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Today's setup didn't go as planned...

G

GizmoTheOne

Jun 20, 2009
163
3
Quebec, Canada
#1
It's been a long time since I last came here... Still feels great though.

Preparing my bass for the recording I have to make soon was supposed to be pretty easy. Just routinely change the strings, clean up a little, check neck, action, tuning, intonation, tuning again. As I've done countless times before. I even set out to slightly adjust the bridge pickup height which seemed to produce sliightly higher output for the smaller strings. So I started all this at 4 PM.

Now it's 3:30 AM and my bass is all messed up. And I have no idea why.

She buzzes like hell. All over the neck. No action change will do. No truss rod adjustment will do. She never buzzed before and now I can't make her stop.

Anyone ever experienced this? I'll go see a tech but I was wondering if any of you had similar issues at some point and if so, what happened next.

She is a 2004 Warwick Streamer Stage I, which has never ever had any issues and has always been a charm to set up.

Only things I changed this time : new set of strings (same strings, same gauge) + tried to lower the action a blip...
 
#2
When this happens, I try to go back to 'factory settings'.

In your case, I don't think Warwick has published a setup guide, but Fender and others have. Invalid Link Removed

Start from the start. Tune up > Truss road/neck relief > action > pickups > intonation. Be methodical.

Funny story: this exact same thing happened to me. I set my bass up with a new set of strings and it wouldn't stop buzzing. Tried re-doing everything... except for tuning the bass back up as I proceeded through the setup. New strings have a fair bit of stretch in them, and will keep going out unless you give them a good hard press down at the witness points, followed by a big old tug upwards at the 12th fret, and then repeat until they seem to stay in tune. And even a half-step down across all your strings can make them buzz, depending on how you like your string height.
 
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#3
GizmoTheOne said:
Only things I changed this time : new set of strings (same strings, same gauge) + tried to lower the action a blip...
Click to expand...

Well, I would suspect a botched or incomplete string install and/or the action modification. Exactly what did you do to lower the action?

FWIW, the Warwick specs are not all that special and pretty much smack of what would be standard for any bass.

Riis
 
#4
Even when I stretch my new strings after install, it still takes time for everything to settle in when I change strings. I usually just change strings, stretch them as much as I dare, then let the bass sit for a few hours before I check any adjustment. Same after making any adjustments, let if sit for a bit and recheck it. I usually find at least one thing has slipped/settled after I do my initial adjustment.

Also, depending on how much you play, your strings will continue to stretch for a while no matter how much you do them to start with so don't be surprised if you have to go back and make minor tweaks after playing for a while on new strings.
 
#5
Thanks for the advice.

I've been setting up my basses for 6 years now and even though sometimes things are a little shaky after the setup, never quite as much as this. It really feels like something has gone terribly wrong. I'll play with it a little more and see how it goes.
 
#8
Hey, if you tried doing a set-up and you're still not happy with it, try this method. I use this on on very hard-to-set-up basses.

To begin this set-up, lower all bridge saddles and loosen the truss rod to give it some relief, about a credit cards depth.

Part A:
1. Place a capo at the 12th fret
2. Raise the saddle for each string just until the fret buzz subsides (or disappears) from the 12th thru the 20th fret.
From here on, there should very little, if any, fret buzz from the 12th to the 20th fret when playing. The bridge saddles have a greater influence on the actions and fret buzz from the 12th to the 20th.
But we're not done, let us focus on the 1st thru the 12th frets.

Part B:
3. Remove the capo and loosen up all the strings.
4. tighten your trussrod (righty tighty motion looking down the neck from the headstock) only a half turn. That is one motion from the 'G' string to the 'E' string (or 'B' on 5 stringers).
5. re-tune the bass to pitch.
6. If there is no fret buzz from the 1st thru the 10th fret, repeat Part B starting with step 3 until you get the slightest bet of buzz then go to step 7.

7. Loosen the trussrod just a quarter turn, that is a motion from the 'E' string to the 'D' string.
8. Repeat step 7 until the buzz is gone. A slight buzzing is no big deal to me IMO.

I have used this method for my Ibanez SR300, Fender Jazz and Squier Affinity Jazz and got very low actions with very little, to none, fret buzz. It breaks up the set-up process by half the time and eliminates the back-n-forth from the truss rod and the bridge adjustments. Tell us if it worked.
 
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#9
Thanks to you guys for your input. Thanks also for the alternative method, I'll try it someday.

After writing the OP, I loosened the rod by a little more than 1/4 turn, then straightened it 1/8 turn after 20 hours. It still buzzed, but a little less. I brought the action back to where it was at the beginning and left it for another 20 hours. I then had only to tighten it another 1/8 turn to get rid of the buzz. Weird.

I think I got a little carried away because I never had any problems with that bass in 5 years.

And at the end of it all, the setup hasn't changed at all so I still dont know what caused that horrible buzz...
 
#11
I ran into a new buzz last night while setting up a fender. I managed to get one screw higher than the other on the saddles, and the tension between the sadles and the square edges of the saddle held up the saddle and the loose screw gave an awful buzz. I evened up the two screws and no buzz. I am not familiar with the warwick bridges to know if it is possible to get this buzz on that bridge.
 
#12
GizmoTheOne said:
It's been a long time since I last came here... Still feels great though.

Preparing my bass for the recording I have to make soon was supposed to be pretty easy. Just routinely change the strings, clean up a little, check neck, action, tuning, intonation, tuning again. As I've done countless times before. I even set out to slightly adjust the bridge pickup height which seemed to produce sliightly higher output for the smaller strings. So I started all this at 4 PM.

Now it's 3:30 AM and my bass is all messed up. And I have no idea why.

She buzzes like hell. All over the neck. No action change will do. No truss rod adjustment will do. She never buzzed before and now I can't make her stop.

Anyone ever experienced this? I'll go see a tech but I was wondering if any of you had similar issues at some point and if so, what happened next.

She is a 2004 Warwick Streamer Stage I, which has never ever had any issues and has always been a charm to set up.

Only things I changed this time : new set of strings (same strings, same gauge) + tried to lower the action a blip...
Click to expand...

This is another good reason for having more than one bass.
 
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#14
A neck doesn't always behave like a perfect spring. Unlike a spring in a scale, which always returns
to the same position with the same force applied, a neck has components which can bind or have
friction which affects movement.

The neck relaxed and the truss rod tension took over when the strings were removed. When the string
tension was reapplied, the neck may not have returned to it's orignal position (relief). The readjustment
of the truss rod (loosening it) probably let the string tension overcome the friction and return the neck
it's original position after retightening the truss rod.

-
 
Last edited:
#15
A question for the OP: Are you actually measuring every part of your setup? I don't mean eyeballing it. I mean measuring with a feeler gauge for the relief and a ruler for the action? And have you consulted the manufacturer's specs?

A good practice when you are doing setups is to measure everything. Eyeballing and twisting things might work for minor adjustments on a bass that is already close to a good setup. But it is a bad habit to get into. It leads to misdiagnosed problems that compound over time. For example the bass may seem to be playing fine at the moment, but in reality relief is too little and the action is set too high to compensate.

Then as soon as the weather changes, you're going to notice your action is higher. If you measured, you might find that the relief is in spec and conclude that you need to lower your saddles. If you don't measure, you'll just give that truss rod another crank, etc.

The solution is to measure every part of the setup individually and shoot for the manufacturer's specs. You can always make minor deviations from there. When you do, then measure and make a note of it for future reference. That way when you have a problem you will know exactly where the problem is.
 
#16
Is it a 4-string? Me personally, I always put a tad bit of tension on the neck to encourage it (psychically, for it to shift easier ).It's been a foolproof way, for me(!!), to encourage my neck to shift to shift a smidgen. It's worked for almost 30 years from a VERY EXPERIENCED player. Even my original stackpot has underwent it since '89. So, he's a guy I went to w/out hesitation. Just don't go thinkin' it's a graphite Steinie!!
 
#17
millsbass5 said:
Is it a 4-string? Me personally, I always put a tad bit of tension on the neck to encourage it (psychically, for it to shift easier ).It's been a foolproof way, for me(!!), to encourage my neck to shift to shift a smidgen. It's worked for almost 30 years from a VERY EXPERIENCED player. Even my original stackpot has underwent it since '89. So, he's a guy I went to w/out hesitation. Just don't go thinkin' it's a graphite Steinie!!
Click to expand...

You encourage your bass' neck to move psychically? Lol.

FWIW, I don't subscribe to the "measure everything because eyeballing isn't good enough" philosophy. I don't think "manufacturer's specs are necessarily important. If a bass' is too high because of a change in weather, I know that is probably isn't because the neck suddenly needs a shim or the saddles magically raised themselves. A quick visual check of the relief using a string as a straight edge will tell the story. And, as long as I'm not switching to a different kind of strings, there isn't much adjustment needed when I change strings.
 
#20
darius8 said:
Hey, if you tried doing a set-up and you're still not happy with it, try this method. I use this on on very hard-to-set-up basses.

To begin this set-up, lower all bridge saddles and loosen the truss rod to give it some relief, about a credit cards depth.

Part A:
1. Place a capo at the 12th fret
2. Raise the saddle for each string just until the fret buzz subsides (or disappears) from the 12th thru the 20th fret.
From here on, there should very little, if any, fret buzz from the 12th to the 20th fret when playing. The bridge saddles have a greater influence on the actions and fret buzz from the 12th to the 20th.
But we're not done, let us focus on the 1st thru the 12th frets.

Part B:
3. Remove the capo and loosen up all the strings.
4. tighten your trussrod (righty tighty motion looking down the neck from the headstock) only a half turn. That is one motion from the 'G' string to the 'E' string (or 'B' on 5 stringers).
5. re-tune the bass to pitch.
6. If there is no fret buzz from the 1st thru the 10th fret, repeat Part B starting with step 3 until you get the slightest bet of buzz then go to step 7.

7. Loosen the trussrod just a quarter turn, that is a motion from the 'E' string to the 'D' string.
8. Repeat step 7 until the buzz is gone. A slight buzzing is no big deal to me IMO.

I have used this method for my Ibanez SR300, Fender Jazz and Squier Affinity Jazz and got very low actions with very little, to none, fret buzz. It breaks up the set-up process by half the time and eliminates the back-n-forth from the truss rod and the bridge adjustments. Tell us if it worked.
Click to expand...
Seems like a pretty good idea.
 

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