Fret buzz after set up

[maibohm]

I hope some one can shed some light on my quandry. We did a complete set up on my bass the other day. While the bass is laying with the neck on our custom neck support. There is no fretbuzz at all. When you turn the bass on it's side in a playing position the A string buzzes real bad. For the life of me I cant figure this one out. The frets have all been properly leveled, the tuners lubed and tightened. The bridge and saddles are tight and keeping the proper radius. Also the truss is fine and neck relief is set correctly. Any Ideas guys?

 

[Low E Louie]

Do you pluck the strings the same way in both positions?
Maybe it is an old string? I don't know if that matters, though.
I set up my basses by myself this week and I noticed similar problems. For now I have just raised the strings pretty high to get rid of the buzz. I will follow this thread with interest.

 

[maibohm]

Well laying flat there is a tad bit of difference in string plucking. But not that much that it should affect it. The strings are all new so we might re level them. This is a list of what we did
Level and dress frets
polished with medium and thin compounds
saddles and nut were inspected for burrs and cleaned
cleaned and lubed all moving part
vacumed all cavitys
Cleaned and conditiond the fret board
Lube/Adjust truss rod
Made sure bridge/saddles radius is the same as the fret board radius
Strobe tune/set intonation(petersen unit)

 

[jeffhigh]

If you have the bass on its back, supported on the neck near the headstock and the body near the bridge end then gravity will tend to bend the neck forwards, increasing neck relief. if it is setup in this position then relief may be non existent in playing position leading to buzzing
jeff

 

[BurningSkies]

If you have the bass on its back, supported on the neck near the headstock and the body near the bridge end then gravity will tend to bend the neck forwards, increasing neck relief. if it is setup in this position then relief may be non existent in playing position leading to buzzing
jeff

+1


You really need to try it out in playing position to know if its set up properly, especially if you had it resting on the neck while you were setting it up.

 

[pkr2]

Where the string buzzes on the neck is probably the most important part of diagnosing your problem. In fact, po0sition of the buzz will generally tell you exactly where the problem lies.

The fact that it doesn't buzz when laying flat idicates that neck droop is ti cause of yourv problem. If you will notice, the strings that are working properly will probably change pitch ever so slightly when you change the bass from a flat position to the normal playing position. The change is ever so slight and will probably only be noticable when checking with your strobe tuner. This indicates that there is really a measurablr change between flat and normal playing position. Gravity is probably the culprit, dictating that a correction in the set-up must be done to compensate.

If all the other strings are normal, simply raising the A string with with the bridge saddle hiegth will probably correct the prob.

Less likely but not unheard of, you may have put on a defective new string.
Your problem usually pops up whe one has adjusted the bass for the absolute lowest possible action.
Gary willis has a website that does a pretty good job of explaining the diagnosis procedure. A quick search will get you to his website.

Good luck and be patient.

Pkr2+

 

[Low E Louie]

The site you mention is linked to in the stickys in this subforum

 

[Hambone]

Where the string buzzes on the neck is probably the most important part of diagnosing your problem. In fact, po0sition of the buzz will generally tell you exactly where the problem lies.

The fact that it doesn't buzz when laying flat idicates that neck droop is ti cause of yourv problem. If you will notice, the strings that are working properly will probably change pitch ever so slightly when you change the bass from a flat position to the normal playing position. The change is ever so slight and will probably only be noticable when checking with your strobe tuner. This indicates that there is really a measurablr change between flat and normal playing position. Gravity is probably the culprit, dictating that a correction in the set-up must be done to compensate.

If all the other strings are normal, simply raising the A string with with the bridge saddle hiegth will probably correct the prob.

Less likely but not unheard of, you may have put on a defective new string.
Your problem usually pops up whe one has adjusted the bass for the absolute lowest possible action.
Gary willis has a website that does a pretty good job of explaining the diagnosis procedure. A quick search will get you to his website.

Good luck and be patient.

Pkr2+

Harold!! Great to have you back man! I've missed you somethin' fierce!

 

[maibohm]

Well the problem has been isolated. The nut slot for the a string need some adjustment. Sould you ever need to build up a nut slot mix baking soda with super glue. Makes a rock hard sandable filler. Thanks for every ones help - Mike

 

[pkr2]

Great, Mailbaum. Glad your prob is solved.

At the risk of using the forum for a chatline, a quick word to hambobe and Josh. Thanks for the welcome home guys. I've had to work my way through some pretty heavy problems but I'm almost back on track now.

My home computer is on the fritz for the moment but hopefully I'll be able to get it corrected soon and will be able to spend some time with you guys. I've truly missed you.

Pkr2

 

[ted13]

Just a note about the defective string theory. the only defective string i have had was a labella supersteps "A" string it had built in distortion. pretty cool.

 

[Nick Bassman]

Holy peanut butter sandwich! What he says!^^^

What he said too, the return of a voice of reason !!