Help needed badly.

[Bushhog]

well id say thats the most likely culprit. youd need to level+crown to fix that properly, but you might be able to get away with intonating that string slightly sharp as a bandaid solution

I believe a level and crown is my only solution at this point..

 

[Bushhog]

This sounds like a bad string, as was mentioned before.

If your set came with a bad string, the string got replaced, and is also bad, there might be something causing that.
That something might be on the bass guitar or it might be user error.

I would inspect everything that touches the D string, and look at the old string for potential damage. I see in the background of the headstock pic that some silk has accumulated at the string tree - is the string okay in that area? Are there sharp edges at the string tree?
Is the nut alright?

As I said, check everything that has direct contact with the string.

That's the replacement string for the previous one. The silk has bunched up a little at the tree but I didn't see any damage to the string itself.

 

[Bushhog]

String Seating and Witness Points — Haze Guitars

There's another link in there about "Solving Intonation Problems."

I'll check it out, thank you.

 

[Bushhog]

I have no certainty around this, but in that 3rd shot I could convince myself that the D string is being pulled out of alignment by the pickup being too close to it. The D appears to me to be angling down toward the body going away from the bridge in a way that the others are not.

I'll try adjusting the pickup height under the D string. If that's the problem wouldn't every note on the D sound be out as well?

 

[Bushhog]

What is the bass? What brand, model, and how old is it? Is this a new bass for you, and if not, have you had any problems with it before?

Fender American Standard Precision 2013.

 

[Fondsdale]

Can you take pictures of the frets? If they are only "slightly flat", that's probably unlikely to be the issue (90% of used basses have fret wear and intonate fine).

What happens if you intonate to the 3rd and 15th frets and ignore the open and 12th?

 

[DrBnz]

It's a 2013 Fender American Standard Precision. I'll check the eyelet on the D and see what I can. The rest of the strings have no issues. It's just the

It looks as if all the intonation screws on that bridge are different lengths. If so, it looks like somebody had it apart and got them all mixed up. The E belongs in the G position and the other 3 all need to shift over one spot. But note the D is the only one thats at the end of the screws travel length. I'd fix that (at the very least) just to eliminate all oddities associated with the D string.

And I still don't like the ball end not looking like the other 3. I'd look up inside there and see if there might be some old string silk or something blocking the way. Again..... it's an oddity of the "D" string in question so I'd eliminate it..... I mean since the string will be off to fix the bridge anyways, ya may as well check it out.

 

[Bushhog]

Can you take pictures of the frets? If they are only "slightly flat", that's probably unlikely to be the issue (90% of used basses have fret wear and intonate fine).

What happens if you intonate to the 3rd and 15th frets and ignore the open and 12th?

I'll give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Bushhog]

It looks as if all the intonation screws on that bridge are different lengths. If so, it looks like somebody had it apart and got them all mixed up. The E belongs in the G position and the other 3 all need to shift over one spot. But note the D is the only one thats at the end of the screws travel length. I'd fix that (at the very least) just to eliminate all oddities associated with the D string.

And I still don't like the ball end not looking like the other 3. I'd look up inside there and see if there might be some old string silk or something blocking the way. Again..... it's an oddity of the "D" string in question so I'd eliminate it..... I mean since the string will be off to fix the bridge anyways, ya may as well check it out.

The screws are all the same length. I adjusted the ball on the D to match the same angle as the other three strings. Adjusted the pickup height under the D and nothing has changed.

 

[Bushhog]

@ Fondsdale
I tried tuning the 3rd and 15th and the problem still remains. I'll post pictures of the frets tomorrow. I can definitely see flat spots under the D from the 3rd to the 9th fret. Other than that the frets looks fine under the other three strings. I believe a level and crown is in order.

 

[Gopherbassist]

 

[Chop11777]

Tried an old string and I'm having the same problem. Is there a possibility that this bass doesn't like this brand of flatwounds (LaBella 760FL)?

Funny you are having this problem on your D string
I just put on a set of labella 760fl's
Same exact problem
D string will not intonate properly however I am buzzing all over the fret board as well
I contacted labella they are sending a replacement d string
It's a dud