Help please! Should I change the action?

[Supernaut]

My D-string is sound odd now I've kinda taken to playing with my tone knob turned higher. It sounds like I'm slapping when I'm playing normally!

I admit I play harder than you'd think, but there's no way it should sound so metallic and slappy.

Taking a look at the saddley things on the bridge, one side is quite a bit lower than the other. do you think I should raise that to be in line with the other side?


Cheers!

[deansolo]

I believe the saddles should have a radius that matches the fingerboard.

[Supernaut]

umm...explain please?

[Paul Wolfe]

The neck of your bass has some sort of radius from one side to the other. In other words, it is not flat. The saddles on your bridge should have the same radius as the neck.

The easiest way for you to check out your setup and determine if you need to adjust the bridge is to measue the distance from the bottom of the string to the top of the 12th fret on the strings that are working well for you. Then measure the one you are having problems with. Ideally all the measurements should be the same - then your bridge and neck radius will be the same.

If the string in question has a different measurement, adjust the bridge until the measurement is correct. Then tune and play and see if this corrects the problem.

[Supernaut]

Oh I see what you mean. I think you, misunderstood. There's a screw on either side of the saddle that determines how high the string is above the fretboard right? on the D-string saddle, one side is screwed down closer than the other. Should I make them the same height?

[Paul Wolfe]

Of course you should... why on earth would you have one side screwed further than the other? The saddles should ALWAYS be level.

[Supernaut]

Oh ok! Thanks!