Low B string trouble

[rjr225]

In Nov.08, i purchased a Washburn force 5 bass.The B string is somewhat wobbly compared to the others but it's an overall nice instrument for the money.Lately,i've been noticing( what i can only describe as )an audible vibration or fluttering of the B string.This is Not FRET BUZZ.Plenty of space between the board and strings.It's pretty annoying and i know it shouldn't be there.Washburn is clueless. I've never heard or experienced this w/ any of my many other basses.Worst of all is that it gets amplified thru my system.Is there a bridge adjustment,nut altering or some other remedy?Will going to a heavey guage string help w/ the wobble ( tension) of the string?Please , any help would be appreciated.
email me at [email protected] if possible. thanxz

 

[The modifier]

Im thinking its your bridge saddle.

 

[Beej]

Taper wound B string?

 

[pilotjones]

Check how the string goes over the B saddle.

Two of the possibilities:
1-if the string is at too sharp an angle and is rather inflexile, then the string can be arcing upwards from the back, and just barely missing the front edge where it is supposed to be making contact. Possible remedy: press down on the string to pre-shape it to the saddle.
2-if the saddle is way back in the slot for intonation, you might have silk windin on the back end of the saddle, again shifting the witness point around as well as making for poor contact. Remedy: try razoring off the silk.

 

[pilotjones]

Just to be clear: it sounds bad both on the open string and when fretted, correct?

 

[WRXbase]

Prolly several things going on. The woods that Washburn uses for their necks are softer than they should be and if my guess is right, your bass is a 34" scale. I have yet to be pleased by a 34" scale bass strung with a low B. Not enough tension.

The neck is also prolly thin, right?

 

[Fudgester]

I had the same thing recently on my 5-string and eventually found out that the nut had become unglued. But its that or the bridge I reacon.

 

[pilotjones]

How did this turn out? I just did some work on something similar. The B was dead, fretted or open string. The witness on the saddle was wrong (cheap bass, and the saddles were not made to accommodate a thick B string), so I modified the groove. It looks glaring in the bad cellphone pic:

But the string hides it, otherwise I would have touchup repainted the cheap zinc saddle.

That returned a fair amount of sustain. Some work on the tuner helped also.

[edit] the saddle modification is not nearly as bad as it looks there!

 

[Greenman]

Would a tapered string help in this situation?

 

[pilotjones]

If the problem is a too-narrow saddle groove like this, I imagine it would. This fixes it for all strings, though.

 

[DerHoggz]

Could be that the string is loose in the nut

 

[dnarock]

gadge up in string 125 to 130/135

 

[pilotjones]

Could be that the string is loose in the nut

Yes, but only if the problem was with open string only and not when fretted. We'll never know since the original poster seems to be long gone and never replied.

 

[JasonLamb]

Intonate your string at the fifth or seventh fret instead of the 12th...this can happen with tapered strings. I am working on fixing a similar situation, and have experienced this before with taperwound strings.

 

[rjr225]

Sorry, been away for awhile, just catching up now.The vibration in my Washburn B string WAS caused by the string not being properly in the groove.All i did was push down hard on the string right at the groove. Also went to .130 guage string. Much better tension but may go to .135 next for even more tension. Thanks for all your help!