Fret buzz on a 2005 American std P-bass

[LePL]

Hi there, this is my first post on this forum... I'm from France, but I'm spending this year in Chicago.

I definitely wanted to get a P-bass, so I tried a bunch of them at all the music stores down there in Chicago. And today, I tried a 2005 American Standard P-bass that a guy is selling used. It's a very good bass, it plays great and the neck and frets are in great shape, but there's just one little detail that bothers me... The A string buzzes quite a lot on, let's say, frets 3, 4 and 5. Otherwise, it is great sounding on the rest of the neck but there's definitely something wrong right there. When you pluck the A open string very hard, it noticeably buzzes at this area (between frets 3 and 5). The truss-rod adjustment seemed okay, and there was no problem whatsoever on the over strings, which leads to believe that there is a problem with a fret or two in this area.
However, this bass would cost a lot less than a new American standard: it is 800 $, while a new Am Std would be about 1300 with the tax.

So I wanted to ask you guys: do you think this is a serious issue? I have to mention that I tried a new Am Std P-bass at Guitar Center the other day, and it had exactly the same problem, the A string was buzzing when played open. So I thought this could be something that happens once in a while on P-basses.
After all, this instrument is 5 years old, so I guess even Am Std basses develop some problems with time, although this is not too bad. I have a MIM Jazz bass and it was hard to find a good setup on this one, even though it is not as old.
So I just wanted to know if you think this can fixed with a little fretwork, and also if you P-bass users (or bassists in general) have encountered this problem and whether or not you were able to fix it. I personally encountered this kind of problem with my Jazz bass, and it felt better after having it fixed by my guitar tech, but the bass was not perfect still, it stopped buzzing but by lowering the strings you could see that it had a tendency to buzz on certain frets.

And sorry for the long post! By the way, I have to make a decision about this bass by Monday, so it would be great to respond asap if you can help me out. Thanks!

[gitlvr]

More than likely a high fret or two, or a low nut slot. However, you mention that it buzzes "when you pluck the A open string very hard". Pretty much anything will buzz if you pluck it hard enough.
If it only buzzes when you hit it pretty hard, I'd say it's a minor issue, and nothing much to worry about. MHO.

[warnergt]

A low nut slot isn't going to cause buzzing when you're fretting
frets 3, 4 and 5. Once you fret the string, the nut height is
out of the equation.

It could be uneven frets or the action is too low.

Fixing the action would be trivial.
Fixing the frets would be another story. That would be a
deal killer for me on a bass purchase. That would have to be
addressed before I would consider buying the bass.

A buzzing open string also suggests that the action is too low
(although it could also happen with severe cases of fret
height problems [or a low nut]).

Statistically speaking, I'd say it is more likely that the action
is too low. But don't rely on statistical guesswork. Figure
out what is going on with this bass before you buy it.

[LePL]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. I think you're right, buying a quality instrument like this that has problems right away is not really worth it.

What I think (and hope) is that the A string is not strung properly, with not enough wraps around the tuning peg, as it was suggested in another post. The action doesn't seem to be the problem, because the other strings were set very low, lower than the A string, and didn't have that problem.
I heard somewhere that the stringing through the body option on the new Fenders is not compatible with standard sets of strings, and that you have to use extra-long strings. Since this bass was strung with D'Addario Chrome flats, which I believe is standard in length, it would make sense.

But if the problem doesn't come from here, it should be the frets then... So I guess it wouldn't be interesting anymore, given that I should have the frets leveled for the bass.

Thanks again for your answers you guys!