My wandering eye pauses again...

[rahock]

Somebody had to run the Spanish Inquisition.

Yeah, that's why I took a Spanish class in Jr. High, but the Inquisition was over by the time I got out of High School. Just my luck. I must be a lot younger than some of you guys .
Rick

[nofi]

i did have my own M1 Garand. a little late for the inquisition, however.

[Pilgrim]

Somebody had to run the Spanish Inquisition.

You knew this was coming...


But...NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[dadagoboi]

What took so long?

[Pilgrim]

Got the Hagstrom HB-4 last night....VERY pretty!!  Pics coming soon.  I've only had a few minutes to lay hands on it....

Notes:  

Nice string-through bridge, with strings installed well.  I have to figure out the height adjustment yet.

It's a mahogany body and fairly heavy for a short scale.  I'll weigh it when I get a few minutes.

Love the tuners - "stepped" look like the original Hagstroms....
Love the headstock and binding...


The 6-position pickup switch definitely makes a difference in sound.  I usually don't notice much difference with A/B pickup switches, but I think I can actually use this switch.

Composite material in the fretboard ("Resinator wood") looks very nice.  Lovely white color, and the tort pickguard is very appealing.

The neck was actually too straight - the E and A strings were buzzing on the first two frets.  I slacked the truss rod a couple of times over a 12-hour period, and the A is doing well, but when I left for work the E was still buzzing.  I'll have a look at the nut to see if it's cut too low on the E string.

One pot is loose and turning..have to check that.  Hopefully just a loose nut.

[rahock]

I'm curious as to how strong the pickups are. Back in the day the majority of playing time I had was through an Acoustic 360 with two cabs  and I remember the Hag as being very strong and clean. Of cousre anything would likely be pretty strong through a couple 360s . I really liked all the Hag solid bodies I played and a big part of it was the pickups. The hollow bodies didn't do the same thing for me .
Rick

[Pilgrim]

After about a full turn on the truss rod, there is now a bit of relief in the neck and the buzz is gone.  I still haven't dealt with the loose pot, but I have moved the pickups closer to the strings.  It's pretty clear to me that the bass wasn't set up by the music store (with a a new bass and $200 discount below street price I'm certainly not going to complain about it).  There's a lot of relief at the bottom of the fretboard, so if the bridge won't allow me to drop the strings a bit I may end up shimming the neck slightly. 

So far it sounds clean and good.  It came with rounds and I'm mostly a flats player, so new rounds is a different sound to my ear.  I'll play with it and see if I can record some noodling.

[dadagoboi]

After about a full turn on the truss rod, there is now a bit of relief in the neck and the buzz is gone.  There's a lot of relief at the bottom of the fretboard, so if the bridge won't allow me to drop the strings a bit I may end up shimming the neck slightly. 

How much relief is in the neck now?  I do a quick check with a finger on the first and last fret of the E to get an idea if it's what I consider acceptable, everyone has his preference.  I like mine at zero relief at the 12th fret, if it plays well set like that it will work for any amount of relief a player prefers to add.

If you have the time, read Erlewine's chapter on set up.  It will help you understand what might have to be addressed.  The more relief you put in the neck the higher the strings will be at the end of the fretboard.  Shimming to get rid of that will just mean you have to put more relief in the neck to get back to no buzz, it's a vicious cycle.  It's very possible a fret or frets need to be leveled to solve your problem.  That's the first thing to look at in a setup of a new instrument. 

Incorrect nut slot depth only causes buzzing when playing an unfretted (open) note EADG.  After that the frets themselves are the culprit.  It's always a higher fret than the note you're playing that causes buzzing.  The nut is the only "fret" you can raise, either by installing a new one or using super glue to fill the slot and refiling.  It's very rare for a new bass to have a nut cut too low.

[Pilgrim]

Good thoughts, and I'm very much an Erlewine fan...I'll be studying up on it.  I haven't done the first/last fret check yet, but will this PM.

I have heard that nuts are generally cut too high if anything, and I have only encountered one that was cut too low - it was on a 30-year-old Lyle hollowbody guitar and no one had ever corrected it.  Maybe that's why the guitar was in great shape - it hadn't been played much.

I'm not averse to using a shim, but I'm aware that it's not the first thing one should try.  It's quite possible that I have some high frets on the top of the fretboard.  I've already checked the frets for level and haven't found an individual one that's high.  But the buzz was definitely on the first two frets, so they are suspect if nothing else comes up.  I'm not a setup expert, but I can generally get an instrument into shape for my touch.

[dadagoboi]

Look forward to hearing how it works out!

[Pilgrim]

I lowered all the strings.  Each saddle on the bridge is threaded and screws up and down...also has a set screw to keep it from turning - why, I don't know, the string passing across the groove in the top of the threaded portion would keep it from turning.



With the E fretted at the first and last fret,  clearance of the string at the 12th fret is about 2/64 or 3/64".  I checked the distance between the E and the fretboard at the nut and it's about 3/64", and that's only about 1/64 more than the height of the first fret.  

I'm still playing with it....but it sounds pretty darn good.  Also, what I thought was a loose tone pot was just a loose knob - I tightened up its set screw and all is well.

Overall, this instrument has very good hardware and feels really solid.

[clankenstein]

interesting bridge.do you rotate the threaded screws 360 degrees each time to line them up with the strings?

[Dave W]

interesting bridge.do you rotate the threaded screws 360 degrees each time to line them up with the strings?

Reminds me of the height adjustment on one of those single string bridges. I suspect the screw pitch is very fine and a 360 turn adds very little height.

[Pilgrim]

You only have to rotate them 180 degrees at a time - the slope appears to be the same on both sides of the saddle.  I wouldn't describe the threads as really fine; they're probably about halfway between a national fine and national coarse thread.

It's a pretty substantial bridge.  The saddle design takes more labor to adjust than many others, but that's not something that really bothers me.  It's not needed that often.

I haven't checked intonation yet, but that looks pretty easy.

[Dave W]

D'oh! I meant to say 180.