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Axis 30th Anniversary

Bongo 5 B string buzz/rattle

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0557

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
307
Location
GA
I walked into the GC in atlanta on Wed. They had finally recieved 1 saffire black Bongo 5 HH with a piezo, and one in lava pearl.
I was excited to play them, but to my disappointment, both basses had the same problem with an annoying B string buzz and rattle. I do my own setups on my SR5 with quick results, but I would think EB would be aware of this Prob since they are set up from the factory. I brought the Bongo to the In-house guitar repair guy, we tried to tweak the neck relief and raise the bridge saddle. It only seemed to go away with action on the low B too becoming too high for comfort. Is this a common problem with these basses?
I really want to buy one of these, but I want to see a remedy for this.

Rick
 
I have three Bongos.

No B string rattle. Action set medium low (in case you need to know that, Jon, ahem).

Of course, most B strings WILL rattle (acoustically) somewhat more than the other strings - it's the nature of the beast. I don't mean just Bongos or MM basses, either.

But if it has a bit of rattle acoustically, I don't consider that an issue. If you hear it through the AMP, that's different.

I'd say a set-up (truss rod tweak) should fix that.

Anyway, it's not an 'inherent' problem, so I doubt it can be addressed on any 'universal' level, if you know what I mean.
 
Let's see the factory is in California the bass in Atlanta and EB failed to tweak it for the weather change?

tk
 
I would think EB would be aware of this Prob since they are set up from the factory.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I missed that - but tkarter is exactly right, wood will move, especially with changes in temp and humidity. EB can set the bass up at the factory (and they do) but it may need adjustment once its journey is over.
 
bovinehost said:
Sorry, I missed that - but tkarter is exactly right, wood will move, especially with changes in temp and humidity. EB can set the bass up at the factory (and they do) but it may need adjustment once its journey is over.
Click to expand...

I know the guitar center of which he speaks, and it is certainly way too dry in there. Fer instance--When I got my first Bongo home, it took three days to get the misture back into the ridiculously dry fretboard--GC had sucked all of the moisture out of the poor thing! However, the white Bongo that I got from them came home with me the same day it arrived at GC, and I haven't had to tweak the setup even a little bit.

Heck, I only had to tune the G string.

I've got two Bongo 5s sitting in my room right now and neither one has a problem with fret rattle on the B strings at all.
 
bovinehost said:
What did you put on the board, Jason? I bought some Dunlop stuff that I like a lot.
Click to expand...

I used Gibson fretboard conditioner, but I also use lemon oil.

I know there is a big "don't use lemon oil" vs "Lemon oil is fine" debate raging online, but I've used it for the last 18 years without any negative effects.
 
wait and see

I gave the neck some relief at the store. I've been doing my own setups for 20 yrs.
maybe the GA. humidity will help.
I sold both my Wals because they had a back bow toward the strings in the Georgia climate. They would give any relief when I loosened the truss rod.
But they were beautiful.

The Bongo is probably not going to be a problem.

Rick
 
0557 said:
I walked into the GC in atlanta on Wed. They had finally recieved 1 saffire black Bongo 5 HH with a piezo, and one in lava pearl.
I was excited to play them, but to my disappointment, both basses had the same problem with an annoying B string buzz and rattle. I do my own setups on my SR5 with quick results, but I would think EB would be aware of this Prob since they are set up from the factory. I brought the Bongo to the In-house guitar repair guy, we tried to tweak the neck relief and raise the bridge saddle. It only seemed to go away with action on the low B too becoming too high for comfort. Is this a common problem with these basses?
I really want to buy one of these, but I want to see a remedy for this.

Rick
Click to expand...
I was having that problem with the E-B Regular Slinkies that came on mine. I switched to T-I PowerBass Rounds and completely eliminated it, with no additional setup. The B string is considerably smaller (.119) and seems more taut. The T-I's sound better IMHO. :D
 
spectorbassguy said:
I was having that problem with the E-B Regular Slinkies that came on mine. I switched to T-I PowerBass Rounds and completely eliminated it, with no additional setup. The B string is considerably smaller (.119) and seems more taut. The T-I's sound better IMHO. :D
Click to expand...

You're welcome. :D

I've got a set of TI Superalloys waiting for my fretless Bongo to show up. I can't wait.
 
bovinehost said:
He's not the TI Guru.

I know the TI Guru, and Jason is no TI Guru.
Click to expand...

Well Mister "Flats Rule"! Mister Monkeee helped me out so props to him big time! So There! :D (BTW no crap to the Dude) ;)
 
bovinehost said:
He's not the TI Guru.

I know the TI Guru, and Jason is no TI Guru.
Click to expand...

I'm actually the TI Gnu. It's a common mistake.


Although, since I do have, or have had, basses with every available type of TI bass string, I'd say I'm off to a pretty good start to Guru-Gnu-hoodness :D .
 
Last edited:
That was muy cheesy, Jon. :rolleyes:

Anyway Bassmonkee,

From what I've gathered here, it seems like EBMM has expedited the production of your "replacement" fretless Bongo to a few weeks! Am I right on this? That's mighty awesome!
happy.gif
 
midopa said:
That was muy cheesy, Jon. :rolleyes:

Anyway Bassmonkee,

From what I've gathered here, it seems like EBMM has expedited the production of your "replacement" fretless Bongo to a few weeks! Am I right on this? That's mighty awesome!
happy.gif
Click to expand...

Yes, indeedy, they have. And, that was why I said their customer service is second to none. And, Guitar Center did a bang up job by letting me hold onto this fretted white Bongo until the fretless shows up.

Great customer service all around. In a way, I'm almost glad things got messed up since it's given me a chance to play with the fretted SC/H/P Bongo for a couple of weeks.

That might explain why I am so close to springing for a third Bongo since I've successfully sold off a good bit of gear this week. :cool:
 
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