Hey all, this one is for any Ibanez BTB owners out there.
I currently play a BTB300fm. it's a 2003, made in korea. 4 string, bolt-on neck. I love this bass, and bought it specifically for down-tuning. Currently, the band I'm playing plays in a dropped B tuning (c# standard with a dropped B). I would much rather just play in B standard and tell my bandmates to get 7-string guitars, but that's neither here no there, so I've had to make adjustments accordingly. My current string gauges are: 0.125, 0.85, 0.65, and 0.45 strung low B, F#, B to high E. I had to file the nut slightly to accommodate the 0.125 and adjust the truss rod to address the tension. The issue now is that i started getting a lot of fret buzz, so i tried to adjust the saddle heights. No dice. A closer inspection revealed that I need to loosen the truss rod just a pinch to provide a little fret relief. This is going to raise the action though, which i don't want.
So my question is: Has anyone had any luck filing down the string saddles so that the strings sit lower? Or possibly digging out the nut a little more? Am I headed in the right direction or am I way off base here? Thanks in advance.
-- Donovan
I currently play a BTB300fm. it's a 2003, made in korea. 4 string, bolt-on neck. I love this bass, and bought it specifically for down-tuning. Currently, the band I'm playing plays in a dropped B tuning (c# standard with a dropped B). I would much rather just play in B standard and tell my bandmates to get 7-string guitars, but that's neither here no there, so I've had to make adjustments accordingly. My current string gauges are: 0.125, 0.85, 0.65, and 0.45 strung low B, F#, B to high E. I had to file the nut slightly to accommodate the 0.125 and adjust the truss rod to address the tension. The issue now is that i started getting a lot of fret buzz, so i tried to adjust the saddle heights. No dice. A closer inspection revealed that I need to loosen the truss rod just a pinch to provide a little fret relief. This is going to raise the action though, which i don't want.
So my question is: Has anyone had any luck filing down the string saddles so that the strings sit lower? Or possibly digging out the nut a little more? Am I headed in the right direction or am I way off base here? Thanks in advance.
-- Donovan
