Buzzing bass. Lost in troubleshooting

M

Moria22

Jun 24, 2022
5
2
781
#1
Hi guys,
I’ll try to be precise about the issue and the measurements.

The issue: buzzing from 8th-7th fret. The action is high.

current measurements .

relief. 0.4 mm. (when it was 1 it still buzzed)

Action 12th fret :E 2.6. G 2.5
Action 1st fret: E 1. G 0.6 (a little high)
Action 17th fret : E 0.3. G 2.6

the buzzing stops only when the action is 4mm. And the saddles are max hight.

I know the 12+17 frets are a little off but my feeling is that it’s something else.

Tried adding a shim at the headstock side. Didn’t help. Maybe a bigger one will help ?

ideas?
( Let’s assume that the neck isn’t twisted )
 
#4
Moria22 said:
Thx for the reply

the buzzing is all the way from the 8 th fret and higher.

just for information , why do the measurements show a twisted neck?
Click to expand...

Welcome to TalkBass! It seems as though the neck has a back bow to me. If you don't know what that is, you may need to get it to a shop for a good setup. The nut is holding the string off the frets for the first 7 frets. After that point, you are getting buzz, correct? That tells me the neck is slightly "bent backwards".
 
#8
Action 1st fret: E 1. G 0.6 (a little high)
Action 12th fret :E 2.6. G 2.5
Action 17th fret : E 0.3. G 2.6

Across 5 frets, the gap narrows more than 10%? On just one side? Wow!
 
#15
Moria22 said:
Hi guys,
I’ll try to be precise about the issue and the measurements.

The issue: buzzing from 8th-7th fret. The action is high.

current measurements .

relief. 0.4 mm. (when it was 1 it still buzzed)

Action 12th fret :E 2.6. G 2.5
Action 1st fret: E 1. G 0.6 (a little high)
Action 17th fret : E 0.3. G 2.6

the buzzing stops only when the action is 4mm. And the saddles are max hight.

I know the 12+17 frets are a little off but my feeling is that it’s something else.

Tried adding a shim at the headstock side. Didn’t help. Maybe a bigger one will help ?

ideas?
( Let’s assume that the neck isn’t twisted )
Click to expand...
Fretwork
 
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#16
Dudes, its a high fret. Check the frets around 6, 7, 8 with a fret rocker (something truly flat that spans 3 frets), level/crown/polish as needed and recheck. Should take less than an hour
 
#17
I think you need to take that shim out, lower your action, and put a proper small amount of relief into the neck via the truss rod. If you have fret buzz after that take it to a tech. Also a small amount of buzz is normal, depending on your string gauge and how hard you play.
 
#18
Check the fret heights and make sure nothing is high. Typically, a buzzing that occurs past a certain fret and down the neck means one of the highest numbered frets is also higher than it should be.

Shimming isn't truly a fix for fret issues. There are a lot of other factors that should be addressed before adding any shims.
- Level frets
- Proper neck relief
- Bridge saddle heights
Those all need to be done first.
If you have saddles all the way down to the base of the bridge, you need to shim the back of the neck pocket.
If the saddles are way high up and it still seems like the strings are too close to the frets, then you would shim the front of the neck pocket.
But don't do any shims until you're sure of the other factors.
 
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#19
Sound like a high fret to me, use a nice straight edge to check.
It should sit flat on the top of the frets. If it wobbles at all, you have a high fret.
Sometimes they can be pounded down or clamped back into place.

When is the last time the frets were levelled and crowned?
 
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#20
As mentioned, if it's a loose fret, it can be glued and clamped back flat with the rest. Instead of a long straight edge, use a fret rocker. The offending fret will stick out like a sore thumb with quite a bit of rocking found. A longer straight edge bridges across too many frets and makes it a little more difficult to narrow down which one is the problem.
 
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