Better Late Than Never, Right?: My '64 SF-1 and My Family

[dlenaghan]

When intonating my '64 this weekend, I found that the height adjustment screws blocked the saddles in such a way that I could only intonate 2 out of the 4 strings accurately. Oh well, such is life.

This is interesting to me - When I received my '70 JS-II (same seller you got the '64 from), it intonated quite well, but when I tried adjusting the action (it was set a bit high, or as I like to think of it, 'classic') the intonation went a bit out of whack, especially at the higher frets.

However, after some adjustments of the saddle placement (as well as replacing the string saddles with some from our Alaskan friends) and the action, I got it to a nice medium-high action and to a point where it intonates almost perfectly, with only the highest D on the 4th string (the G string) being only slightly out of tune with an open D below it. Given that it's a short scale and I'm using low tension DR Sunbeams, the string tension has still been very playable, very comfortable. I could never do high action on a Fender, for instance (though I can't recall which strings it was strung with either, so that's possibly part of it.)

Maybe it's the bridge design on these basses, but I've never had any of my other basses so sensitive to intonation from adjusting the action. Adjust the action, re-tune; there's never been a need for me to re-intonate the bass after such an adjustment. With both of my JS basses, though, this does seem to be a bit of an issue.

Also, a question for all involved: do you notice a dramatic change of the tonal character of the bass depending on the action? My natural '72 with the brass bridge was set for very, very low action (call it the 'modern standard'), and I was worried I wasn't going to get the character I wanted due to the custom bridge, but lo and behold, I raise the action, re-set the intonation, and BAM! Right back into the territory that sold me on the Guilds in the first place.

 

[bassmanpatsfan18]

When intonating my '64 this weekend, I found that the height adjustment screws blocked the saddles in such a way that I could only intonate 2 out of the 4 strings accurately. Oh well, such is life.

This is interesting to me - When I received my '70 JS-II (same seller you got the '64 from), it intonated quite well, but when I tried adjusting the action (it was set a bit high, or as I like to think of it, 'classic') the intonation went a bit out of whack, especially at the higher frets.

However, after some adjustments of the saddle placement (as well as replacing the string saddles with some from our Alaskan friends) and the action, I got it to a nice medium-high action and to a point where it intonates almost perfectly, with only the highest D on the 4th string (the G string) being only slightly out of tune with an open D below it. Given that it's a short scale and I'm using low tension DR Sunbeams, the string tension has still been very playable, very comfortable. I could never do high action on a Fender, for instance (though I can't recall which strings it was strung with either, so that's possibly part of it.)

Maybe it's the bridge design on these basses, but I've never had any of my other basses so sensitive to intonation from adjusting the action. Adjust the action, re-tune; there's never been a need for me to re-intonate the bass after such an adjustment. With both of my JS basses, though, this does seem to be a bit of an issue.

Also, a question for all involved: do you notice a dramatic change of the tonal character of the bass depending on the action? My natural '72 with the brass bridge was set for very, very low action (call it the 'modern standard'), and I was worried I wasn't going to get the character I wanted due to the custom bridge, but lo and behold, I raise the action, re-set the intonation, and BAM! Right back into the territory that sold me on the Guilds in the first place.

I actually just took the '64 to my techs back home (Jim and Jon Mouradian outside of Boston--the best techs on the planet) and they reworked the intonation for me. Jon actually re-filed the G string saddle in such a way that the speaking point is further back now, which allowed him to intonate it correctly, even given the fact that the height adjustment screw was in the way.

I haven't noticed much of a difference in tone when altering the action. The first thing I did when I got the bass was to adjust the action to how I like it (low, but not too low--nowhere near as low as on many modern basses), so I guess I haven't experimented much with it. I did notice that changing the action threw off the intonation completely, however.