Open string buzz...

[crocau]

I have raised my bridge for slapping (with adjusters) to have a good string height with my Eurosonics. But doing this I now have an open string buzz, especially on the D string. The buzz is there whenever my slap his a little horizontal. When the movement of the string is perpendicular I have no problem with this.

I am wondering if this is a nut problem or so other. Your ideas would be appreciated (and forget about refering me to Rockabillybass).

Thanks.

[Paul Warburton]

If you can get a regular size business card to pass under the string right under the nut, chances are you have a high spot on your fingerboard. You can check this with a metal straight edge. The straight edge will rock back and forth at the offending hump.
It's smart to have your Luthier dress your FB. This can be tricky!!

[anonymous0726]

You may have raised the bridge unevenly so that path of the D string is closer to the fingerboard because the alignment of the curve of the fingerboard and the bridge are out of whack.

[Jeff Bollbach]

Both Ray and Paul could be right, however I believe the answer lies in your clues of raising the strings and firing direction. Its been commonly noticed that many players will fire the top 3 strings parallel to the board and then "drop off the edge of the earth" at the e. This fires the string in an upward motion and causes it to spike down into the board no matter the camber to the board. If I dress a board perfectly I can pluck that e so hard that it smacks the a silly and it doesn't hit the board. But the second I pizz downward I can easily coax the buzz. I know that you are not complaining about your e but the same holds true for the other strings. With lower action the player will find it hard to get enuf purchase to pizz the string downward enough to get a buzz, but raise the action and you have basically the same scenario as with the e. The only answer may be to watch the direction of your firing the string.

Actually, after posting this quickly and thenrereading the original post I seem to have missed the word "slap". My comments may or may not apply as I am certainly no expert on this technique. We may need to get Nnick in on this one as he is a slapping expert[on the bass]. BTW look out for the new Nick Lloyd website-any day now.

[crocau]

Thanks for the replies. After lowering the action and changing the strings to spiros, the open string buzzes are still there. I'll see my luthier on this matter.