Fret buzz!!!!

[Leftybass12]

So I just recently had my bass looked at and the truss rod was very loose. I had the truss rod adjusted to where the neck is straight and not too long after that I put on new strings because the strings I had on the bass were dead pretty much. This was my first time re-stringing one of my basses because I was tired of paying to have it done for me, but I was under the supervision of my bass teacher, who is an extremely good bassist and knows his stuff. The problem is that I have fret buzz in the first four frets of my A and E strings (major fret buzz at the 4th fret of the A string). The rest of the frets are okay though. I think that because of the truss rod adjustment being too tight the fret buzz is being caused. Does anyone think this is true or do you have any other suggestions??

By the way, the bass is a 2007 Ibanez GSR200FML with D'Addario nickelwound long scale strings .045 - .100

[ThePerfectBass]

It very well could be that your truss rod is too tight. When you tighten the truss rod, it basically pulls the neck back against the strings. If you loosen the truss rod by about a 1/4 turn at a time, you will add some clearance between the string and frets (assuming your truss rod is functioning correctly).

You can also add some height by adjusting your bridge saddles as well.

Peace!

[NAZ]

If your neck is straight, or slightly bowed and you have fret buzz on 2 of the strings, chances are good that a slight saddle adjustment will resolve the issue. If that is not it, then its very possible that you have a raised fret. This happens over the years with playing, the changing weather, and what not.

If your not used to setting up your own bass, then I recommend taking it to a local shop for a pro set up. This is usually between $25 and $50. Tell the tech how you want it to play, and they will make it happen.

Well worth the money, in fact most often when I buy a new ax, I play it for a few days and then it goes straight to the shop for a set up. Depending on the temp flux where you live you might get this done every 2 years or so. You can do your own minor tweaks between set ups

[Jones4Tone]

You can also avoid this type of problem if you ask the tech to install new strings when you have a set up.
In my shop, I always start with new strings then do setup work after.
It's always better to do things in that order, not only would the tech have adjusted the guitar appropriately from the start but he would know when doing a set up new strings he installed will cause him no problems. i.e. bends or kinks etc...