fret buzz only on first 5 frets

[fenderthrupeave]

I have a new to me G&l tribute 2500 great sounding bass, but I have some bad fret buzz on the 1-5 frets mainly on the b and e strings. Just wondering if I should take it in and get a new nut put on. I have taken some relief out of the neck which helped a little but not enough. Looking for some suggestions.

[Rock-Bassman]

Professional Setup? That would get rid of any fret buzz anywhere (considering the guy is 1/1000000 decent)

[JLS]

Originally Posted by fenderthrupeave

I have a new to me G&l tribute 2500 great sounding bass, but I have some bad fret buzz on the 1-5 frets mainly on the b and e strings. Just wondering if I should take it in and get a new nut put on. I have taken some relief out of the neck which helped a little but not enough. Looking for some suggestions.

1) The nut has NOTHING to do with fret buzz.

2)You need to ADD relief, that is to say, loosen the trussrod, so that the neck has some FORWARD bow.

3) You may ALSO need to raise the B&E saddles slightly.

If you have any trouble understanding any one of the above, yes, you need to have a professional setup your bass.

[xgator4u]

I dunno, does the nut look like the slots are too deep or not? have you tried new strings?

[ehque]

Originally Posted by JLS

1) The nut has NOTHING to do with fret buzz.

2)You need to ADD relief, that is to say, loosen the trussrod, so that the neck has some FORWARD bow.

3) You may ALSO need to raise the B&E saddles slightly.

If you have any trouble understanding any one of the above, yes, you need to have a professional setup your bass.

This guy knows his stuff. Nut height has nothing to do with fretbuzz, as once you fret a string, the nut is taken out of the equation.

You need to check your relief. Check the sticky on how to do that. If your relief is ok, which i'm most certain is not, you can try raising your action slightly. Also, but more rarely, your 6th fret might be high/unseated. Get a straightedge to check that.

Learning how to do your own set ups is a fundamental part of being a bass player, imho.

[fenderthrupeave]

when I look down the neck their is now bow to the neck, its pretty much straight. At this point I have probably loosend the truss around about a full turn and nothing has changed the neck has not developd the needed bow for me to get the action the way I want it. Any more suggestions?

[ddnidd1]

This is what you are looking for.

http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass...tupmanual.html

"If after you lower the strings, the notes only buzz in the 1st 5 frets then your neck is too straight. You'll need to loosen the truss rod."

[dmusic148]

Hopefully the rod was just way too tight to begin with-loosen it even more, then tune the bass and look again.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by fenderthrupeave

when I look down the neck their is now bow to the neck, its pretty much straight. At this point I have probably loosend the truss around about a full turn and nothing has changed the neck has not developd the needed bow for me to get the action the way I want it. Any more suggestions?

"now" bow, or "no" bow?

I really think you should have someone who knows what he/she's doing, help you, at this point. Check around your area, see if there's someone who'll let you observe.

[dystopiate]

So long as your truss rod adjustments are still creating a change in the relief, I'd say loosen it some more.

There's a lot of argument around about how much you should adjust a truss rod on a given day. The few people I know who tech guitars and basses professionally have told me they just keep adjusting until it's right, whether that's a 1/16 turn or 3 full ones.

[fenderthrupeave]

well I did another 1/4 turn last night and it finally got a little better. So I think a little more over the next few days and letting the neck get used to it I should be all good. So far this has been the most defficult bass to set up out of the 6 I have owned so far. but all is well.