B50 bass

Found a really great looking B50, about 1975...wood is great...action a bit high...
but the neck join looks very solid...

Bought it and took it to a well respected local luthier for his opinion and a setup...

He felt that the intonation above the 5th fret would not hold...

I returned the bass to the store...

Question...
Is intonation an issue with the B-50's...???

In general yes. The split saddle was an attempt to address that but wasn't necessarily successful. My B50 is set up to my satisfaction, does not need a neck reset and my Snark says the fretted octave E is about 10 cents off compared to the harmonic. I discussed this with Hans Moust and my recollection is that was typical in his experience. Maybe he will come along and gently correct my memory if I am wrong.

I can live with that intonation on my B50 since 10 cents is close enough that it does not drive me crazy and the ergonomics of the B50 and my waistline discourage playing too high up the neck. So while it is a problem it is not one that I actually notice or am bothered by. YMMV obviously since you returned the bass.

Thanx Fronobulax....good info...

Hell, my ear is so bad that I can barely hear the difference between a G and a G# on the third and fourth frets, so bad intonation wouldn't bother me at all!

Is there something about the B50 that affects the intonation more than on any other abg? Has anyone improved it with a re-slot? My love of abg is past, so I'm really just curious.

grisezd said:

Is there something about the B50 that affects the intonation more than on any other abg? Has anyone improved it with a re-slot? My love of abg is past, so I'm really just curious.

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Dunno. I recall that the split saddle was supposed to address intonation but the fact that it was dropped by the time of the B30 suggests it didn't do as well as hoped.

My experience is that I want to vary the speaking length of the string and the height of the string at particualr point and I want to do that independently for each string. The traditional acoustic guitar bridge makes several compromises in this area and it may be that the compromises are less acceptable on a bass than a guitar. So the size of the B50 may may be a factor but I can't really prove it either way.

fronobulax said:

Dunno. I recall that the split saddle was supposed to address intonation but the fact that it was dropped by the time of the B30 suggests it didn't do as well as hoped.

.

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I had a B30E with split saddle.

Yggdrasil said:

I had a B30E with split saddle.

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I have no idea how right I am and don't have any reference material immediately at hand. The timeline I recall is

B50 with split saddle.
B50 and B30 both with split saddle.
B50 dropped, B30 with straight saddle.

So yeah, my original statement was at odds with even my own misinformation I need to see a B50 with straight (if one exists) and the years of overlap and then I'll get it closer to right next time. Thanks. It's on the internet. It will live forever. Might as well correct it if I can.