Choosing the Best Beginner Bass Guitar – The Perfect Body Part 2

The body is home for several components including the pickups, bridge, scratch plate or pick guard, controls and strap buttons.

Electric bass guitars usually come with one or two pickups. The pickups work like a microphone, converting the string vibration into an electrical impulse that is then sent to an amplifier. The pickup’s position influences the tone. The closer it is to the bridge, the brighter and more trebly the tone. Conversely, the farther from the bridge, the warmer and more bassy the tone. Two-pickup models usually have a blend switch that allows you use the front pick-up, back pick-up, or a combination of the two.

The bridge is what anchors the strings to the body. They comes in various shapes and sizes from very thin and flimsy to solid and chunky. A solid bridge will help to increase sustain. The strings pass over the bridge on small supports called saddles. The saddles should be individually adjustable to allow each string’s height and length to be changed.

Scratch plates, if fitted are usually made from plastic. Bass guitars with a natural wood finish do not always have a scratch plate. This allows the beauty of the wood to be seen.

The controls usually consist of a volume knob, blend switch if more than one pick-up is fitted, and tone controls – usually to adjust bass and treble and possibly mid-range as well. These tone controls can be either active or passive. Passive tone controls can only cut frequencies while active controls can cut or boost, giving much more control of the tone. Active controls require power, usually supplied by one or two 9 volt batteries located in the body. The batteries usually last several months and their life can be prolonged by unplugging the instrument as this effectively switches off the active controls. Be aware that if the batteries die, the instrument will no longer produce any sound. So check the batteries regularly otherwise as it can be very embarrassing if your sound suddenly cuts out mid-way through a song.

Last, but not least are the strap buttons. There are two and although not shown on the image, the second button is located on the edge of the body to the left of the bridge. As their name suggests, their purpose is to attach a strap so that you can play your bass guitar while standing. The most secure type are locking (straplocks) and should always be used. Normal strap buttons are not as secure and a bass guitar falling to the ground can suffer significant damage. There are two types of players who do not use straplocks: those who have had a bass fall to the ground while playing and those who are going to have a bass fall to the ground while playing. Don’t worry if the bass guitar you really want doesn’t have straplocks. They are not expensive and can be easily fitted. If you are buying from a music store, you may be able to haggle and get them to include a set in the deal. return to part 1…