Zenith Bass Noise and other Issues

[Rockbox Theater bassman]

The Zenith bass, while a beautiful sounding, and beautiful looking instrument, seems to have several issues. The biggest of which is a noise issue, discussed last. I love its tone but the problems have caused me to ponder whether or not I wasted $800 on an instrument I cannot use.

 

1) While the looks of the bridge really compliment this bass, it is not adjustable in any way. There is neither any adjustment for action or for intonation. Action would be a simple modification: A dovetail shim with adjustment screws could easily be hidden below the bridge in the saddle, making it possible to adjust the action up and down. Intonation would require a different bridge and therefore, a different look.

 

2) Through-the-body scale length: While this bass calls itself a 34" scale, the D'Addario Chromes Flatwound come up short with the through-the-body stringing. I had to return the 'Long scale' and reorder 'Super long scale' in order to fit this bass.

 

3) Internal, Vibration-sensitive pickup: This bass has two custom pickups; a virtually invisible pickup, the NanoMag, mounted against the end of the fingerboard. I have experienced no issues with this pick-up at all. However, the internal pick-up, the NanoFlex, mounted below the saddle, is vibration sensitive and will pick up a finger drumming on the body. This is the culprit that presents the biggest problem

 

PROBLEM:

While playing this bass about 2 months after I purchased it, I hit a 'C' and it had a very strange electronic buzz. I played a different note and the buzz was not there. I hit the 'C' again and all of a sudden, the C-buzz turned into a loud, obnoxious hum/buzz, almost identical to the noise you get when you grab the guitar end jack of a plugged-in 1/4" cable with your fingers and the amp turned up loud.

This noise continued all by itself, even with my hand muting all the strings, and did not allow any tone from the strings to be picked up when I plucked them. I turned the amp off and on and the noise was still there. Only by switching completely to the NanoMag pickup was I able to quiet the noise. Fortunately, I was practicing at home when this happened, and not in the middle of a worship set in our church. The noise would have been EXTREMELY disconcerting and disruptive to the worship had this happened during a set.

Three days later, the same day I was taking it in to the shop, I picked it up and the noise suddenly went away. Of course, the tech could not find a problem and I had to take my new bass back home, afraid to use it for any public performances anymore. And since I paid $800 for this bass, I should be able to use it!

 

FINDING:

I have found that the noise can be generated or stopped by vibrations (ergo, the right harmonic of the body-which seems to be the 'C') or by a knock/gentle bump with the palm of the hand, by turning the guitar a certain direction while shaking it lightly, or other such non-violent actions. It doesn't happen often but volume and picking harder makes it more frequent and ONCE is all it takes during a set to totally ruin it! And since I also play at a professional, $35-a-ticket venue, 4 to 6 days a week, there is no way I would attempt to use this bass, even as a back-up!

 

The instrument is still under warranty and Gibson is going to look at the instrument to see if they can fix the intermittent noise issue. I'm hoping I'm not told, "We couldn't find anything wrong." Such is the nature of intermittent issues. It may be a design flaw in the new NanoFlex pickup. I wish I would have went with something tried and true. My loss while it sits in shipping and the repair shop...

[ramone57]

sorry to hear about the problems with your bass! I've only seen one Zenith in the stores, but it was quite the looker and it sounded great, too. Gibson's repair shop should be able to sort it out and get it working properly. I had to send my T-bird Pro in under warranty for problems with the pickups and they had it back within 10 days. the problem was fixed and I've had no issues with it since.

[Hungrycat]

1.The saddle will have to be cut for intonation, spacing, etc, for a specific gauge and brand of string. Take it to a pro if you can't do it your self. It should only cost about $30 to have this done, and then you don't have to worry about it anymore. The intonation should be close anyway, and unless you do a lot of chordal playing, I wouldn't consider it a big problem.

 

2.Keep in mid that the "Scale Length" is the distance from the nut to the 12th fret doubled. It is indeed a 34 in scale, but with the through body stringing you definably need more length before you cut the string.

 

3.Under-saddle pickups will always pick up tapping on the body. Some acoustic guitar players actually exploit this to get a percussive "drum" accompaniment to their playing. You'll just have to be careful not produce unwanted noise when you play. RE:The buzzing noise; Shadow Electronics products are notoriously temperamental. I'll refer you to a thread about forum member charliebrown's Epiphone Texan, and how he solved his problems with it's Shadow under-saddle pickup. I suspect there's a similar problem here.

LINK> What's up, with the electronic's, in Epi Acoustic/electrics?