open e buzzes

[xwpx]

picked up a new esp for a steal.
my open e string buzzes on my first fret.
all the other strings are okay.
the action closer to the pickups is pretty damn high and the action near the head is pretty low.
how do i balance this out?

[ByF]

Without looking at the bass, it's impossible to say. Since it's only buzzing on the 1st fret, I think you need to look at the nut and the 1st fret carefully--either the nut is cut too low, or the end of the fret is up a little. You might need to shim the nut or replace it, or glue that fret back down.

It sounds like the previous owner tried to "fix" it by raising the action at the bridge.

You need to fix that before you try to adjust the truss rod and the bridge.

Ed

[xwpx]

what can i use for the shim? that would solve the buzzing on the fret but the action is still super high further up the neck...if i lower it i think all the strings are gonna buzz

[Kevinmach]

I think Ed gave you perfect response, really. Not much more to say there.

I had a similar problem with a craigslist bass, also an ESP. Finding a nut for this has proved damn near impossible (and it's not even old) and the shim might be your best bet. It's kind of tricky because if the height isn't right, it doesn't take much to throw the intonation off and the bass will be completely out of tune.

If you can't order a nut, you can buy a generic one that is designed to be customized, but making fit is a lot trickier than it sounds.

My situation was similar-The nut pretty much just crumpled at the A-string. The action on the other strings was fine, but buzzing to the point of almost being unplayable with the A. After not being able to find a solution that didn't feel like a huge head ache, I just wanted to play the damn thing, and finally took a small piece of balled up paper towel and put it below the string on the nut (while the string was loose of course), the kinda held it in place while I tightened the string for tuning (the paper towel will try to creep forward with the string as you tighten it, but it's not that difficult to hold it in place). You can't see it, it's completely hidden by the string and it stays in place, even with minor tuning. (string changes obviously require me to do it again, but it takes 2 minutes)

I never intended this to be anything more than temporary, as it's a pretty "ghetto" fix. But to be honest, it's worked so well, I haven't thought about it for months and it plays and sounds just fine, so who knows if I will ever get around to formally fixing the thing.

[HogieWan]

also read up on adjusting the truss rod, you might need to add some relief (curve) to the neck and then take the bridge saddles down.

PDF link:
http://www.sadowsky.com/media/suppor...bass_setup.pdf