Action / Fret buzz

[Warmuth]

My local tech did my first few setups for me with very low action, which he thought was great and technically it was. For me however it introduced too much fret buzz for my liking because I use a pick and play pretty hard. The solution was getting him to always have my action a little higher than ideal with the tradeoff being a little more effort to fret. It's still easy to play but doesn't have the truly effortless play itself quality that the lowest of action gives you.

I still get occasional buzz here and there but to get any of my basses completely buzz free the action has to be set high enough that it's more uncomfortable to play long periods and harder to pull off some technical stuff . I'm capable of changing my attack to play with crazy low action but I'm more rock oriented and there are a lot of songs that just have me banging those strings hard and "rocking out".

[Foamy]

Another thing to keep in mind.....
Do you hear the fret buzz through the amp?
Or are you only hearing it while playing unplugged?
Opinions vary, of course. I don't give a crap about a bit of fret noise. It adds to the mix (I think positively) and makes things sound more "live".
That said, proper setup is critical. Get that action set to a good height, then set that relief!
No more posts until OP states his results! LOL (I keed, I keed)

[kd5uwl]

OP here .. thanks for all the good help. Results so far: action set back the way it came. I think it was a matter of learning how to play the thing.

It is set lower than my Peavey T-40, and way lower than my acoustic bass...and I love it! Quick and easy to play.

I can play it hard, soft, ahead of the bridge pickup or behind...all the ways I'm used to playing my other basses.

Now I'm turning a critical eye toward my other basses ...

Thanks to all for all the good help.

kd5uwl

[rockinrayduke]

This site can help you with any Ric or standard setup questions. Joey is a wizard!

http://www.joeysbassnotes.com/default.htm

[satellite4]

Great thread here.

[Jaco Taco]

Originally Posted by kd5uwl

OP here .. thanks for all the good help. Results so far: action set back the way it came. I think it was a matter of learning how to play the thing.

It is set lower than my Peavey T-40, and way lower than my acoustic bass...and I love it! Quick and easy to play.

I can play it hard, soft, ahead of the bridge pickup or behind...all the ways I'm used to playing my other basses.

Now I'm turning a critical eye toward my other basses ...

Thanks to all for all the good help.

kd5uwl

That's great! I'm glad we could be of help! A little bit of fret buzz is just part of tone, and a part of your arsenal using texture and dynamics with the bass. Sometimes you want the bass to sound soft and pleasant, so you pick accordingly, and sometimes you want it to sound hard and aggressive, and you pick accordingly.

[ArvindJayaram]

This has been really informative. I guess most bassists experience fretbuzz of some kind. I was getting really worried that I wasn't setting up my new bass the right way. No buzz through the "amp", so I guess I'm good to go!

- Jimmy Rage

[imtiaz3]

I'll add to say that fret buzz should be to taste. Honestly, I find it's hard to not have fret buzz without sacrificing a particular tone. I like low action for the tone it gives, and fret buzz is part of that, and I play aggressive, I dig the sound and it's hard to escape fret buzz I find when playing aggressive. there is not wrong way to set it up here, do w/e you like