Dead spots on my E string.

[bob204955]

Hi all!
So, recently I pieced together a J-bass with all certified fender parts. It looks and sounds fantastic, but unfortunately the playability could be a little bit better. On the body, I've got all American Fender parts; the Bridge and the Body being most important. On the other end, the Neck and Tuners are not American. The neck is the newer 70's Style Block Inlay Neck available through Fender direct.

Now, I found that this neck is a few millimeters thicker than the American Standard neck, which isn't much of an issue in itself, but I'm not positive that it's not what is creating my issue of dead notes. On the E string, the 4th - 8th frets are dead. I hit the note, it sustains for a very short amount of time, dips down in volume and sometimes comes back up slightly.

This is bugging me to no end, and I would love to find a solution. Any input is appreciated. Thank you in advance, friends!
-Josh

 

[joselorellano]

How much relief you have in that neck?

 

[iiipopes]

Try a new E-string and see if it still happens. If so, the first thing to do is to make sure the neck bolts are secure, the bass has a proper setup, and then tighten the truss rod 1/4 turn to see if that helps.

 

[FunkHead]

+1 to a small adjustment of the Truss. See if that has an affect. Also make sure there are witness points bent in to the string at nut and bridge. Also make sure the String is wound to the bottom of the Post on the machine head.
Please post pictures.

 

[flameworker]

Try a complete setup with feeler blades or business cards.

1st change bad string, maybe its kinked or something then-
Adjust truss so while holding 1st and 22 fret 2 business cards just barely have friction between 7th fret and e string. You need 3 arms. I think its .60 if you use feeler gauges but i cant remember.

2nd
Adjust action at bridge

2nd.5 adjust nut (forgot that)
3rd adjust intonation
4th if it still buzzez use non permanent white board markers, color the frets to find which is sticking.






helpful vid.