My Ken Smith buzzes. please advise!!

Fire-Starter · #1 02-24-2006, 10:12 AM

I followed the set instruction on the Sticky at the Gary Willis web site, (great site btw) and my bass still has buzz, here is the deal

After holding down the A string at the first frett and using my right arm past the neck to hold down the strings to make a straight line, there is NO movment/relief between the string and the fretts. I have loosened my truss rod all the way ( which should give me max fwd bow) than tightend it less than 1/4 turn and still have no relief..(of course continuing to tighten makes it worse)..even with the truss rod totally loose, I still have hardley any relief. buzz on all fretts up and down the neck... I have to set me action really high at the saddle to get rid of the buzz, but I feel this is abnormal, and still at that height, I still do not have a credit cards thickness of relief.

I am thinking the possible is the problem

1: the strings are to thick, my bass came with them so I dont know the gauge. maybe try some string with tapered ends and lighter gauge..assuming what is on there is a heavy gauge..

2: the neck does not have enough fwd bow as it should, even when the truss rod is totally loose. (I have read you can fix this by putting a paint can or such on the top flatt side of your frett board and leave it like that for a day or two)
not sure about that, but I am hopefull someone will comment on that????

could really use some help on this one, hoping you guys can help me out, dont want ot bother Ken with this if there is something simple that I am missing

Fire-Starter · #2 02-24-2006, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua

Let's start with the easy stuff; when you loosened the rod, did you leave it overnight and tuned to pitch?

Greetings Joshua, nope, I did not, I was under the impression I should not leave my truss rod disengaged for any length of time. should I disengage trussrod, tune the bass and leave it overnight?

I hope I understand your question correctly, if this is the case, I will do this and report back...please advise and thanks...

billbern · #3 02-24-2006, 02:14 PM

If it's the BSR6GN in your profile, the graphite rods might be holding the neck straight.
You might want to contact Smith Basses.
also there's a new Smith Bass users group
http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/smithbass
Good luck
Bill

64lusso · #4 02-24-2006, 03:12 PM

If this is a bolt on neck bass I guess it could be possible that there is too much neck angle? I have had the opposite problem on several basses and I have cured it by sticking a fender medium pick in the back of the neck pocket so possibly you could do the reverse and put one in the front. Even with that said it's very curious that the neck will not allow you to get any relief at all I would pursue getting an answer from the manufacturer if none of the truss rod suggestions above work for you.

Fire-Starter · #5 02-24-2006, 04:00 PM

[quote=Joshua]Well, now I'm confused.

Firstly, how do you know you've loosened it all the way? When you did loosen it as you describe, how long did you let it sit before measuring the relief? Also, when measuring the relief in the way you describe, make sure the bass is tuned to pitch, and fret at the first fret and the fret where the neck meets the body.

Sorry for the confusion...

first off, its a BSR6GN neck-through

the way I knew the truss rod was all the way dis-engaged was it was free spinning, like it was not grapping anything at all. then I tightend it less than 1/4 turn, measured it the next couple of days, no relief. I will try again and follow your suggestions, more to come....

Bassist4Life · #6 02-24-2006, 11:21 PM

Send Mr. Smith a PM. He's on TB frequently.

Joe

KSB - Ken Smith · #7 03-03-2006, 09:15 PM

Gary Willis has instructions on how to set-up a Smith Bass?

That's news to me. Can I have a copy?

Gee, I wonder who you could call to get some help?.. hummmmm?

Setting up a Bass is not as generic as one would think. Different styles of building requires different styles of fixing. We often get calls about this and most questions can be handled over the phone. We also fix a fair amount of Basses that have been in other shops where they thought they knew how to work on a Smith. We know what makes our Bass tick and we do not pretend to know about other brands out there either. We sorta keep to ourselves with repair and set-up thpe stuff. Try calling the source. I am sure you will like the results.

Bassist4Life · #8 03-04-2006, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

Gary Willis has instructions on how to set-up a Smith Bass?

That's news to me. Can I have a copy?

Gee, I wonder who you could call to get some help?.. hummmmm?

Setting up a Bass is not as generic as one would think. Different styles of building requires different styles of fixing. We often get calls about this and most questions can be handled over the phone. We also fix a fair amount of Basses that have been in other shops where they thought they knew how to work on a Smith. We know what makes our Bass tick and we do not pretend to know about other brands out there either. We sorta keep to ourselves with repair and set-up thpe stuff. Try calling the source. I am sure you will like the results.

Told ya'

Joe

Fire-Starter · #9 03-04-2006, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

Gary Willis has instructions on how to set-up a Smith Bass?

That's news to me. Can I have a copy?

Gee, I wonder who you could call to get some help?.. hummmmm?

Setting up a Bass is not as generic as one would think. Different styles of building requires different styles of fixing. We often get calls about this and most questions can be handled over the phone. We also fix a fair amount of Basses that have been in other shops where they thought they knew how to work on a Smith. We know what makes our Bass tick and we do not pretend to know about other brands out there either. We sorta keep to ourselves with repair and set-up thpe stuff. Try calling the source. I am sure you will like the results.

Ok Ken, you got me, but fwiw, I did /thought I sent you a PM and was waiting on a response, I know now you did not get it based on your reply here, and also I just happen to check my sent messages and for some reason, the one I had thought I sent to you was not there, my mistake

I did have a few TB issues here last week, so I think that may be why it did not go out or what-ever. fwiw...
the reason I did try the Gary W site is I did not want to trouble you with what could have been a basic fix, I know you are quite busy. I Will be in touch with you this comming up week, thanks for your assist

KSB - Ken Smith · #10 03-04-2006, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fire-Starter

Ok Ken, you got me, but fwiw, I did /thought I sent you a PM and was waiting on a response, I know now you did not get it based on your reply here, and also I just happen to check my sent messages and for some reason, the one I had thought I sent to you was not there, my mistake

I did have a few TB issues here last week, so I think that may be why it did not go out or what-ever. fwiw...
the reason I did try the Gary W site is I did not want to trouble you with what could have been a basic fix, I know you are quite busy. I Will be in touch with you this comming up week, thanks for your assist

Any fix is important when it comes to playability and the health of your Bass. We get calls and emails every day. I like them handled asap so people can go back and play their Bass. Currently there are over 5,000 handmade Smith Basses in circulation and about 2,000 Burner Basses worldwide. We expect the phone to ring once in awhile. That we we know the phones are still working..lol

Sometimes we suggest the Bass be sent in for some shop TLC and get it back on track. Some Basses we only see every 5-10 years. Last year we got one in from 1980 and 1981. It was the first time they came back for TLC. They were in great shape but needed our special touch. We gave it what it needed..

We never mind or feel bothered when people call for help. This is what we do!