E string frustration: Buzz vs. Height vs. Pickup Poles...

[tbassist4]

Hey everyone,
I'm having a dilemma with my MIM jazz. I carefully followed the guidelines for setup, the neck looks great, it intonates well, and the playability is much better than it was. My problem is that my E string seems to have to be pretty high (saddle height) not to buzz. It still buzzes a bit, and now its pretty far away from the E pickup pole pieces on my jazz pickups, making it sound really quiet compared to the other three strings. I'm going to assume I did something wrong, as this is my second full setup. Any suggestions?

[dmusic148]

When does it buzz? Open, or fretted, or both? If fretted only, about where on the neck does the buzz begin?

[tbassist4]

Fretted only, it buzzes all the way down to F. It will ring fine for maybe 1-2 seconds and then buzz.

[dmusic148]

Is there a fret above which it stops buzzing? If so, a fret in that vicinity is a bit high- not a big deal to fix. But if NOT, it may be a defective string. In this case try a new string.

[tbassist4]

Cool, I won't be able to figure out the exact fret until I get home. I'll post back then.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by tbassist4

Fretted only, it buzzes all the way down to F.

that implies the nut may be high. get it filed down closer, and you'd be able to raise the string up at the saddle (to fix the buzz) while still having it feel low to the fretting hand.

Originally Posted by tbassist4

It will ring fine for maybe 1-2 seconds and then buzz.

if so, there indeed may be a slight flaw in the frets or the string, but in practice you'd never really hear it; how often do you let bass notes ring for more than a couple seconds?