Buzz at 8th fret...loosen the truss rod and

[Oreomeister365]

my strings all buzzed at the 8th fret quite excessivley, so I just loosened the truss rod 1/4 a turn, see what would happen, and now the low E buzzes at 8, but the buzz is not coming from the fretboard under the 8 instead of higher.

So would this be a sign that more loosening is needed until thats gone, or tightening?

edit: actually, the buzz was always coming from before the 8th fret, just after loosening the truss rod it seemed to be closer to the 8th.

[Oreomeister365]

ugh, def didn't need tightening, and now the low E sounds all loose and floppy...and the D broke despite being looser...and and...

probably just because its a not the greatest bass ever..

eh, this just pisses me off...I'll come back to it later...

[Oreomeister365]

Yeah I looked at those. My relief seems a little excessive, but tightening the truss rod yields more buzz, strings seems too close to the board, and my actions already too high.

I'll fiddle some more

Think it might be some design flaw since it only buzzes at the 8th fret, and none of the others? (7 and 9 are fine)...

[Oreomeister365]

um, when it says tap the string, are you looking for how far it moves side to side or up and down (like..distance from the fret board), on the whole relief part.

Because if its up and down..my string don't move at all.

Ookay now it makes sense...

another update: yes, it dearly needed releif, the string only moves a tiny bit, as opposed to zilch (even less than a credit card distance) and most buzz is pretty much gone.

reading comprehension...

[Oreomeister365]

now it sounds like the truss rod is loose inside the bass...

some little rattling that is not external.

only when I play the lower string does it cause enough vibration to...vibrate it...I can hear it through my amp too...

[Oreomeister365]

Yup, took it in today. Hopefully will have it back in a few days.

Not good having only one bass...

Thanks for the help.

[Oreomeister365]

He linked the buzz to loose tuning pegs because of some missing teflon nuts. So he replaced those, set up the action a hair lower, tightened the trus rod even though there was barely a credit cards worth of space there, and thus made my frets buzz excessively again and the truss rod is still buzzing. I don;t know how he couldn't hear it, you don't need an amplifier, I can hear it acoustically even when I pluck the strings lightly. I sorta already knew the tuning pegs weren't a problem because I went through everything, holding them firm one at a time to confirm they didn't cause the buzzing. I sorta just went with it because he seemed to know what he was doing. At first he said he'd have to remove a fret dot and inject some foam or something to make the truss rod a little tighter, which seemed perfect, but them he simply decides the tuning pegs are the problem.

You can't really hear the problem through a tiny 15 watt crate amp as that blurs everything anyways. However I play through headphones most of the time and its very clearly there, amplified to some degree.

Now what the heck did I pay 20 bucks for? A worse setup than I could do myself, some teflon nuts I didn't need, and NOT a solution to the problem I had in the first place? I'm going to call him ask question what exactly he was thinking. Ask why in the world he'd tighten the truss rod. How he couldn't hear the truss rod buzzing. I mean it buzzes a little more when I loosen it, did he hope he could just tighten it and assume I wouldn't know the difference? Did he think I was just another individual who doesn't know a thing about how a bass is built? I had it set up to have very little buzzing, so he says to me over the phone that there will have to be a little buzzing or else your action will be super high. I'd guess he said that because he wanted to just tighten the truss rod, apparently solving the problem, so he needed an excuse as to why my bass would need to buzz.

He undid any improvements I made, didn't fix the problem and instead fixed something that wasn't the problem, he attempted to hide the problem, and then he assumed I wouldn't notice. The entire point of the thing was that I wanted to have it set up correctly to remove the very excessive buzz, but stop the truss rod from rattling as a side effect, and none of that happened. I don't know if this is because he assumed I didn't know the first thing about setting the bass up like I bet 99% of the people he works with do, or he's incompetent, or he just made a mistake.

I'm getting my money back...

[Slax]

Did try the bass out in the shop after they finished? That might have saved some headache. (You would have been able to say right there, "This is worse...")

[Oreomeister365]

Their repair guy doesn't work directly in the shop, he takes it to his place and talks tot he customer on the phone, then leaves it at the shop for the customer to pick up.

I did pluck a few strings in the shop to listen for truss rod buzzing and it was virtually gone, but like I said I found out it was because he tightened the truss rod which just made the buzzing worse which was why I loosened it in the first place, there was zero space between the string and the fret when I did the straight line test, so I loosened it to about a credit card and the buzz is reduced greatly, so he tightened it so there was almost zero space again and brought the buzz back. I play with a pick so some buzz is unavoidable, but I had it gone to a reasonable degree; in the store I just plucked it with my fingers, which was a mistake, but I told him in the notes that I "Play hard with a pick"...

[joelc1319]

Originally Posted by Oreomeister365

...and thus made my frets buzz excessively again and the truss rod is still buzzing. I don;t know how he couldn't hear it, you don't need an amplifier, I can hear it acoustically even when I pluck the strings lightly.

Ironically, with electric basses, the trick is not to get it to be buzz-less acoustically, but to be buzz-less through an amp. So, if it doesn't buzz through an amp, then that's the right adjustment.

Originally Posted by Oreomeister365

Now what the heck did I pay 20 bucks for?

Wellllllll, you get what you pay for I *suppose*, since I've never heard of a setup costing only 20 bucks. Expect to pay 50+ for a real setup.

Originally Posted by Oreomeister365

I had it set up to have very little buzzing, so he says to me over the phone that there will have to be a little buzzing or else your action will be super high.

This is the truth! The sheer mass of a given bass string makes low action and complete zero buzzing impossible. Like I said before, judge by the sound through the amp, not by how it sounds acoustically. Although, if the buzzing is as bad as you say, then maybe he's using this principle as a means to cover up his shoddiness...


In short, it was wrong of him to tighten the truss rod further, but some of the stuff he says is true. It's also important to always play with only as much force as is needed to make a note sound. Let the amplifier do the work. Playing with a lighter touch will get rid of *most* buzzing, and will allow lower action overall.

Good luck!

[DavePlaysBass]

I have paid for setups and within 20 minutes completey undone them. Read the stickies at the top. Experiment carefully. And after a little bit of practice you will be able to setup your bass better than any tech. I used to sort of dread the whole thing not being very good at it. Now I get a sense of satisfaction going thru the process and getting a great setup for my playing style. You will need to get a few tools (allen wrenches, feeler gauges, calipers, capo).

My favorite was the setup guy saying, I know it buzzes above the 12th fret, but do you actually play up there

Dave

[BillyRay]

Are you positive that the truss rod is rattling inside ? I've yet to see a truss rod do that that wasn't broken or having issues : ie. tightening it wouldn't make the buzz go away.

Also, if the truss rod still works, it usually means that it's fine: revert to your old setup and if action is too high because your saddles are bottomed, take to to a REAL GUY to have the bass inspected and maybe have the neck shimmed. Real guy meaning someone with a shop that you can talk to, not some hack who plays bass and isn't afraid of messing with the truss rod.

[joelc1319]

Originally Posted by BillyRay

Real guy meaning someone with a shop that you can talk to, not some hack who plays bass and isn't afraid of messing with the truss rod.

+1