G STRING BUZZES AT 16th ONLY

[didoy123]

hi im new here, and my english is not good. i bought a new squier vm p bass (white one)... and when i bend the the g string at the 16th fret, the sound produced is annoying, it does not sound normal.but the action is high... because if i lowered the action at the bridge, the strings will buzz again when fretted at 16th fret (not bent)... and also its a pain fretting the first fret, is the nut too high?... i cant tweak the truss rod further counter clockwise.

or is this caused by the strings? i use the EB super slinky custom guage 45 65 80 100

and what strings/brand to use to achieve the typical P-bass sound.

thanks...



i dont want this to take this to a luthier for now, because i dont have enough money and the luthier's service here in the philippines are a bit pricey.(for a student)

[lethargytartare]

Sounds like (a) your 17th fret is high, popping out, or otherwise not leveled properly; and (b) your nut is too high.

Cheap basses often benefit greatly from a proper pro setup. Mass produced basses, IME, don't have individual badly leveled frets, so if the 17th is well seated, maybe it's just a general setup issue.

To isolate the buzzing, you play each fret until the buzzing disappears -- that's usually the bad fret. So when you fret the 16th, you get buzz -- if the buzz goes away when you fret the 17th, the the 17th is probably bad.

Read any of the various setup threads here -- if you can't pay someone, you need to walk through all the steps in a proper setup so you have a chance at a good result. Also, that will help you collect the key information people here will ask for if you ask them for help.

Just turning the truss rod is kinda like adding oil to your car when it knocks -- that COULD help, but it's jumping to a conclusion in a way that could have zero benefit (and a possibility of harm).

Give it a good once-over and post your findings. Good luck!

ltt

[didoy123]

hi again! i used the concept of the "microtilt"... so i loosened the screws at the neck plate and a little knocks, now my neck is slightly angled and theres a smaaaaall gap between the body and the neck (and actually it helped to reduce the buzz that im complaining when bending strings at 16th fret) ... but when i detuned my bass, there are small eeeking noises coming around in the neck pocket. is my guitar safe? should i put cards/paper under the neck to fill in the gaps? so that i can tighten the neck plate? thanks talkbass!

[lethargytartare]

Originally Posted by didoy123

hi again! i used the concept of the "microtilt"... so i loosened the screws at the neck plate and a little knocks, now my neck is slightly angled and theres a smaaaaall gap between the body and the neck (and actually it helped to reduce the buzz that im complaining when bending strings at 16th fret) ... but when i detuned my bass, there are small eeeking noises coming around in the neck pocket. is my guitar safe? should i put cards/paper under the neck to fill in the gaps? so that i can tighten the neck plate? thanks talkbass!

A microtilt is usually a mechanism built into the neck pocket to facilitate changing the neck pitch. I can't tell exactly what you did from your description -- " loosened the screws at the neck plate and a little knocks, now my neck is slightly angled" -- but, yes, you want something under the heel, and you want your neck screws tightened down. That's called "shimming" the neck. If you leave the screws loose, you'll slowly strip out the wood the foremost screws are secured into, and you'll probably be losing tune and setup constantly.

But shimming addresses a situation that I don't think applies to your bass. You really should read through the whole process of setting up a bass, and walk through the steps in order -- there's a well-tested way to approach the bass's mechanics that helps insure each step does what it is supposed to, and that you don't have to keep redoing things over and over to get to an optimal setup.

You seem to have several things going on (too high action, too high nut, wrong relief, possibly a high fret, and now a new neck pitch) and just making random changes is likely to just keep moving your problems around without addressing them all properly.

And from what I've heard, the old-school P-bass sound is dead flats; the modern rock is rounds, but with some wicked gritty SVT-ish tube amp.

Be patient and methodical -- you will increase your chances of getting a good result, and folks here will be better able to help you along the way than if you just make random changes.

ltt

[didoy123]

you are right! my bass is not holding the tunes like it was before. I ll tighten the neck plate again. thanks LTT!