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Need help understanding those buzzes

J

ji-lhu

May 29, 2018
11
2
#1
Hello,

I need help on a bass....

At 15th and 17th frets I have big buzzes.
On strings A and G the 17th and 18th frets produce the same notes.

I have put 2 videos to show this : [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Video 1 : it focuses on A string, showing that weird same notes on 2 different frets

Video 2 has been made after loosening the trussroad + raising B/E/A strings as a test.

Loosening trussroad and increasing string height has increased the action a lot on 7th fret, but nothing happy happened in the area of 15th to 18th frets.

Any input ????

Thanks a lot in advance
 
#2
Sounds like you have some high frets. Probably the 18th. You might be able to improvise a fret rocker with a credit card. If it had a good, straight edge and spans 3 frets it will work. Try spanning the 17th 18th and 19th. If it rocks the 18th is high. If not, keep going 3 frets at a time until it does. The middle one is the high one.
 
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#3
Hey Matt, thanks a lot for your answer !

I tried that and yes, here are all places where the card rocks :

C 17 20
G 15 17 18 20
D 13 18 20
A 13 15 18 20
E 13 18 20
B 13 16 18 20

I didn t check before the 12th and after the 20th fret.
On all the places listed above, the tilts are, let's say small, but much more noticeable where I have the big issues I mentionned, on fret 18....
 
#5
It is possible that some frets aren't seated properly. If that's the case, you could take rubber hammer (or ordinary hammer and put peace of rubber under it) and carefully knock that frets down. Check with rocker all the time.
 
#6
It is possible to reseat frets with a hammer the caveat there is that if it popped up once… keeping it permanently seated may involve some CA glue. At worst, if tapping the fret back in fixes things temporarily then it starts again you’ll know you need to glue it.
 
#8
RattleSnack said:
It is possible that some frets aren't seated properly. If that's the case, you could take rubber hammer (or ordinary hammer and put peace of rubber under it) and carefully knock that frets down. Check with rocker all the time.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your advice, i ll try tomorrow !!!
Though I don't seem to see any fret popping out .... They seem well sitted in the neck....
 
#12
Hello,

I have just got the bass back from a luthier, it's been long ....
He worked on the frets (a lot) and set up.
Now, no buzzes, but, the bass now have a high action compared to what i'm used to.
At least it's playable....
Thanks again for your inputs !
 
#13
For random guys from the street, the guitar tech set the action as per "common spec". Basically, it is 2.4mm on E and progressively get lower to 2mm on G. This is at the 12th fret from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string... Visually, from the wood to the string, it is about 4mm.... But that is what you need if you want to pluck the strings without some authority and not get fret-buzz especially on whole notes +. If you play just 8th and/or playing light, you probably can get away with lowering that down to 1.75mm on E going down 1.5mm on G. If you have an action ruler and the alen key to adjust saddles, you can lower to the point you are comfortable with buzz wise. If you do not screw around with other adjustments, this will be safe to experiment with as you can always raise the saddles back where they are now.
 
#14
Funny Situation,I have been playing the fretless 40 years,just recently I purchased a Gibson fretted bass
it is american version of the hofner it is so bloody noisy at the lower frets from 1 to 8 I do not if because
of diversity of the fretless/fretted..?
 
#15
Andrew Zindilis said:
Funny Situation,I have been playing the fretless 40 years,just recently I purchased a Gibson fretted bass
it is american version of the hofner it is so bloody noisy at the lower frets from 1 to 8 I do not if because
of diversity of the fretless/fretted..?
Click to expand...
If by "noisy" you mean fret buzz, you need a little more relief in the neck. Loosen the truss rod a bit.
 
#16
kgbeast said:
For random guys from the street, the guitar tech set the action as per "common spec". Basically, it is 2.4mm on E and progressively get lower to 2mm on G. This is at the 12th fret from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string... Visually, from the wood to the string, it is about 4mm.... But that is what you need if you want to pluck the strings without some authority and not get fret-buzz especially on whole notes +. If you play just 8th and/or playing light, you probably can get away with lowering that down to 1.75mm on E going down 1.5mm on G. If you have an action ruler and the alen key to adjust saddles, you can lower to the point you are comfortable with buzz wise. If you do not screw around with other adjustments, this will be safe to experiment with as you can always raise the saddles back where they are now.
Click to expand...

From string to FRET : on B string - 4.5mm // on C string - 3.5mm....
That s the measurement I just made, bass coming back from luthier.

Thanks to your message, i checked the measurements.
I didn t do it earlier cause the bass came back from the luthier, yet I could feel strain in fingers and favored practicing on another bass.
So I checked the neck, and it was heavily loosened, more than 2 mm between fret and string when the string is pulled down on first and last frets.
I 'll see what it does when the wood gets "in place" in a couple of hours...
 
Last edited:

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