Unwanted fret/string noise

joechummer · #1 02-15-2009, 06:55 PM

I've had my bass for about 2 months, and I've recently noticed that I get a lot of noise and other weirdness when I play, and all of my attempts to quiet things down haven't seemed to work very well.

Rattle when unfretting -- I tried lowering the action on my strings a few days ago, and I got some insufferable rattle on my E string, so I put it back to where it was before (as best I can tell, anyway). Ever since then, however, I've noticed that on my A and D strings, I get a really loud rattle when I let up on my finger after playing a fretted note, but not while the note is actually sounding. And this only seems to occur mostly between the 7-10th frets. I tried raising the saddle on these strings, but that did not seem to help very much. This whole occurrence baffles me, as after playing guitar for about 12 years, the only fret rattle I've ever gotten is from the first three frets on E strings when the action is set way too low.

E-string fret noise -- I also get a loud metallic clink sound whenever I fret my E string. It doesn't rattle, but fretting noise I get is a lot louder than any of the other strings. This is much more noticeable if I am practicing without my amp turned on. There is some minor fret noise on the other strings, but with the E string, if I'm not playing through my amp, the clink of actually pushing the string down on the fingerboard right behind the fret is almost louder than the actual tone that plucking the string makes.

Harmonic noises on "muted" strings? -- When I play, I get a lot of high-pitched harmonic sounds from strings that I've either let up on (in order to fret another note) or on strings that I thought I had muted using spare fingers from either hand. This is mostly noticeable when playing through headphones, but I can still tell when I'm playing directly through my amp. I saw in a bass video that the ring and pinkie fingers of the right hand are mostly used to mute unwanted strings, but for some reason I'm still getting harmonic-like tones from strings I'm pretty sure I haven't actively plucked. I'm not sure that I'm muting my strings right, but this begs the question as to what is the right way. Muting unwanted strings on a guitar seems much easier to me.

Amp pops -- Every once in a while, I get a small crackle or pop in my amp speaker. Not sure what might be causing this. Could it happen by accidentally touching the pickup, or something else entirely? The cord and the amp are only 2 months old, so I don't think that's the case. A few times I noticed that I was digging my E string so hard that the string actually hit the pickup and was magnetized to the coil for a split second, which caused a really loud pop, but I have since lowered the pickup a bit so this doesn't happen anymore.

Not sure if this makes much difference or not, but I'm playing a P-Bass with flatwounds (the fret noise was worse with the stock round wounds that came on it).

Any ideas, thoughts, or techniques would be helpful.

Thanks!

lazytech · #2 02-17-2009, 09:49 AM

Id like to tlearn more about the ratttling while unfretting as I have a rig that does this too

mambo4 · #3 02-17-2009, 02:14 PM

eliminate setup issues first, then if the noises persist, look at your technique.

Don't be too concerned with noises that aren't getting amplified, your playing will always be unrealistically different unamped.

Installing flatwounds (higher tension) may have added to neck bowing, requiring some truss rod adjustment. the fact that the rattleing occurs on the middle frets 7-12 seems to indicate that's wassup. Take your bass in for a pro setup if you can, or search TB for DIY setup info if you absolutely can't afford it.

joechummer · #4 02-17-2009, 07:09 PM

Didn't know that flatwounds needed higher tension that roundwounds. I got my bass in early December, and I think I added roundwounds after less than a month.

What kind of price should I expect for a pro set up?

I tend to be more of a DIY-er, since I like to learn the WHY instead of just the HOW, but I don't know if my ear is trained well enough to know about perfect intonation and such required for setting up a guitar or bass. For example, I've had a Les Paul for over 10 years, and I've always been too afraid to ever mess with the bridge pieces or the individual pole heights on the pickups.

I'm not too terribly worried about unamplified fret noise, but the muted-string harmonics and other string-ringing I get is hard to tell if it's actually amplified or if I can only hear it through headphones.

Arpeggiator · #5 02-17-2009, 07:19 PM

hmm muted harmonics? that might just your technique, if i am thinking right that just sounds like your not pressing down hard enough and you may be pressing directly on to the fretwire. get you finger just behind the fret an press down moderetly, get a setup (or set it yourself) and find a level of action you like first however.

joechummer · #6 02-17-2009, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arpeggiator

hmm muted harmonics? that might just your technique, if i am thinking right that just sounds like your not pressing down hard enough and you may be pressing directly on to the fretwire. get you finger just behind the fret an press down moderetly, get a setup (or set it yourself) and find a level of action you like first however.

By muted harmonics I'm referring to harmonic-like pitches that come from strings that I have muted with other fingers of my left hand (i.e. I unfret a string with a finger but still keep the finger on the string to mute it and yet I still get a noise from that string while playing other strings. It doesn't make a true harmonic, like when you tap/release and pluck at the same time, but it's certainly higher pitched than if the note was actually fretted. It's similar to the effect you get on a guitar if you strum a chord while palm-muting the strings with your left hand.

I've been a guitarist for over a decade, so I'm familiar with good fretting technique, which carried over to when I started picking up the bass. On a bass the only problem I have with fretting is making my pinkie do some of those 1st-fret-index-finger-to-4th-fret-pinkie stretches, since my hand isn't quite that big.

Hope this makes sense.

ceedj · #7 02-19-2009, 02:29 AM

Muted harmonics: I just did a little testing, and I get it too if I unfret too fast. I think (THINK) this will get better over time for you. What appears to have happened for me is that I learned to not quite let my finger come off the fret as much. I've also learned to use my right hand fingers to stop the note from ringing out. Funny, I just noticed this too; I doubt I would've bothered to look for it had I not seen this topic.

Say for instance, I'm doing on the E string, 5th to 3rd four times (8th notes) and stopping. If I don't mute the last note with my right hand - usually with the next finger I would pick with - it does indeed ring out. So I've unconsciously managed to stop this from happening by muting the strings with my right hand too.

I'm probably explaining this horribly. but it's just something I developed over time and lots of playing.

joechummer · #8 02-19-2009, 06:23 PM

After a few days of experimentation, I've found that I really only noticed the muted harmonics when I'm either playing through headphones and/or I have the trebles and/or mids on my amp kicked up over a certain point (What can I say? I'm a huge Geddy fan, and he loves those punchy mids).

When I play through my amp without headphones, I don't hear the ringing nearly as much; it's . Oddly enough, the sound I get from the amp itself is a LOT different than what I get via headphones. I've got a good tone without headphones, but with headphones my tone sounds processed, like it's got some kind of chorus or flanged/phased edge to it, and certain half-steps are hard to distinguish from each other (i.e. an F and F# on the E string sound almost identical).

bassalo · #9 02-20-2009, 06:31 AM

Good to hear you seem to have it figured out. However, I think this tutorial on proper string muting is well worth a look. It covers muting on both plucking and fretting hands.

http://playbassnow.com/speed-techniq...ng-techniques/

joechummer · #10 02-22-2009, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassalo

Good to hear you seem to have it figured out. However, I think this tutorial on proper string muting is well worth a look. It covers muting on both plucking and fretting hands.

http://playbassnow.com/speed-techniq...ng-techniques/

During the first bit, for a split-second after his middle finger mutes the string, you can hear a high pitched, metallic whine/echo right after as the string deadens. It doesn't last for very long, but it's still there. This is what I've been trying to get rid of.

I had been trying to mute either by using my right hand OR my left hand. I didn't realize I needed to use BOTH hands at the same time to "choke the harmonic," as this guy says.

This was very helpful.