Problems w/ MIA Fender J

[IsThisIt]

I just took my bass in to a top notch guitar shop and had it set up properly. It played beautifully for like, a week, then I noticed that the A string rattles when played open. I've noticed that if I place the SLIGHTEST amount of pressure on the A-string just to the left of the Nut this completely eliminates the problem.

I've also noticed that past the 10th fret, the D-string buzzes way too much. It's extremely noticeable even when not plugged in. I should mention that the techs at the guitar shop told me my pickups were over magnetized, so they de-mag'd them, if this is in any way related.

Does anyone know what the problem is here? It's really obnoxious

[60bass]

Originally Posted by IsThisIt

I just took my bass in to a top notch guitar shop and had it set up properly. It played beautifully for like, a week, then I noticed that the A string rattles when played open. I've noticed that if I place the SLIGHTEST amount of pressure on the A-string just to the left of the Nut this completely eliminates the problem.

My guess would be slightly oversized nut slot on the A or possibly nut loose. Make sure that the string is wound tightly on the post from the bottom up. You want the string to angle down coming out of the nut slot. Take a match from a book of matches and peel the cardboard apart and put a small piece around the string in the slot, if the rattle stops, you found the problem. I've seen strings rattle from side to side movement in the slot as well as up and down movement.

I've also noticed that past the 10th fret, the D-string buzzes way too much. It's extremely noticeable even when not plugged in.

Do the notes fret out, or are they there but just buzzy? My guess would be that a level and crown is needed. Normally a setup doesn't include fret work, just dialing everything in and getting it playing decently. Might be a couple of slightly high frets up there. You said it played great for a week, maybe the neck relief slipped a little. Wood is wood and can move a bit after being adjusted. The shop should gurantee their work, take it back and have them check it. Can you hear the buzzing through the amp? If not, I'd forget about it. One of my basses buzzes unplugged but through the amp it's fine.

I should mention that the techs at the guitar shop told me my pickups were over magnetized, so they de-mag'd them, if this is in any way related.

Been playin over 35 years and never heard of that one. I do know that if the PU is too close to the string, the magnet pull can sometimes kill your tone. I've heard of re-magnetized to try and revamp an older weak PU but not the other way around. That's not to say the shop is trying to pull one off on you, I've just never heard of it.

Does anyone know what the problem is here? It's really obnoxious

I hear you. I'd really take it back to shop and show them your issues. They should make it right. If for any reason you don't trust them, get another shop to check it out. Just walk in there cold at the other shop and see what they say. I wouldn't tell them I took to the other shop, I'd just play dumb and see what they said. If they say the bass needs anything fixed that was done by the first shop, take it back and make the first shop correct it.

As far as the "top notch" reference you mentioned, I once had a P that I had a level and crown and a brass nut installed at what was considered the best shop in my town. The bass was unplayable when I got it back. I talked to the owner and he admitted that one of his newer employee's did the work and that he (the owner) should have checked my bass before it went out. The shop owner himself corrected all the issues and he tossed in two sets of strings for free. The bass played like butter when I got it back. That was 25 years ago and the bass still plays like butter. Maybe you got the "new" guy like I did at the shop.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Keep Low

[walterw]

Originally Posted by IsThisIt

...I noticed that the A string rattles when played open. I've noticed that if I place the SLIGHTEST amount of pressure on the A-string just to the left of the Nut this completely eliminates the problem.

i'll bet you a quarter the A string doesn't have enough wraps on the tuner post, and so is not at a steep enough angle over the nut. this is a common issue with fender bass headstocks.

Originally Posted by IsThisIt

I've also noticed that past the 10th fret, the D-string buzzes way too much. It's extremely noticeable even when not plugged in.

you should take it back to them. a good tech can tweak that to go away in like 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by IsThisIt

I should mention that the techs at the guitar shop told me my pickups were over magnetized, so they de-mag'd them, if this is in any way related.

Originally Posted by 60bass

Been playin over 35 years and never heard of that one.

me neither; that's completely bizarre.

[kyral210]

I should mention that the techs at the guitar shop told me my pickups were over magnetized, so they de-mag'd them

I think they are either BSing you to make more money, or are completely incompetent. Either way never go back to them. I am a qualified design engineer, and I will get anything that the manufacturer of MIA Fender Pickups (Fender?) will have a machine that magnetises to a set level, and that would only be changed if you were magnetising different forms of pickups, say vintage then P-bass.

This means it is highly unlikely the pickups magnetism would vary from bass to bass (all one kind of bass), as the MIA quality control is pretty good, and I cant see them making such a mistake.

Basically, they have screwed your pickups!

[JLS]

" the techs at the guitar shop told me my pickups were over magnetized, so they de-mag'd them, if this is in any way related. "

They did WHAT?!?!?!

They owe you a set of replacement pickups, on principle. This is BS beyond all belief. Utterly, completely unacceptable.

[lethargytartare]

I'd be curious to know what they would do to even try to demagnetize pickups...

But in any event, you could easily compare the bass to another to see if they've changed at all -- and if so, you can try railing at the shop, but odds are good they'll say you misunderstood them, and nobody did anything to the pickups...and you'll be stuck anyway. But it's unlikely you have anything to worry about there...

[DavC]

can you unwind the string and then rewind it ..??

is one of the set screws on the bridge loose .. they can rattle .?

can you raise the other string just a tiny bit to stop the buzz ..

i also have played since the mid 70's ...

believe me , i've done 90% of all my bass/guitar work myself for a couple decades now ...

unless it's over my head ... or can't justify buying Special tools ..! it does get kinda scary when your current bass is a more botique model ... been there ...

DC

[walterw]

Originally Posted by lethargytartare

I'd be curious to know what they would do to even try to demagnetize pickups...

it would be easy, just slide one of those massively strong neo-d magnets from stew-mac over it, that would kill the pickup's magnets in no time. the bigger question is why would anyone do that?

unless they were trying to "correct" for the fact that straight jazz pickups under radiused strings means the E and G strings are closer to the pickup and thus too loud? if so, it would have been a lot less risky to just push the outer magnets down a little, since american standard pickups are surrounded by a plastic bobbin and thus wouldn't damage the coil wire. i do this all the time and it's an easy improvement in string balance.

[lethargytartare]

Well, I'll be! Not only are you right, but apparently it's not all that unusual for some folks. I found many threads of guys doing this to "take the edge off" their pickups (Gibsons were what I found most often). So in the case of the OP, it could be that this shop has a tech who has a "every Fender Jazz has over-magnetized pups" attitude and it's his pet tweak...but the good news there, too, is that it sounds equally easy to re-gauss a pickup -- that is, to reverse what was done in this manner...assuming they didn't go hogwild on the pups, I guess...

to the OP: maybe you could lay down the law with them and say that that change was a mod that you did not request or approve, and in the future they should check with you before they make any changes that are more mod-like than setup-related.

Originally Posted by walterw

it would be easy, just slide one of those massively strong neo-d magnets from stew-mac over it, that would kill the pickup's magnets in no time. the bigger question is why would anyone do that?

[60bass]

Wondering if the OP has bothered to check in? Like to know how he made out.