Fret Buzz on a Fretless Bass?

[crentest]

Precisionless®

Close-enough

 

[bbh]

And what does Steve Bailey call it, then?

If I could remember, it would complete the story. I shouldn’t guess cause I really don’t remember but I do remember I wasn’t thrilled with his terminology.
I call it mwah, which I learned from bass player.

 

[Larry Balara]

Not to revive this discussion, but my fretless bass doesn't buzz but rather has some notes the sound fuzzy from the first thru fourth fret lines only on the G and D strings. Does anyone know of a reason for this? I am using Slinky flats on a 4 string. THANKS!!

 

[bbh]

If I could remember, it would complete the story. I shouldn’t guess cause I really don’t remember but I do remember I wasn’t thrilled with his terminology.
I call it mwah, which I learned from bass player.

I still call it mwah also.

 

[honeydorick]

Hi TB'ers.Since we were on Buzz,rattle & Mwah,Im an amature Luthier,I have 2 defretted short scale basses.A Luna acoustic and a Squire Mini P.I use DAdario tape wound strings.My boards are level.nut is good, bridge is good,action is very low like i want it.I have done everything I can do set up wise 50 times at least on both basses.Action or truss rod adjustments make no difference.The higher notes on my d and g strings occsionally tend to sound like a sittar,that long buzzing indian instrument.Is that the Mwah everyone is saying is normal?.If it is I can live with that I can mute it away with foam at the bridge.Bruce J can you please chime in and let me know if the sittar sound is the mwah or do I need to go back to square 1.Other than that I have created exactly what I want sound wise,Maybe this is normal.I just dont know.Thanks

 

[Jeff Scott]

That's not mwah, that's just buzzing from the strings being too close to the 'board (perhaps the neck is too straight, with not enough relief).

 

[Cave Puppy]

Yes - the lined, fretless Ebonol fingerboards on the Squier VM Fretless did that all day long for me. The lines were always prouder than the fingerboards no matter how much I sanded them down, so they were essentially tiny frets. I couldn’t abide and eventually tossed that bass.

 

[imurrx]

Sorry for resurrecting this zombie thread, but I would like to add the following:

Musicnomad 24" bass fret level beam worked worked great on getting rid of the rattle.

I have a Fender Jazz fretless neck that was having issues on the G and a bit on the D string. I had sanded the fretboard with the proper radius block and a cheap 8 inch fret sanding block from the jungle site. It did work somewhat. It fixed the E and A strings. I suspected I had a dip at the 5-7 fret of the G string and a slight hump on the D string at the heel.

I drew lines with a pencil both sides of the string on the fretboard. The I took the 24" leveling board with the 240 grit and then the 400 grit strip that came with it. Using straight lines following pencil marks, the device did sand the board. It was pretty even on the E and A string. The D string string showed more sanding at the heel, and the A string only had pencil marks at the 5-9th fret after all the other pencil marks were gone.

I completed sanding until all pencil marks were gone. Now the bass is spot on. The bloom or mwah just now happens with little effort. I was reluctant for a while to drop $80 on it for a 10 minute job, but it was worth it.