BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
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Dingwall Owners Club
- Thread starter FroggyOne2
- Start date
What strings are on there now?
From the picture, the pickups look kind of high on the bass side. They should be 3/32 below the g string, fretted up high, and about twice that on the bass side, adjusted to your attack. Sheldon suggests using something with a vu meter to adjust the pickups for even sound across the strings. I use an old tape deck.
How much relief at the 12th Fret?
I’d probably break out a new pack of strings and start fresh with Sheldon’s YouTube video series on set up. Excellent source!
My last guess would be the nut is cut too low, but I’ve never had any issue with a Dingwall nut, even doing the strange stuff I do with strings.
Hopefully things will settle in. Could be just the climate change from being relocated.
From the picture, the pickups look kind of high on the bass side. They should be 3/32 below the g string, fretted up high, and about twice that on the bass side, adjusted to your attack. Sheldon suggests using something with a vu meter to adjust the pickups for even sound across the strings. I use an old tape deck.
How much relief at the 12th Fret?
I’d probably break out a new pack of strings and start fresh with Sheldon’s YouTube video series on set up. Excellent source!
My last guess would be the nut is cut too low, but I’ve never had any issue with a Dingwall nut, even doing the strange stuff I do with strings.
Hopefully things will settle in. Could be just the climate change from being relocated.
I wonder if there’s a chance the nut has been modded to accommodate larger strings in the past or perhaps you have a fret further up the neck that’s peeling out a bit? Can happen over time and usually a real easy fix.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Really? The strings are jacked and you have buzzing from first position all the way up to the 23rd fret? I’ve never seen anything like that. Is the neck twisted or something odd?
agree with checking pickup height which could cause mechanical buzzing.
I’d start with removing the old strings, then check the neck joint to make sure that it’s installed properly and firmly. I’d probably take the neck off and reinstall it myself to make sure. It’s correct and the geometry is right.
Then I’d go with a new set of Dingwall strings. Then I’d dial in more relief than spec or generally necessary to start, then tighten that out once you have the saddles and height sorted. From there I’d work on the action... see if resetting the neck and new strings change things. I don’t think it’s a nut issue.
agree with checking pickup height which could cause mechanical buzzing.
I’d start with removing the old strings, then check the neck joint to make sure that it’s installed properly and firmly. I’d probably take the neck off and reinstall it myself to make sure. It’s correct and the geometry is right.
Then I’d go with a new set of Dingwall strings. Then I’d dial in more relief than spec or generally necessary to start, then tighten that out once you have the saddles and height sorted. From there I’d work on the action... see if resetting the neck and new strings change things. I don’t think it’s a nut issue.
your pick ups do look pretty high up in the second photo. Perhaps dropping them down a 1/4” and once you get your action back down coming back up as needed. I usually try to have an 1/8” of gap between the string and the pick up when pressing down at the 24th fret
Plucking, Picking?
unplugged, plugged in?
I set up all my basses for no buzz with a VERY light pluck, and can dial in some grind noise by plucking harder.
Good Luck, and Nice AB.
Have you viewed Sheldon's setup videos? They're excellent.
Well, it's a bit odd I have to say. I do know how to do a setup (I've never filed a nut, but know how to do everything else). The bass came with two new sets of Dingwall string and the strings that were on there were dead, so that's the first thing I did. I will note that the bass had crazy fret buzz even with the old strings.
It is odd. Usually when there is fret buzz all up and down the neck, that means the neck is fairly straight and the action needs to be raised a bit. The B has a little buzz but it's definitely tolerable No buzz at all on the G (anywhere on the neck). The E, A and D however, are buzzing like crazy. More so on frets 1-12, but definitely still noticeable on the higher frets. It's occurring when I play finger style or pick. As you can see in the pics, the action is pretty high at the moment. I did notice when the bass arrived that the action was set on an angle (highest on the B and working its way down). While I've adjusted the action since then, it still is basically like that. Not sure if that's the issue. I'm going to go through all of the Dingwall setup videos (already looked at the truss rod video earlier today and used that as a guide for making sure the truss rod was dialed in).
I'll check the pickup height. It definitely it fret buzz though, not clanking against the pickups.
Thanks!
Yes, that's correct. Buzzing in all situations (little buzz on B, heavy on E, A and D, none on the G). Truss rod is dialed in to a business card width at the 7th fret (with capos on the 1st and 17th fret) as described and recommended by Sheldon in his video. Well, he used a .38mm pic as a gauge), but I've been using a business card for years and it's the same thickness.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Weird to me that it’s happening all over the neck. Have you straightedged the frets to see if something is high?
I measured my Super P the other day for a discussion on action and this is what I’m getting without any buzz:
“Using a set of feeler gauges on my Super P the B-string height at the 12th is 1.21mm, without any buzzing. If I cared more I'd lower it even further for y'all to see how far down I can go, but that's fine for me.
My relief is set to .15mm with no buzzing low-to-mid neck”
I measured my Super P the other day for a discussion on action and this is what I’m getting without any buzz:
“Using a set of feeler gauges on my Super P the B-string height at the 12th is 1.21mm, without any buzzing. If I cared more I'd lower it even further for y'all to see how far down I can go, but that's fine for me.
My relief is set to .15mm with no buzzing low-to-mid neck”
I dunno - I think getting a Dingwall was one of the best decisions I made for my bass playing. Now buying a second, and a third, and...
Sorry if this was mentioned earlier:
Have you reached out to the seller yet, If nothing else just to inquire about how the bass was previously set-up and if anything was changed recently/for shipping?
I would take it to a trusted luthier, he'll tell you if something is wrong so that you can complain to the seller, and just set it up if not.
Excuse my English, but with "lower" frets, you mean after the 12th fret or before the 7th?
If it's after the 12th fret, you may have added too much unneeded bow in your neck, and lowered the saddle height way too much as well, hence the buzz after the 12th frets and the high action
If it's before the 7th, you have have a backbowed neck, and too high saddles. But since you state that you can fit a credit card, for me, that is a highly bowed neck.
You only need about 0,010" of curvature in the neck, if you like low action, maybe 0,020" if you play with a pick. You can buy a cheap feeler gauge at the nearest car store to measure that precisely
Anyway, this sounds a bit weird, mine has zero buzz (unless attacked, which I like, or played with a pick, which I don't), extremely low action, maybe your frets already need levelling?
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Good call. Also I wonder if the bass took a hit in shipping and the neck isn't quite where it should be. Still would be easy enough to take the strings off, unbolt the neck check those threaded inserts, make sure the neck is correctly aligned and well seated against the neck rout in the body and re-assemble.
I don't have any feeler gauges here. I generally do my setups by eye and ear (though I do use a capo and business card to set the neck relief).
I let the bass sit overnight and this morning the fret buzz was gone. However, the action was really high, so I tried lowering it some and now I'm getting buzzing on the following frets by string (action is still what I would consider very high, still playable, but barely):
B - 3rd, 6th through 24 frets
E - buzzing on 3rd through 21st frets
A - buzzing on 3rd through 21st frets
D - buzzing on 2nd through 21st frets
G - buzzing on 10th through 17th frets
Not sure what the problem is. I've reached out to the seller. It's a guitar store, not a private seller.
Thanks for all of the suggestions.
I'm not saying this because I don't believe you, I'm just super curious as I've never seen this -- can you post a short video of it perhaps?
I’ve seen on the rare occasion someone add a shim in the neck pocket when it wasn’t need. This person was a tech too... scary. None of my basses fortunately visited this tech.
Perhaps look to that joint for oddities?
bottom line with a flat neck on a dingwall you should be able to get nice low action.
again, I have seen on a dingwall a fret start to work it’s way out. If you have a fret creeping out up toward the 24th it could affect everything lower
THAT's a lot of buzz
I usually let the bass acclimate inside the package for few hours or a day before unpacking, to avoid any thermal/humudity shock, it's mainly for the finish but could affect the neck as well. It's hard to do, but a good way to respect it.
Can you check your frets with a ruler? You may have some high/ or worn out frets here and there.
Also check for a possible twist in the neck (which I doubt you have because it's a 5 piece quartersawn neck - very solid), check if you have the same neck curvature below the B and below the G.
Generally, if you have less curvature below the B and more curvature below the G, it's not a very good sign, unless it's really minimal and probably fixable by Plek (0,15mm difference max)
