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Options to eliminate pickup induced fret buzz

#64
this issue has been addressed on TB in the past, and the same variation of response always occurs.. a few highly accomplished builders chimed in on some of those threads, also with varying opinions.

this has also been covered on just about every guitar and bass forum on the internet, including most of the pickup manufacturers forums, with the exact same results.

expecting a different result here makes no sense whatsoever.
 
#66
All I'll say is that if they're pulling that hard, you should be able to measure a difference. That, and 4mm is crazy high by my standards.

Semi-relevant experience: I have two basses with Lace Alumitone pickups. Those have some ridiculous magnetic pull. So much so that it will pull the pickups up out of the bass into the strings if they aren't screwed down. Even with that, I have not had any buzzing issues on those two basses. I run my action stupid low. 1.5mm at the 24th fret for the G string, to about 2.0mm for the B
 
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#67
Drop1 said:
Put some nord dual coils in and had to raise my action quite a bit. I've lowered the pickups a lot but it still causes buzz.

Do the dual coils use a really powerful magnet ? Do single coils pull this much?

I can play a touch lighter but really prefer to play with a medium touch so I can go lighter or harder on demand for more dynamics.
There is a sweet I try to stay in for maximum usable range.

Any advice would be well received.
Click to expand...
Not all strings are equally magnetically drawn to the strong pickups. I found this out while experimenting with a 2018 Stingray Special with very powerful neo magnets. For example, the Cobalt flats are extremely attracted. Nylon tapewounds are hardly attracted at all. String with a high degree of chromium are not that strongly magnetically attracted. I would up with LaBella flats which are not magnetically drawn very much and I happen to like anyway.

And no, you are not crazy. Even advice from the Ernie Ball company points out that the strong neo pickups should be further from the strings than conventional pickups due to the magnetic attraction.
 
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#69
Drop1 said:
If you read through, lowering the pickups drastically does reduce it. Anything within 1/4"


Lowing the pickups absoluty reduces it. But we are talking 1/2" from fretted at the 24th fret. This is far from ideal for tone.
I find it frustratingly hilarious that you guys dont think I can hear the difference between fret buzz on the fret directly under the note I'm playing and a random noise on the bass. I am not exaggerating in any way when I say every single note buzzes like the crappy basses at guiter center that have never seen a setup. It's so bad it actually kills the notes off. Lowering the pickups makes the sustain normal but the buzz creeps in about mid note. Not even on the attack. Removing the pickups removes the buzzing. This stuff ain't rocket science. I build homes for a living. Setting up a bass is a joke. Beyond fret leveling I find it odd that people pay for action setups.
I believe more than anything this thread is falling into the typical, prominently Male, forum black hole where everyone directly treats your join date as a measure of your intelligence. I'm not new to forums, or bass for that matter. I dont get offended easily but for so many to tell me what is happening isn't possible when it's happening right in front of my face is something else.
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Did you try the nickel strings?
 
#70
thewildest said:
I would (just to prove this) play notes so the string vibrates along the side of the bass, and not perpendicularly. That way the strings will vibrate freely “up and down” instead of “back and forward” from the bass, thus hitting the frets.
Click to expand...

I’m curious. Can strings actually be made to vibrate in just a single XY plane of motion? As in up and down or back and forth? I always thought the oscillation settled into a circular pattern of motion around the axis of the string after the initial attack.

Any physics majors or mechanical engineering folks care to chime in?
 
#71
mojomike001 said:
Not all strings are equally magnetically drawn to the strong pickups. I found this out while experimenting with a 2018 Stingray Special with very powerful neo magnets. For example, the Cobalt flats are extremely attracted. Nylon tapewounds are hardly attracted at all. String with a high degree of chromium are not that strongly magnetically attracted. I would up with LaBella flats which are not magnetically drawn very much and I happen to like anyway.

And no, you are not crazy. Even advice from the Ernie Ball company points out that the strong neo pickups should be further from the strings than conventional pickups due to the magnetic attraction.
Click to expand...
It has been suggested many times already to try different strings. Nickel for one. That would at least diagnose the problem further.
The question is; will Op be happy with the tone of nickels?
Even higher tension Stainless strings would help but that may create another problem.
 
#74
40Hz said:
I’m curious. Can strings actually be made to vibrate in just a single XY plane of motion? As in up and down or back and forth? I always thought the oscillation settled into a circular pattern of motion around the axis of the string after the initial attack.

Any physics majors or mechanical engineering folks care to chime in?
Click to expand...
Just Guessing
(Disclaimer)
Not a physics major but would guess you are describing a string in a harmonic state .
If not ? Does anyone know what a string does in a harmonic state
Kinda of, and somewhat unrelated video but intresting

 
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#75
mdogs said:
I can't believe some of the experts who have responded here haven't called you on this, but what you are calling relief is not relief. It may be string height, but I am not going to say for sure because that would mean assuming you know how to measure that. "Guitar setups are a joke," why, because you build houses? That is really hilarious! Let me know when your tape measure can measure in thousandth of an inch...lets face it, you barely need any increment less than one inch.

Please, please post a video, the shaming will be epic.
Click to expand...
I love people talking to me like I'm stupid. Relief is bow in the neck. I addressed this already as well as saddle height.
 
#80
  1. Ok, so we’ve eastablished that we’re dealing with Nordstrand dual coils, which have alnico magnets,so we can stop mentioning neo magnets.
  2. We have not established if they are alnico iii alnico V
  3. We do not know if the manufacturer was contacted. (The best option)
  4. From what we have been told by the op, the assumptions we can draw are, A) weaker pickups are needed or B) different strings (may) help.
  5. Assuming the sound is acceptable to the op, lowering the pickups excessively solves his problem.
  6. The op works In construction.
  7. What else am I missing and where do we go from here?
 
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