Eliminating my "clank" - but what is the cause of it ?

[jshinal]

I have a new (to me) USA Jazz bass. I consider myself an intermediate-plus player. For years I played a slightly high action on a Precision Special and dug in pretty hard.

The J has significantly lower action, seems to be set up well, and I have LaBella flats on it. However my A string - ONLY the A string - is giving a rather strong 'clank' when struck or plucked firmly.

With a lighter touch, I get a good tone from it, but it's easy to strike just a bit hard at time on faster stuff and I get clank-tone instead of a burp, or typical J growl.

Could this be a subtle fret buzz ? It doesn't really sound like fretbuzz I remember, but near the fretting finger clearances get pretty tight. Is that what an unlevelled fret sounds like ?

Or do I just need to smooth my technique up way more, and take it as a lesson learned ? I'm not a slasher, but I do have a way to go on revising my plucking style.

 

[jeepsk8]

It's a technique thing. You probably didn't notice it when you had a high action. I have the same problem so I feel your pain, softer touch on the pluck and try to pluck parallel to the pickup rather than pulling it away from or pushing it towards the PUP.

 

[Lobster11]

Something that might be helpful in figuring this out would be to experiment by playing unplugged. Try to replicate the conditions of playing live as much as you can: e.g., playing standing with the bass on a strap, and "digging in" however much you normally do (plus maybe a bit more if necessary to identify the problem). If the problem is related to "fret buzz," due to a high fret or something, you'll be able to hear it acoustically without an amp, but if you can't re-create the problem acoustically it must be something else.

 

[jallenbass]

I find that the A string clank comes from the the E string being too low at the nut. It's not actually the A string causing the noise but having your right hand finger hitting the E string as it follows through. Put something between the nut and E string to raise it up and see if you still get the noise.

 

[guitarflinger]

Make sure your pickups aren't too close to the strings. I was getting clanks from high pickups (string actually striking the pole piece), went away when repositioned.