Can’t tell what you mean from the video. There are a lot of sounds but right around the 25 mark she is counting and doing nothing!?
Anyway I made a video to make it more transparent what I am talking about:
It’s not plugged in to an amp, but it doesn’t need to for the sound I am talking about. So at first I try to just produce the clacking by itself and it only half works.
Then for contrast I do hammer-ons or at least I try to and the clacking is still there with every hammer on but it’s not the note. It’s the metal on metal (?) string on fretbar.
Sorry for hiding my fingers behind the mic. I could re-record it but I think isolating the sound here should be enough!?
partially string height related
partially string type related
Almost all left-hand technique related.
There will always be a sound of the finger attacking the string.
It is mitigated by a solid, perfect-amount-of-force-and-pressure attack in the Left Hand.
It is mitigated by left hand muting
Hammer-ons and tapping will be clacky.
The worst clack sounds will happen in the way you demonstrated - one finger aggressively attacking the string with no mutes, and no sustaining pressure (not keeping your finger on the fret to get sound).
I just tried it on my basses, and I can make it clack badly on all of them by attacking with one finger, no muting, and quick release.
It gets better when:
I mute with my left hand, and attack the strings with middle, ring or pinky keeping my index as a mute.
I sustain the note a bit after I tap.
I hit the fret right behind the fret marker
The other weird noise you hear without being plugged in while tapping is the sound generated by the string vibrating between your finger and the nut, rather than your finger and the bridge (which is what we hear through the pickup).
To eliminate that extra tone, left hand muting! (that index finger resting on the strings.
Hope this helps.
Holler with any more details or further questions.
Thanks for the information.
So It is highly unlikely that it was the bass itself but just the setup with high action and possibly the type of strings. That in combination with me not being used to the high action probably resulted in a different attack than someone who is comfortable with that action height.
Makes sense.
Hmmm.
I’m a ‘consider-every-possibility’ relativist when it comes to these things.
It could be the bass. Some basses are clackier than others.
There are differences in fret wire, resonance, and - sometimes - defects like warped necks that make certain basses have terrible issue above and beyond normal basses.
Because you have ears and fingers that are sensitive to this issue, and since you have (what sounds like ) a pretty decent music store person to help out, I’d recommend playing lots of basses - including basses nowhere near your price range.
Try the clacky thing on all of them, and you’ll start to hear what part of it is the bass, vs what part is just the physics of your fingers, and metal strings on metal wires.
THEN! With all data collected, hopefully the question will be easier to answer.
There’s a reason why I chose the wording “highly unlikely” instead of making it a definite statement. I planned on doing exactly what you described! Can’t wait to try out the models coming in next week.
As said the music store person is not a man of many words. To a degree he offers insight but overall he just lets me do my thing after setting me up to play. I like it that way. I sat there, played for an hour and didn’t even notice.
As you may know, I have a Cort Action. And you’ve even heard it – the last cover I posted was played on the Action.
I can reproduce what you’re demonstrating, but I have to consciously hammer on to do it.
I have a PJ, but as far as I have figured out, all Cort Action models are mechanically equal.
My action is “as low as I could get it without getting string buzz”. Let me see if I can measure it for you.
Did I mention that the Cort Action PJ is passive? And did I say that, within the limits of what you can get from a passive bass, I can get it to sound the way I want it to sound without touching amp or pedal settings?
And did I say that I paid 20 euros for it?
(Admittedly, when I got it, the setup was screwed and the strings were shot, but still. Five euros for a set of strings, and a couple hours work to get it set up to what it is now. It’s a steal.)
One thing that puzzles me is that you find it heavier than you like. The body is poplar, and it’s quite thinnish. My Gregg Bennett Jazz is about a metric ton heavier. The Cort is the lightest bass I’ve owned, with the possible exception of the Hondo Mistake short scale I bought when I was 15, but I’ve succeeded to forget that bass. The balance, due to the tiny head stock and the thin neck, is excellent. It’s definitely in Ibanez territory in terms of weight and balance.
Yes. I liked the thin body. It’s probably because I am not used to the better quality basses. This was the first solid wood bass I had in my hands so it makes sense that it’s heavier than I’m used to even though it’s a sleek design.
How heavy are we talking here? Anything under 4kgs is light, IMO. I saw one person say it was 3.3kg, which is very light, even lighter than my Warwick (though barely).
Thanks for elaborating on this, @Gio! This is something I have been “annoyed” by as well, and I am still not sure what exactly to do about it. There are situations when this “clacking” seems to be almost unavoidable, like when you switch from the open E to, say, the C# or D or so higher up on the E string (9th, 10th, and so on fret). If it is a slow change (in a slow tempo), I can mitigate the effect, but when you have to switch fast between open and fretted notes, like on might have to do when playing the Hysteria line, as far as I understand it, then it becomes almost impossible to avoid. Or???
Hm, if the sound is produced by the string hitting the fret (what I would call a non-intended hammer-on), how can you soften or dampen that sound by muting the string? It seems to me the clanking happens irrespective of whether the string vibrates or not!?!
Here is a short video, where I attempt to slightly alter the way my finger comes down/presses down (even going on top of the fret) to see whether I can reduce the clanking. (My other fingers are “flying” here to not interfere with this “experiment”):
Apart from the fact that I do have a slight setup issue on this bass (and the action is too high), are there other ways to attack this issue? Or, is this really basically un-avoidable in some situations?
Thanks!
PS: sorry, @juli0r, if I somewhat hi-jacked your thread here
Hi @joergkutter,
I watched your video, and I think you have answered the question yourself, it looks like you need to work on the set up to reduce the travel.
Reduce the height reduces the clang.
Cheers Brian
