sudden buzzing and dead spots

[Haugenbp]

I recently bought a 2004-2005 Mexican Fender P Bass. I took it to a pro and had the neck and saddle adjusted, etc. and it has been playing great. I had it leaning in the corner of the room for a week or two and I just took it out to play it and the G and D strings are buzzing in the open position, and the G string is about completely dead on the 2nd Fret.

Do I need another neck adjustment? Do I need a new nut, will new strings solve this (the ones on there seem quite old)? Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Ric5]

Do you live in an area that is warming up and you are using your heat less. Then the humidity level in your house may be on the increase. Wood expands with humidity. In other words you may have to back off the truss rod slightly. Also new strings usually improve a bass a lot.

 

[testing1two]

Here's a step by step for you:

• Hold down the first fret and the last fret and inspect the area in the middle, somewhere around the 7th-9th fret
• There should be a gap between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. This gap is referred to as "neck relief"
• The amount of neck relief should be fairly small, like the thickness of a heavy guitar pick. If you play really aggressively with your plucking/picking hand you might want a little more, but not much.
• If there is no gap and the string is touching the fret then you need to loosen the truss rod slightly until you introduce the right amount of neck relief

For more detailed setup info read the setup sticky.

 

[Haugenbp]

Thanks, I adjusted the truss rod a little and got some major improvement. It's no longer dead, just a little buzzing, so that was probably it. I need to get a better wrench, the one I have is a jack-knife style and i can barely wedge it in there and move it. Then I should be able to get it how I want.

Thanks guys!