VE 500 problem --- fixed

[Danko]

I've got this new baby bass. Bought it to carry around in public transport.
A Palatino VE 500.

Sounds pretty decent right from the store. The strings feel a bit rubbery
even though they are metal, but that's fine given they are Palatino.

Anyhoo - yesterday I had my second rehersal (no gigs with it yet) with the
baby bass, and something curious happened. The strings got an uneven
response. E being the loudest, and G being the quietest string. The
difference was so obvious that I only needed to touch E string to play with
the same intensity as G plucked like crazy. G also sounded so wimpy like
through an old radio.

Half rehersal thru, and alot of mistakes made by me because of the way I
needed to play... poor sound... headache, and I couldn't resist trying
SOMETHING.

Plus, I have a gig in the city centre tomorrow and wanted to use the baby
bass. Panic!

So, I started checking out the pickup thorrougly, and it seemed a tick apart
from the body on the G side - upper end. It was a tiny gap - just enough to
squeeze my fingernail in. Hmmm?

I then loosened the G and D strings, and tilted the bridge toward the nut a
bit in order to close that tiny gap. That did it!!! Even sound again accross
the strings. I played much better during the second half of our rehersal.

Maybe the bridge has been pushed / tilted in the tram while I was carrying
the bass.

I've posted this in order to help someone who stumbles on the same problem.

Danko

[Mike Fleming]

Post by Danko
I've got this new baby bass. Bought it to carry around in public transport.
A Palatino VE 500.
Sounds pretty decent right from the store. The strings feel a bit rubbery
even though they are metal, but that's fine given they are Palatino.

I had one a little while ago, which I later sold when I got an NS
WAV-4. It's worth having a look on Talkbass - there's a megathread in
the double bass/EUB forum dedicated to the VE-500. I liked it but for
my purposes, a tripod-mounted EUB is a lot more practical.