rattling....?

hibeam · #1 11-09-2002, 09:58 PM

ARG!

I've been playing my new MIA P-bass for 2 days and I've noticed a rattling noise. I eliminated the bridge and tuners as the source of the noise, and it appears to be coming from the neck, possibly the truss rod? Is this a common problem? Is it even possible to have a rattling truss rod?

AH!

Nomadic Herder · #2 11-09-2002, 10:24 PM

Too low of an action, and the strings rattling against the frets? Could also be the force with which you play, if you have any high/uneven frets or the neck is crooked.

If it's on the open A string, there's not much you can do about it. Fenders just do that.

hibeam · #3 11-09-2002, 10:32 PM

yeah, its most notable with the D and G...

not fretbuzz, but there is a bit of that as well (new instrument etc)

Nomadic Herder · #4 11-10-2002, 08:39 AM

I know when I got my P-bass, the nut on the headstock end of the truss rod wasn't put all the way on. It was sort of loose and required fixing. I know you said it's not the bridge but what about the intonation screw springs? If the saddle isn't pressing those, they just hang and rattle.

hibeam · #5 11-10-2002, 09:59 AM

Yeah, on another bass I had those springs rattled and drove me *nuts*. However, this is not that sound. The nut does look a bit curious, but I fail to see how that could rattle at all with the pressure from the strings on it. It looks like I'm going to have to call fender over this.

Gallient Knight · #6 11-10-2002, 04:15 PM

Yeah I'd vote the nut slots are cut wrong.

tufnuts · #7 11-10-2002, 10:13 PM

Restring the bass correctly. The strings may not have been mounted on the posts correctly, not applying enough pressure downwards to properly seat the strings in the nut. The D and G strings actually should be the most stable, with the string tree holding them down. Do you have it strung so that the strings go under the string tree?

And no one on a phone is going to be able to look at your bass to tell you what's wrong. Did you buy it from someplace in town? Then go there. If not, go to a local shop you like/know of. Have a good setup done on it (which should have been done in the first place). And how would you "fix" a trussrod on a fender if the problem is by the nut? Seems to me that's new neck time. It's really not a simple deal to get to it there. Hopefully that's not the prob for ya's.

Sounds to me like you need to bone up on some basics of troubleshooting. How long have you had this bass BTW?

jani_bjorklund · #8 11-13-2002, 04:14 PM

I have seen a couple of basses that had tuning pegs that rattled! Especially fender type tuners rattle very easily . If the pegs are accidentally bumped they bend and become loose and begin to rattle.