Low-C string just wont bloody intonate

Drew_TNBD

I've got a 110 on my 4 string bass for the low C, and it just wont intonate at the action I want. What could be the cause of this? Any common things I should look out for?

BenSirAmos

How old is it? (The string, not the bass)

guitarfishbay

Won't intonate what way - at the 12th or it just sucks across the fretboard?

randomhandclaps

It could be just be God and Jesus trying to stop you playing the devil's music. That's happened to me before.

steamabacus

110 all the way down to C? My old bass player used to use 110s in E! Have you got enough tension in the string?

This is totally received wisdom, but I've heard "piano wound" strings (I think sometimes called "tapered" or "contact core") are supposed to intonate more accurately. My only experience with them is one time playing a bass strung with them and that was about 25 years ago. Might be worth a try?

fretmeister

I hate tapered strings/ Horrible things.

Anyway - how old is the string? Age can be a factor.

110 *should* be just about enough for a Low C, but a 125 would be more common at B, and there's not a lot of difference.

But even if it sounds shit - it should still intonate properly. So I'm guessing the string is fucked.

Drew_TNBD

String is brand new, I had a 120 on it previously, but didn't like the tone. Wanted to try a thinner string. The open note sounds fine tonally, but the 12th fret just constantly remains sharp. The saddle is basically as far back as it'll go. I feel like this is something I am misunderstanding, because I've had the same problem with the last couple of basses to be honest. All with different gauges as well.

octatonic

Does it intonate ok if you tune the low C up to E?

How far is it out?

guitarfishbay

And the 120 intonated fine?

guitarfishbay

What strings are you using? Outside shot - are they from eBay? There are fake strings for guitar, not sure about bass but I'd assume the same.

guitarfishbay

.

ICBM

What stops the saddle going back further? Does it have a spring you could shorten or take out completely? Or could you turn the saddle round, file or otherwise re-shape it?

(You've probably thought of that already!)

Drew_TNBD

I don't remember if the 120 intonated fine tbh. I suspect not.

The saddle is just at the end of the bridge. There is a spring, but I'm not sure removing it will make much difference, and because of the saddle design I can't turn it around.

Might just take it to a proper guy and get it setup professionally.

steamabacus

If you can shim the neck and raise the bridge saddles you can sometimes gain an extra mm of string length to play with. I had to do this on a cheapo tele-alike  in order to intonate the low E string.

guitarfishbay

Post a picture?

I've had to snip strings short before because they were fully compressed but the saddle needed to go back more and could do if less spring was in the way.

Absolute worst case scenario there might not be enough travel.

paul_backskin

i got mine set up for drop C years ago. saddle went as for back as it could go... needed to go back further but it couldn't.

i think you have to either move the bridge back (?)... or do what I'm doing and get a 5 string so i can tune to anything without much hassle....

chrispy108

A 5 string isn't magic @paul_backskin some are longer scale's (35" vs 34") but most aren't.

The reason a 5 can tune to B is because it has a heavier string, nothing else.

paul_backskin

What I meant @chrispy108 is that you can tune a 5 string to drop a/a#/b/c on the bottom string (and also changing tuning on other strings as necessary) or to drop d or standard tunings if you don't use the bottom string... All without a major change to strings (if at all) or extreme changes to the bridge for intonation.

Much more flexible than a 4 string ifnypivwant to play in different tunings.

chrispy108

You can tune a 5 string to drop a/a#/b/c on the bottom string, you just need to put heavier strings on, like the ones on a five string. I either buy seperates or a set of 5s and bin the high string.

It's fairly common to tune a 5 string to BEAD, so you can play along with normal stuff on the higher 3 strings, but you can still go deeper.

An extra string only gets you 5 extra notes (7 if it's drop tuned). I'd get a five string if I wanted more notes in one hand position, not because I wanted deeper notes available to me.

paul_backskin

chrispy108 said:

You can tune a 5 string to drop a/a#/b/c on the bottom string, you just need to put heavier strings on, like the ones on a five string. I either buy seperates or a set of 5s and bin the high string.

It's fairly common to tune a 5 string to BEAD, so you can play along with normal stuff on the higher 3 strings, but you can still go deeper.

An extra string only gets you 5 extra notes (7 if it's drop tuned). I'd get a five string if I wanted more notes in one hand position, not because I wanted deeper notes available to me.

i know... but you (and this is probably very well guitar and scale length dependent) can't always set the intonation on a 4 string for the lower tunings (which was the problem drew was having). on my 4 string the saddle was set back as far as it could go and actually overhung the edge of the guitar and it still wasn't quite right for the intonation for drop C. 

my point was a 5 string is very versatile without much work.

digitalscream

I've had similar issues on guitars, whereby the nut slot isn't cut deep enough. The effect is then that you're bending the string to get it to the fret, and thus everything's sharp up to around the 7th - 9th fret where it's right, and then it starts going sharp again because you've tried to compensate with the saddle position.