From: Lou Acri
To: askrick@evor.com
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 2:42 AM

Hi Rick, my name is Lou, and I'm currently the bassist of a small (as yet unnamed) garage band. I just got my bass (P-style Washburn XB100) for my birthday, and I'm starting to get my own ideas on tone and quality. I definitely like my bass, and when my nut broke, the guitar tech said it was one of the nicest he's ever played, but still, I'd like a bit more "oomph" to the "e"...it sounds great, but not really loaded.

Am I being limited by the bass's passive pickups? Should I replace them with some better quality Seymour Duncans, Bartolini's, or the like? And, if I do, should I keep the harness, go passive, or re-wire it, add a preamp, and go active? I really appreciate your help. Oh, and by the way, is it normal for the strings to sometimes make contact with the first three frets when playing open string? Sometimes it gets a bit clangy, and requires alot of force to hold the string down...

Sorry to write so much, but since I have the opportunity
Later, Lou

From: Rick Andrews
To: Lou Acri
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 1:13 PM

Lou, it sounds like you are wanting a more fatter deeper tone on that low E string. There are several things you can do to help this. One thing is to raise that one end of the pickup a little closer to the E string but not the other end so as to get stronger field strength. If that does not get enough then you can change out the capacitor off the tone pot to a higher value to help fatten the signal. Of course that will fatten all the strings not just the E string.

The amp is a consideration also as to how deep and fat it will allow,plus a fatter guage string for the E can help could be the answer. That is a concern for a serious bassist as to what guage each string should be.

The buzzing on the first three frets can be helped by slightly raising the slot in the nut but don't over do it because too much highth will change the inotation and it will not fret accurately. Of course slapping the strings to hard will add to the buzzing. The harder you play the higher the strings need to be above the fretboard.

Raising the bridge saddles slightly should give you some extra relief for this but remember the higher the action, the harder you will have to press down on the strings to fret it and make the notes.

EvO:R is proud to say that we know Rick Andrews personally and we are very excited about his willingness to answer all your guitar related questions.

Visit Rick at Andrews Guitars.com!