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G&L Club Part 7

#7,181
And yes, that bass in that vid has a lot of string grind. More than I'd like. Some guys have made a living off that though. (Geddy, Chris Squire)
I have a Trib L2K and I can induce some of that but I have to try hard. Really hard. And mine doesn't even have the original neck on it. I put a Trib SB-2 neck on it. I like the narrower nut.
 
#7,182
I'm no pro, but I've bought and sold a dozen basses over the past few years, and do my own setups through changing New England seasons. I'm not picky about my action, but I've been able to make all of them play without fret buzz: Squier, Sire, Hohner, Dean, Warwick, G&L's both USA and tribby--acoustic and electric, rosewood and maple fingerboards, brand new frets and frets most would consider past their useful life. I shoot for 0.020" relief and 0.125" string height over the last fret.

Now, three or four times I've brought a bass to my luthier (very reputable) for fret work or something more invasive, and he'll do a setup for me. His setups are SUPER precise. So precise that the basses play absolutely perfectly when I pick them up, and buzz like a mother@#$%er on every fret the next day. That's because his shop is super dry, so back home the neck absorbs moisture, expands, and increases the tension in the truss rod just enough to completely flatten the neck.

I think your best bet is to get yourself a capo, feeler gauge, and truss rod tool and watch a couple tutorials on setting neck relief. You're talking a $30 / 30-minute investment. Otherwise I'm sure many people would gladly buy your brand-new bass at a steep discount and do it themselves.

I'm sorry but I can't humor your notion that a bass with a truss rod and saddle-height adjustment could be designed for fret buzz--that's just silly.
 
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#7,185
dave64o said:
Nice!

I've never heard an MAS cabinet but I have this feeling that your M.R.o.D. would make my jaw drop, and I think I have a pretty amazing M.R.o.D. myself (Genzler Magellan 350 and Barefaced One10).
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Yeah the clarity, extension and impact of these new 8" based mas cabs are incredible...ive covered a pretty loud bar pumping just over 500 watts in to this little guy with no audible sounds of any stress ..these designs (non-reflex) literally get better and more dynamic the more you push them (until bust of course), you don't get that typical sound compression that comes on as you get loud...gamechanging I believe....really having fun with it
 
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#7,187
FWIW - I recently had a G&L come back to me because the guy was making exactly the same complaint, fret buzz no matter what he did. Of course, he loved the bass right up until he changed the strings for the first time. When it came back, I confirmed that he was correct - the action was a mile high, and every string buzzed like crazy. I took a chance and changed the strings myself, and the problem went away. So I concluded one of two things happened - he either got his hands on a bad set of strings, or he left a ton of twist in the strings as he tuned them up to pitch.

What I've learned (having recently restrung 2 G&L's in the past couple weeks) is that the Saddle Lock bridge is really good at grabbing the balls at the end of a string. If the bridge keeps the ball from spinning freely while you still have a lot of slack in the string, the string is going to end up very twisted by the time you get it up to tension. I find it helpful to push the ball out the back end of the bridge as I wind the string up to tension. Wind a little bit, push the ball out the back of the bridge. Repeat. Once it's to the point where I can't push the ball out, then I just take it up to proper tension. Each time I push the ball out the back of the bridge, it literally spins as the twist undoes itself.

So that would be my advice to you. Loosen the E string enough that you can push the ball back out of the bridge. Watch to see if it spins, I expect it will. Once you've let the twist out, tune it back up and see if your buzz situation has improved. There's a pretty good chance it will.

Good luck!
 
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#7,188
Lowendtech said:
It's a new Bass, no?
If there is indeed something wrong with it why not contact the dealer? Or G&L customer service? Seems like you've tried a bunch of things but not the correct thing.

Is this buzzing with the bass plugged in or just acoustically unplugged?
You said you've been "banging around on it".
Have you considered your technique?
That may seem like an odd question but this reminds me of the gent who bought himself a new Dingwall Combustion and just couldn't get along with it after playing P basses for years. He had major issues with not being able to set it up for the way "he" played.
He eventually gave up and sold it even though there was nothing wrong with it as a Bass.
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I mean it buzzes so badly no matter how you play it. You saw in that vid I posted that the guy is plucking so lightly, and its still buzzing. I like to PLAY a bass, not treat it like its going to snap in half. If a particular bass cant handle some strong fingers, its not the bass for me. I dont think I play as hard as someone like Geddy Lee who absolutely murders the strings so hard, but I do play a bit harder than the guy in that vid I posted. But it doesnt really matter. You can see he is playing so lightly and its still buzzing like crazy. Every vid of the L2000 I find on YT sounds just like that.
 
#7,189
Lowendtech said:
And yes, that bass in that vid has a lot of string grind. More than I'd like. Some guys have made a living off that though. (Geddy, Chris Squire)
I have a Trib L2K and I can induce some of that but I have to try hard. Really hard. And mine doesn't even have the original neck on it. I put a Trib SB-2 neck on it. I like the narrower nut.
Click to expand...

Mine sounds even worse than that because I dont baby the strings. Many basses can really handle an aggressive player well. A couple are Ibanez's and Warwick's. Those basses seem like no matter how they are set up, you can seriously nail on them, and no buzz, ever. Ive owned 3 Ibanez's and 1 Warwick. No buzz on any of them. The warwick I didnt really like because the neck was so damn thick but the bass was a trooper no matter how you play. The L2000 is super comfortable but sounds like a turd compared to them because of all this buzz.

I have a strong feeling this is going to be hard for me to sell at almost any price. Im going to have to tell the buyer there is fret buzz all over the thing and I know they are going to run in the other direction. Its very possible I may have basically just flushed $2000 down the toilet if I cant sell it. The thing with these basses though is where was I going to try one out? Its not like any guitar centers sell these, so I took a chance and ordered it. Even if I can get half of what I paid for it I would be happy enough with that. Better than nothing.
 
#7,190
CygnusZero said:
Mine sounds even worse than that because I dont baby the strings. Many basses can really handle an aggressive player well. A couple are Ibanez's and Warwick's. Those basses seem like no matter how they are set up, you can seriously nail on them, and no buzz, ever. Ive owned 3 Ibanez's and 1 Warwick. No buzz on any of them. The warwick I didnt really like because the neck was so damn thick but the bass was a trooper no matter how you play. The L2000 is super comfortable but sounds like a turd compared to them because of all this buzz.

I have a strong feeling this is going to be hard for me to sell at almost any price. Im going to have to tell the buyer there is fret buzz all over the thing and I know they are going to run in the other direction. Its very possible I may have basically just flushed $2000 down the toilet if I cant sell it. The thing with these basses though is where was I going to try one out? Its not like any guitar centers sell these, so I took a chance and ordered it. Even if I can get half of what I paid for it I would be happy enough with that. Better than nothing.
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I get that you're disappointed and frustrated right now, and you have every right to be. I still can't get past the thought that this is either a setup issue, a technique issue, or likely a combination of both. Not trying to be critical of your technique, but rather to say that the bass is not necessarily set up to work with your technique. While I haven't had any experience with Warwicks, I have had a few Ibanezes and, like any other bass, can get them to buzz if I go too low or too hard or too flat on the neck, or I can set them up to play cleanly. I'm sorry that you're not finding the right balance with the L2000, but I can't imagine that a PLEK'd bass wouldn't be able to be set up without buzz unless the neck had some sort of warp or defect, which would end up being a warranty issue.
 
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#7,196
CygnusZero said:
Mine sounds even worse than that because I dont baby the strings. Many basses can really handle an aggressive player well. A couple are Ibanez's and Warwick's. Those basses seem like no matter how they are set up, you can seriously nail on them, and no buzz, ever. Ive owned 3 Ibanez's and 1 Warwick. No buzz on any of them. The warwick I didnt really like because the neck was so damn thick but the bass was a trooper no matter how you play. The L2000 is super comfortable but sounds like a turd compared to them because of all this buzz.

I have a strong feeling this is going to be hard for me to sell at almost any price. Im going to have to tell the buyer there is fret buzz all over the thing and I know they are going to run in the other direction. Its very possible I may have basically just flushed $2000 down the toilet if I cant sell it. The thing with these basses though is where was I going to try one out? Its not like any guitar centers sell these, so I took a chance and ordered it. Even if I can get half of what I paid for it I would be happy enough with that. Better than nothing.
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This is just ridiculous.

G&L basses are premium quality instruments especially as compared to an Ibanez. What you have is a need for a good setup.When you stated two guys told you these are not well designed is the tell here, this is poppycock.

Its not really that big a deal. I can tell by the way you talk you don't know how to perform a setup. Bass necks move around with change in temperature and humidity and this is just a fact of life. Whether its a $12,000 dollar bass or a $400 dollar bass, if its wood it will move. Generally with most basses that have gotten a little out of spec (moved), a few little minor tweaks will fix it right up. I'm not disputing the bass is buzzing, to the contrary I'm saying it needs a setup.
 
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#7,197
audreycashin said:
@CygnusZero try Greg's @RocketMusic advice first, makes a lot of sense.
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Hell, just use your hands to fret the E-string behind the first fret and on the bridge side of the last fret. At the midpoint between your hands (around the 8th fret or so) you should see a gap of about the thickness of a postcard (half a millimeter) between the string and the frets.

If not, take an eight of a turn out of the truss rod and measure it again tomorrow.

If you don't have a truss rod tool and don't care to acquire one, I'm afraid your only recourse is a Wishbass.
 
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#7,199
bonin in the boneyard said:
Hell, just use your hands to fret the E-string behind the first fret and on the bridge side of the last fret. At the midpoint between your hands (around the 8th fret or so) you should see a gap of about the thickness of a postcard (half a millimeter) between the string and the frets.
If not, take an eight of a turn out of the truss rod and measure it again tomorrow.
If you don't have a truss rod tool and don't care to acquire one, I'm afraid your only recourse is a Wishbass.
Click to expand...
Unless the mwah is a problem too... I would recommend a fretless (*)...
(*) no fret no buzz.
Or this:
64764353.jpg
 
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