Neck shifted with humidity, fret buzz below 12th

People are way too quick to recommend truss rod adjustments here. Unless your neck is warped, your first move to compensate for seasonal shifts should be to adjust your bridge saddles. Adjust the truss rod when you need to support an overall new neck shape, most likely years down the road — that's what they're there for.

 

Do this, step by step:

How do I set up my bass guitar properly?

Don't just adjust the truss-rod will-nilly, learn how to measure the neck-relief.

 

Remember, however, that the values indicated by Fender for relief and action are on the medium to low side. Depending on how you play you may need more than that.

 

Necks change a bit with humidity — it's totally normal, and shouldn't necessarily send you rushing to your truss tools.

You have to keep in mind that a lot of the, "Got a new bass, she plays beautifully after a full setup," stuff is coming from people buying used or vintage instruments, and who often have a predilection for tinkering.

I understand your anxiety, but you went from fret buzz at the octave to, "Does my neck need to be shimmed?" *way* too fast. Don't worry so much, man.

 

No the first thing to adjust when the humidity changes is the relief. The saddles won't have moved but the relief will have. Adjust where the problem is not where it isn't.

 

Same exact thing just happened to my bass. Practically overnight, even. The neck went back to a more neutral position. Unless your neck is bowed backward, if your action was low to begin with like mine and it was all good gravy before the rains hit, a little clockwise turn on the saddles is what you're after.

 

No the first thing to adjust when the humidity changes is the relief. The saddles won't have moved but the relief will have. Adjust where the problem is not where it isn't.

This---------------^^^^^
Water "in" works out to about a 1/3 loosen in SE Michigan on my Jazz necks. My P necks barely change. Water "out" is the reverse, usually late January of mid-February, again on the Jazz necks.

 

Why would a change in humidity change the position of the saddles?
The change causes the neck relief to vary!

Everyone is so fast to go after the truss-rod, because that is exactly how you adjust the neck-relief.

 

Not the saddles - the truss rod. Raising the saddles in this situation is like raising your car's suspension because you have a tire that's going flat.

 

No, it's like letting air out of or putting air into your tires when the weather changes. Do you realign your drive train four times a year?

 

Do you adjust your belt when your shoes are loose?

And for the record, I adjust my truss rod when it needs it. Certainly more than 4 times a year.

 

I adjust my laces when my shoes are loose, not have them resoled. I adjust my belt when I put on or shed a bit of seasonal weight, not have my pants hemmed.

Having shoes resoled and pants taken in or let out definitely have their place, but that's not the *first* thing you do when your clothes stop fitting the way they did a few months ago.

 

Your shoes have become loose. Tighten the laces - that’s what they are for. The neck has reacted to a change in humidity. Adjust the truss rod - that’s what it’s for.

 

This thread is a mirror-image of hundreds of FB "advice" threads I've seen go this way when someone asks about their fret-buzz.
Usually it's loads of people commenting to adjust the truss-rod w/o explaining or even mentioning measuring the neck-relief first.

Sometimes you get those who are adamant that it can be fixed at the saddles & all seem to be relentless about their "advice" being correct.

Geometry must have been skipped by some

 

Well, no offense, but I'll choose to listen to the people I have in real life who have been working with guitars professionally longer than I've been alive, one of whom in particular was the lead touring tech for one band we've probably all heard here in his salad days, all of whom I'm merely repeating.

I'm a performer first and foremost, so I yield to their expertise. And they have cost themselves a lot of my money by telling me why they were not going to do what I'd brought my instruments in for them to do, or telling me why they were going to do something I didn't ask for. When they tell me what truss rods are for, I listen.

 

My man.

 

You either wildly misunderstood, or they did you a huge disservice by giving you incorrect information.
Please stop spreading this misinformation.