Power Slinkys for my Bongo???

[Leftybassist]

Was playing my new bongo at band rehersal the other day and I was having some trouble with my G sting droping out of the mix. I think because there was a lot of bass in the amp there was a big differential in the volume of the E A and D strings from the G. I found that I had to lower the bass Eq on the bongo (I started out with all the Eq level in the little notches) and raise the volume back up accordingly to get an even volume across the stings. I don't mind this too much, infact I love that the bongo's Eq capabilitys were able to solve the problem. But I would prefer to be able to maintain the bass frequency. What I was thinking was that I have always prefered to play with heavier gauge strings anyway, perhaps I should switch out the strings that came with the bass for some Power Slinkys, or if that is overkill, some Regular Slinkys. My thinking is that the heavier gauge string (on the G) may be able to carry more bass through the speakers. Any thoughts? I'm curious if my thinking is in the right direction, and if I were to make the change to heavier strings would I need to have the nut filed? And as far as changing intonation I've always wondered: If the 12th fret becomes sharp or flat relative to the open string, what direction do you move the saddles to fix the intonation. I know I will need to make a trus rod adjustment. Just wondering about the Nut and intonation. Thanks for reading if you got this far!
P.S. it's a 4 HH bongo

 

[oddjob]

I'll let the setup experts here handle the intonation stuff... as to the power slinks, they are killer - use them on all of my Bongos. I don't think they are going to even out your output problems. This sounds more like an issue of setup and pickup height... again, I'll let others speak to it.

 

[russjm]

I had the same problem with my Stingray, as do a few ray owners I know. What we did was to angle the pickup at the G string end up a little, so that the pickup was a little closer to the G string than it is to the E string, but not so close that it rattles on the pickup!

That certainly helped, although the G still isn't as prominent in the mix as the E and A in my opinion. It's fine for slap and pop, but finger style grooves loose some impact when I go up to the G.

One other thing, I wear the bass quite low (just below the waist) so because of the angle of the bass, my fingers are plucking the G nearer to the bridge than on the E, so the string is a little tighter back there, making it harder to attack it, so a lot of the overall problem could be down to technique.

 

[1Echo]

And as far as changing intonation I've always wondered: If the 12th fret becomes sharp or flat relative to the open string, what direction do you move the saddles to fix the intonation.

Just remember a longer string equals a lower pitch. If you're sharp at the 12th fret then you need to lengthen the string to lower the pitch so you move the saddle towards the bridge. If you're flat at the 12th then shorten the string by moving the saddle towards the neck.

 

[Leftybassist]

Thanks guys. Very helpful. I raised the pickups under the G already which helped a tiny bit. If I go for the Power Slinkys is there any need to file the nut grooves?

 

[oddjob]

no need for any nut adj.