P Bass has metallic ring to it, HELP!

[Sharko]

I posted a thread about this about 6 months ago, here's the update:

I assembled a parts P bass and when I pluck the strings it makes a distinctly different tone than my other basses. It is distinctly metallic, like vibrating sheet metal or something. It is most noticeable when UNplugged, and it kills the tone of the bass.

So I examined every piece of the bass looking for a loose piece that could vibrate.
-Brass nut: replaced with a graph tech
-Strings too high on tuning posts: I added a 3 string retainer to ensure all strings bent properly over the nut
-Battery inside the cavity: I tied it down more securely
-anodized pickguard: took it off
-Gotoh 203 bridge: took it off, remounted it

While the string retainer was an improvement, it didn't fix it. None of the other changes did anything at all. Of course I tried new strings and checked for fret-buzz.
Does anyone have any other ideas as to what the problem is? Anyone heard anything like this before? I'm at the end of my rope here.

[mongo2]

Have you checked the setup, trussrod, etc.?

Personally, I'm not a fan of the 203. Too many fiddly parts for my taste. I prefer simplier bridges, so I'd try a different bridge.

[Jaguar]

Sounds like a loose truss rod

[whitedk57]

What's the battery for? Are you running an onboard pre-amp? Is there a way to bypass it so that you can test to see if it's that?

[Sharko]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Sounds like a loose truss rod

Someone on another thread suggested this, I'm not convinced because I actually tried it with a different neck and it had basically the same problem.
If it were though, any way to test the theory / fix it without replacing the neck?

[Sharko]

Originally Posted by whitedk57

What's the battery for? Are you running an onboard pre-amp? Is there a way to bypass it so that you can test to see if it's that?

yes to the preamp, but the sound I'm trying to eliminate isn't coming from the electronics, it's more noticeable UNplugged

[dwm74]

I had a similar post a few weeks ago. My problem was primarily with the open D string, but since I went to flats I notice it in all the (open) strings...mostly in the D and G, somewhat in the A and very little in the E.

I tried to find anything that may be loose or vibrating, but couldn't find anything. It seemed that if it wasn't heard during a fretted note, then the problem had to somewhere behind the frets, such as the nut, string tree, or tuners. Played around with those and came up empty.

I reached the conclusion (wrong or right) that it's the string tension. With my Chromes, the higher the tension of each string directly correlates to the amount of 'twang' as I called it. D being the highest, followed by G, A, and then E.

[Bevo1995]

Are the strings contacting the saddles in more than one place? Like when a string is plucked, is it contacting the sides of the groove as it vibrates? This would be on a tiny scale, but enough to buzz. Sort of like fret buzz but caused by the grooves in the saddles.

[mcapote]

Originally Posted by Sharko

I posted a thread about this about 6 months ago, here's the update:

I assembled a parts P bass and when I pluck the strings it makes a distinctly different tone than my other basses. It is distinctly metallic, like vibrating sheet metal or something. It is most noticeable when UNplugged, and it kills the tone of the bass.

So I examined every piece of the bass looking for a loose piece that could vibrate.
-Brass nut: replaced with a graph tech
-Strings too high on tuning posts: I added a 3 string retainer to ensure all strings bent properly over the nut
-Battery inside the cavity: I tied it down more securely
-anodized pickguard: took it off
-Gotoh 203 bridge: took it off, remounted it

While the string retainer was an improvement, it didn't fix it. None of the other changes did anything at all. Of course I tried new strings and checked for fret-buzz.
Does anyone have any other ideas as to what the problem is? Anyone heard anything like this before? I'm at the end of my rope here.

my ibanez srx590 did the exact same thing when I went from eadg strings to bead strings. its definitely the strings in my case.

[mr.mow]

I just spent the last 4 hours pulling apart my new jazz bass, the e string would give an annoying buzz..

Wasn't action.. (cranked it up high)
wasn't the bridge (took it off)
wasn't the saddles (adjusted them everyway)
wasn't the tuners
wasn't the pickguard
wasn't the trussrod..

You get the idea, it took HOURS.. I even took the pickups out.

Last thing I checked?

The strings

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by mr.mow

wasn't the bridge (took it off)

How did you test it with the bridge removed?

[dougjwray]

Here's one no one's mentioned yet:
When I first bought my Stingray 5-string, the shaft of one the tuning machines was rattling; for some reason, it didn't all fit together snugly. (And it wasn't a loose screw.) Some duct tape quickly fixed the problem.

[dogofgod]

Why not go get it professionally set up, especially if you put the whole thing together? Its probably the truss rod or the nut.