So a guy I know asked me to look at his Jazz bass because he liked the setup I have on mine, but his is acting really wonky. There seems to be too much relief in the neck (strings are bordering uncomfortable to play because they're too high off the fretboard) and the truss rod is tightened all the way. Aside from that, any notes fretted above the 5-6 fret are buzzing badly. Any higher and the strings bottom out and the string just buzzes against the fretboard at the highest fret. Is this neck in need of a setup or is it a bad neck? I've always done my own setups and I've dealt with some minor string buzz, but this is way worse. The saddles are cranked up pretty high and it's still bottoming out the fretted strings and the open strings are WAY to high. I'd like to get this bass setup and back to him if the neck isn't bad. This is just really frustrating. I can't seem to make any kind of progress. Thanks for your help and suggestions.
If I loosen the truss rod, the open strings are even higher. That's what's tripping me up. The open strings are way too high as it is, but even with them high like that, the fretted strings are buzzing. It's like there's two different problems at once: way high open stings and way low fretted action.
Are the nut slots wide enough for the strings that are on the bass? Is it much harder than normal to fret the strings on the first fret?
First of all, lets get a point of measure. Put a capo on the first fret, and hold the E string down on the 20th fret. At the 8th fret you should have enough relief to fit a business card between the string and fret. I have a strong feeling that the string is going to be resting on the fret and you will need to add some relief into the neck. The truss rod is only there to adjust neck relief, the bridge is where you adjust action.