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Technical question. Experts, Please help. This is VERY weird.

T

Tigerclaw_x

Apr 25, 2016
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#1
I have a great sounding Aria IGB 65.
It has one WEIRD problem. When you adjust Truss Rod, only TOP of the neck gets affected, like first 5 frets only. It has buzz midneck. Doesn't seem to have any warp. When I try to adjust the truss rod and reduce the relief, it only adjusted on the top of the neck and doesn't do anything for the buzz. Any ideas? Replace Trussrod? Should I replace entire neck?
 
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#2
How are you measuring your neck relief?

Buzz in the middle usually indicates a backbow. You'll need to tighten loosen* the truss rod. Aria recommends loosening the strings before making truss rod adjustments. So loosen strings, adjust truss rod, retune to pitch while holding your bass and then check the relief.

If you're still getting buzz with the relief properly set, your action is set too low. You can either raise the string height or you can try shimming the neck if you want to keep the action low.

*(With thx to @Turnaround for spotting that error I always keep making. For some stupid reason I always say it bass-ackwards…)
 
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#3
With feeler gauge. at 7th fret with strings depressed at 1st and 18th fret. I can get the buzz away on G and D strings. With having 1/10 of inch (2.5mm) relief on both of those strings. But I can't get rid of buzz on A and E string.
 
#5
Tigerclaw_x said:
With feeler gauge. at 7th fret with strings depressed at 1st and 18th fret. I can get the buzz away on G and D strings. With having 1/10 of inch (2.5mm) relief on both of those strings. But I can't get rid of buzz on A and E string.
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Try a bit more relief, like .015", but I suspect that the saddles are to low on the E and A strings, or that you have some uneven frets.
 
#8
Turnaround said:
Yes I noted that this isn't the first time you reversed it. Are you by any chance cixelsyd?
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No. But I was born left-handed and happily left that way until I started grammar school where the nuns who taught the school reprogrammed me to become a righty.

I've been told it causes problems for people they do that to. Nothing near as bad as dyslexia. I have no trouble writing correctly or reading, or any of those things. The motor skills are all fine even though I'll sometimes switch over to being a lefty for some manual things if I'm not paying attention. The minute I notice however, I have to go back to using my right hand. Both my grandparents and a great grandfather on my mother's side were ambidextrous and could do all the ambi tricks like write equally well with either hand. Odd my mom ended up a righty.

So no…not dyslexic. But directional concepts of "left" and "right" as words don't have the same immediate physical resonance for me that they have with most people. I actually have to think about it.

I don't know what that has to do with always getting the truss rod adjustment direction wrong if I'm not careful when verbalizing. When I'm doing it I always get it right. But I often suspect, on some level, they're related.
 
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#9
Don't truss rods always only affect the first part of the neck? It sounds like you need to adjust it til there's somewhere in the neighborhood of .010-.020" relief, then adjust the buzz out with the saddle height adjustment. Don't go twisting around on truss rods, though, if you don't know what you're doing. You can screw stuff up more easily than you probably think.
 
#10
40Hz said:
No. But I was born left-handed and happily left that way until I started grammar school where the nuns who taught the school reprogrammed me to become a righty.

I've been told it causes problems for people they do that to. Nothing near as bad as dyslexia. I have no trouble writing correctly or reading, or any of those things. The motor skills are all fine even though I'll sometimes switch over to being a lefty for some manual things if I'm not paying attention. The minute I notice however, I have to go back to using my right hand. Both my grandparents and a great grandfather on my mother's side were ambidextrous and could do all the ambi tricks like write equally well with either hand. Odd my mom ended up a righty.

So no…not dyslexic. But directional concepts of "left" and "right" as wirds don't have the same immediate physical resonance for me that they have with most people. I actually have to think about it.

I don't know what that has to do with always getting the truss rod adjustment direction wrong if I'm not careful when verbalizing. When I'm doing it I always get it right. But I often suspect, on some level, they're related.
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My brother was born left-handed. Teachers insisted that he use his right, and consequently he became skilled at using either hand for most everything. However, I think he is crazy - maybe it's related.
 
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#12
Thegrandwazoo said:
A tenth of an inch is a pretty ridiculously high amount of relief. Also, did this thing at one point play well with no issues? If not, it could very easily need a fret level/dress before any amount of adjustment could help you.
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I misread it earlier and you are right. 1/10th" is way too much. It would be best to get the relief to 10-15 thou, then set the saddle height and see how it plays. All other advice is pointless until the relief is corrected.
 
#13
Turnaround said:
My brother was born left-handed. Teachers insisted that he use his right, and consequently he became skilled at using either hand for most everything. However, I think he is crazy - maybe it's related.
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Likely.

We're actually aliens. Flying saucer variety. But we intend you of Earth no harm...We merely seek tablet computers for our young. ;)

ufo-flying-saucer-animated-gif-image-9.gif
 
#15
Turnaround said:
My brother was born left-handed. Teachers insisted that he use his right, and consequently he became skilled at using either hand for most everything. However, I think he is crazy - maybe it's related.
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When I first got a computer with a mouse at work, there was a big printer on the right so I put the mouse on the left and I figured, hey, I don't know how to run it anyway, so what difference does it make if I use my left hand? And besides as a drummer it would be MOST cool to develop ambidexterity. And so I did. And it DID make me so much better on drums able to start patterns with either hand, play open or closed (but not left footed kick, however). But Dig and I swear it's true. I'm convinced that forcing the other side of your brain into action really seems to change your thinking somehow. I can't explain exactly what it does but I'm SURE it does something!
 
#16
Tigerclaw_x said:
I have a great sounding Aria IGB 65.
It has one WEIRD problem. When you adjust Truss Rod, only TOP of the neck gets affected, like first 5 frets only. It has buzz midneck. Doesn't seem to have any warp. When I try to adjust the truss rod and reduce the relief, it only adjusted on the top of the neck and doesn't do anything for the buzz. Any ideas? Replace Trussrod? Should I replace entire neck?
Click to expand...
unfortunately i've seen this a lot on '80s japanese and '90s korean guitars, a thing where there's significant upbow on the first few frets and tightening the rod doesn't fix it, you just start to get backbow in the middle of the neck along with the upcurve near the nut.
a major project of pulling the frets, planing the wood straight and refretting is probably the only way to fix it. (good luck getting any kind of replacement neck, nothing's gonna fit.)
 
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#17
I had a Fender MIJ Jazz Bass neck that did the same thing the OP is talking about. It was the wood rather than the truss rod. When you turned the truss rod nut, it only affect the very top of the neck (near the head stock). There's no fix for that. Luckily, that was a fretless neck, and I just had it leveled. Never had to turn the truss rod, but then again, I only had it for 3 years before it was stolen. :-/
 

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