Will nut slot depth affect anything besides open string response? Once you press down on a fretted note, nut slots are out of the equation.
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The frets don't buzz when I press really hard. That's all I know here haha
. Did you see the pics I posted? I think I did an okay job showing what's happening.
Point taken. But I'm still stuck on OPs insistence that the buzz goes away if he frets "really hard" -- I'm not really sure exactly what that means. But you might well be right that what he needs is a shim in the neck pocket.
Pressing down hard does add more string tension which might be just enough to reduce string vibration magnitude to avoid the buzz. It will also make the pitch go up giving you a sharp note.
I did: That's why I said I thought the problem might be that your nut slots were too deep (see my post #37). But @skycruiser makes a good point and he might be right that the problem is that what you need is a neck-pocket shim. The previous owner might have maxed out the string heights at the bridge, so a shim is needed to change the angle of the neck relative to the bridge.
What about just adjusting the bridge saddles? Someone suggested that to me and that seems to make sense as the action is uncomfortably high on higher frets but it's nice and low on the lower frets. And some new strings too probably?
I think the previous owner already adjusted the bridge saddles to raise the strings as far as possible to compensate for whatever the underlying problem is. If you adjust the saddles to lower the strings the buzz will get worse; if you raise them even further the bass will be unplayable beyond the first few frets. If I'm right, you need to replace the nut; if @skycruiser is right, you need to shim the neck.
Should I just take it to the local tech? A setup fee isn't all that bad considering I like the bass a lot and I got it for free. Although, wouldn't lowering the bridge make the strings closer to the fretboard, thus eliminating my need to "fret hard" to eliminate the fret buzz?
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Yep that's why I keep posting asking more questions and posting more photos. And that's why I mentioned twice before that this doesn't happen on my other playable basses. But by all means, please continue to troll my thread.
Nobody is trolling your thread.
When you start a thread with incomplete information, you will get a variety of suggestions that may or may not be relevant to your situation. Also, not everybody reads all replies before adding theirs. You have the option of simply not responding to irrelevant suggestions rather than getting disrespectful with the users who made them.
By all means, take the bass to a local tech. Clearly people here don't have answers you like. Or, as been suggested to me, learn to do your own setups. As long as you don't have a catastrophe with the truss rod, you can learn a lot. There are resources on this site and elsewhere to help you get started if that's the route you choose to take.
I've listened to everyone here except the people telling me it's "my technique," but here we are again with yet ANOTHER disappointing experience with moderators on these forums. Why would I ever donate to this site?
FYI, for the TalkBass community, this isn't the first time I've been trolled or harassed by blastoff99. What's the deal here?
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