50 hours of playing, which ever comes first).
I normally keep an extra set of strings in my cases just in case one breaks on stage, which hasnt happened... Yet
I've noticed that washing and drying my hands thoroughly before playing really lengthens the life of my strings.

The best way to determine when you need to change strings is by examining them...
a. When they turn dark and start to sound dead,
b. When they get hard to tune and stay in tune,
c. If one breaks after a long time, it's usually best to replace the whole set,
d. If the intonation gets worse,
e. Make sure you have a fresh set of strings installed before doing any type of adjustments for
intonation or playability.


For acoustic guitars I buy a humidifier (you can get it at any music store, and they're pretty cheap). I fill it up every week with mineral water and just leave it between the D & G strings when I'm not playing it.
Be aware that if you have old strings, one of them may snap when placing the humidifier inside the guitar.


Hopefully that helps, and happy playing


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