What can cause string buzz other than frets?

phishaholik · #1 08-29-2007, 08:44 AM

My friend has EBMM that buzzes up and down the E string if you play it with anything but a light touch. It's not a nice grindy buzz, but a stop the string from vibrating buzz. He had the frets professionally leveled and it didn't help at all. I checked the fretjob and the guy did a fantastic job. The relief in the neck is correct and the action is set pretty high, but the E string buzzes to the point where it is unplayable for me. I don't really know what to do about it. I've set up dozens of basses, but I can't figure out what it could be. Any advice?

Mike

Fuzzbass · #2 08-29-2007, 08:51 AM

Maybe the nut slot for the E string is cut too low?

69nites · #3 08-29-2007, 08:56 AM

then fretted notes wouldn't be effected

you need to acoustically listen for the source of the buzz.

touching things will help locate it as well. if you touch it and it stops buzzing you've found the source.

could be bridge/saddle.

202dy · #4 08-29-2007, 09:07 AM

Buzzes are sometimes caused when the saddle is not the saddles are not parallel to the bridge plate/top of the guitar.

nastyn8c · #5 08-29-2007, 09:15 AM

My guess would be the E string saddle. Follow the advice above and try touching it while playing the E string.

phishaholik · #6 08-29-2007, 09:57 AM

Thanks for the responses everyone. I should have been clearer in my original post. The buzzing is fret buzz, but it's not caused by low or bad frets. The fretjob is great. The relief in the neck is correct and the action is high and every note from G# and up has nasty buzz. Not a little bit of grind, but nasty, loud buzzing.

Mike

202dy · #7 08-29-2007, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phishaholik

Thanks for the responses everyone. I should have been clearer in my original post. The buzzing is fret buzz, but it's not caused by low or bad frets. The fretjob is great. The relief in the neck is correct and the action is high and every note from G# and up has nasty buzz. Not a little bit of grind, but nasty, loud buzzing.

Mike

If this is true, and the fretwork is impeccable, then the problem lies in the setup. If the setup is spot on, the problem lies in the frets.

stedtale · #8 08-29-2007, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 202dy

If this is true, and the fretwork is impeccable, then the problem lies in the setup. If the setup is spot on, the problem lies in the frets.

Indeed.

http://garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassmanual/relief.html

mjolnir · #9 08-29-2007, 01:58 PM

Hmmmmm...

I've had something EXACTLY like this happen to me once before... All the strings were working great except for the low B, which would buzz horrendously no matter which fret I was fretting. I even went to the high 24 and it didn't let up, which is odd because I could swear the buzz was coming from near the headstock...

I went and talked to a cello player friend of mine about it, and he said that sometimes a few of the cellists would encounter a string that was actually unraveling from the inside which would cause the same effect I was describing to him.

Is it a load of crap? I don't know, I just ditched the string and put a new one on. But it's a theory, at least...

202dy · #10 08-29-2007, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phishaholik

Thanks for the responses everyone. I should have been clearer in my original post. The buzzing is fret buzz, but it's not caused by low or bad frets. The fretjob is great. The relief in the neck is correct and the action is high and every note from G# and up has nasty buzz. Not a little bit of grind, but nasty, loud buzzing.

Mike

If this is true, and the fretwork is impeccable, then the problem lies in the setup. If the setup is spot on, the problem lies in the frets.

MakiSupaStar · #11 08-29-2007, 02:37 PM

Trussrod. Check it out.

phishaholik · #12 08-29-2007, 03:17 PM

Hi everyone,

I've already loosened the trussrod and it hasn't really helped. I've done lots of setups before, so that's why this is such a difficult question. I haven't put a straightedge on the frets, but sighting down the neck they look perfect. Better than 95% of the basses I've owned. The weird thing is, it did it before the fretwork and with different strings. I'm wondering if maybe the neck pocket or the flat of the neck was cut wrong or off a little bit. As far as I know, the frets are dressed in relation to each other and the neck, not in relation to the body. I'm going to throw another E string on there and see what happens. I had a bad E string on a Sadowsky once that drove me nuts. I brought it all the way to Brooklyn to find out it was a bad string.

Mike

202dy · #13 08-29-2007, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phishaholik

Hi everyone,

I've already loosened the trussrod and it hasn't really helped. I've done lots of setups before, so that's why this is such a difficult question. I haven't put a straightedge on the frets, but sighting down the neck they look perfect. Better than 95% of the basses I've owned. The weird thing is, it did it before the fretwork and with different strings. I'm wondering if maybe the neck pocket or the flat of the neck was cut wrong or off a little bit. As far as I know, the frets are dressed in relation to each other and the neck, not in relation to the body. I'm going to throw another E string on there and see what happens. I had a bad E string on a Sadowsky once that drove me nuts. I brought it all the way to Brooklyn to find out it was a bad string.

Mike

A false string is always a possibility.

Regarding frets and eyesight: Fretwork is a game of thousandths. Unless one has the ability to see a difference of half a thou on a curved surface, using eyesight to find high spots is useless. On several occasions precision straight edges have been known to fail to indicate a high spot. Then it's time for drastic measures.