Buzzy nut on my fretless jazz bass

[jonathanhughes]

The nut in my fretless jazz bass was cut at the factory for Fender heavy flatwounds. I've switched to lighter gauge Chromes,and now there's a little buzz at the nut when I play open strings. Aside from a new nut, is there anything that can be done to stop the buzzing?


thanks!


Jonathan

[XylemBassGuitar]

The fastest, easiest fix is to put little pieces of matchbook/paperboard under the strings in the nut slots. This might affect your tone, but the difference isn't usually noticeable. Better yet, use some hardwood veneer instead of paperboard.

As a more permanent, professional fix, you could also remove the nut, glue a thin shim to the bottom and re-glue the nut in place however, if you aren't well versed in such a modification, you might not want to try it out on your bass without gaining some information and/or practice. You could also remove the old nut and get a new one, but that would probably require slight adjustments to the new nut as well.

Finally, how long have you had the bass? Do you think you could take it to a Fender-authorized repair facility for a warrantied modification? That would be your best bet...

[mongo2]

Is the E string wound all the way down on the tuner post?

[donstrenz]

Another way that's fast but not permanent is to:
1. Get some clear 5 minute epoxy (2-part) at the hardware store
2. Loosen all the strings and move them along side the nut
3. Mix a little epoxy on a piece of paper and use a toothpick to put a tiny amount in the nut grooves. Keep the paper.
4. After a few minutes, feel the epoxy on the paper. When it gets hard but still is slightly tacky, put the strings back in the grooves and tighten them. That will form the epoxy to the string size. Loosen the strings again and take them out of the grooves.
5. Wait an hour for the epoxy to completely harden and it should be good to go.

[Anonymatt]

Yeah, I fold a tiny little piece of paper that sits between the A-string and the nut. Works fine, tone's okay. I mind the little piece of paper when I'm changing strings.

[Planet Boulder]

I've actually found that Shoe Goo works great when needing to reduce the depth of a nut groove. It's strong, but not brittle when it dries.

Best way to apply it is with a toothpick. Dip the tip of the toothpick into the Shoe Goo, apply a little bit at a time to a groove, then use the fatter, middle part of the toothpick to "roll it in" so that you can maintain the shape of the groove. Do it a little bit at a time, letting it set and dry between applications, to get the desired depth.

Used it on the B-string groove on my old MTD Kingston and it worked like a charm.