Awful rattle after chaning strings

[ClaytonMUSE]

I think I may have mentioned this before, but now I have pictures and sound. I changed the strings on a squier VM fretless jazz bass from roundwound to rotosound flatwounds, and no matter what I do to the truss rod, bridge, anything, it rattles so much, especially closer to the nut, its so so bad, heres a recording (not brilliant quality) of the rattling:
http://www.toofiles.com/en/oip/audio...assrattle.html
(It isnt supposed to sound good or anything)

And heres a couple of pictures of the action:


There bad quality because I had to crop them alot for them to be uploaded
Is there anything I could do? Or would it definitely have to be taken to a proffessional?

[Evil Undead]

If your efforts haven't solved the issue, I'd take it to the pro

[lethargytartare]

How much clearance over the pickups?

A tech at a shop should take a look and help you ID the issue without charging you -- FIXING it would be a fee-based thing, but you can at least ask them what they think.

[lowendblues]

Nut slots cut to low maybe?

[THand]

If it didn't do this before the string change, you probably just don't have the set-up dialed in yet for these strings.

Sounds to me like you need a little relief in the neck.

If you think you have enough relief, see how much you have to raise your E string for the noise to stop. If it isn't a lot, raise the G string till the noise stops there too. Then raise the A and D string matching the fretboard radius. I use a radius gauge, and with it setting on the E and G, I raise the the A and D until it touches the gauge. This is a little backwards from how I usually do it. I like to get the board as straight as possible, then I set my action (very low on fretless). Then if I have some unwanted buzzing, I dial in some relief.

If you have to raise the action a huge amount for the buzz to disappear, you may need the board leveled.

IMO, the nut slots really can't be too deep on a fretless.

[chokeslam512]

Are your strings a lower gauge? Maybe the nut slots are a bit too W - I - D - E. try fitting a small piece of paperboard or construction paper under the strings in the nut slot.

Edit: Maybe check the nuts and washers on your tuning machines as well.

[ClaytonMUSE]

Hey, turns out the strings have different guages, I should of checked this before I changed the strings. The stock ones are .045, .065, .080 and .100, and the flatwounds are 040 060 080 100.

Could I fix this at home or not? I'm saving up for a fleabass so I don't really wanna pay a pro to do it

[canshaker]

Try this...

Loosen your strings, so that there is slack on the tuner. Now, retighten your strings while pushing the strings against the body on the tuner. It will create an angle in the string at the nut. That works for me when I get string buzz by the nut.

[RFord04]

Sure, just loosen the truss rod a bit (if the truss rod nut is at the headstock), but not much. Usually 1/8 of a turn will give you a noticable improvement. Most would suggest not turning it more than 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn in a day, as you can do damage to the neck, but as long as you just turn it a little bit at a time, it should be pretty simple to do yourself. Check the sticky at the top of the hardware, setup, and repair forum for links to detailed instructions.

[uglyrumor]

I use D'Addario strings, and when I first changed from using DRs, I had a rattle on the "E" string. Turns out the D'Addarios cut the string down sooner, so it was cutting down before the nut. I still use them, but cannot run the "E" through the body.

[Bassist4Life]

perhaps you don't have enough string wound around the tuning post. that happened to me in the past.