Fender Player Series MIM Jazz Bass Issues.

[humesy]

Hi,
I am new to this and fairly new to playing bass. I bought a second hand bass (model in the title) that is about 4 years old. It seemed to play OK when I tried it but serious issues have emerged. There is string buzz in the middle and upper frets even though we have raised the action. On the fourth and fifth frets, notes are playing significantly flat (almost a semi-tone).
I have had a guitar tech guy working on it. He has tried to raised the pegs at the bridge up (towards the neck) to address the tuning issue but they are maxed out.
The guy who sold it to me has said the strings are new (105s) and my guitar tech guys thinks lighter strings will be better but there is no reason the guitar should be performing as it is.
I have heard that this model is prone to issues but cannot find any information. Some days, the bass performs much better. The neck is pretty much straight, with just a slight bow which should be perfect for performance according to my tech guy.
Any thoughts/tips would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,

 

[Gothic]

If the neck is straight and the action is high, either the neck is bowed/bent out of shape or it needs a fretjob. As for the intonation, if your action is too high, fretted notes can go out of tune from the pressure needed to play them. I'd do a full setup myself, change strings (perhaps they're dead and causing further issues) and just take a look down the neck as well, sometimes it's pretty clear when it's twisted. Plus, you can see the condition of the frets as well.

I'd certainly start with the truss rod, though. Make sure that works, the neck is straight (press or capo the first fret and near the 17-19 fret, where the neck joins with the body and see if you can slide a card under the 7th to 9th frets, between the frets and the strings), then lower the action (bridge saddles) to preferred height and see if there's still buzzing. At this point, you can take a look at the neck for any visible twisting. If the above are in spec and there's no twist, it most likely needs a fretjob. Or you can raise the action a bit more to compensate, although that'll make the instrument harder to play and that's never good.

And by the way, any "tech guy" worth his salt would measure first and check all the above before raising saddles and would certainly be able to ascertain whether a bass needs a fretjob or not.

 

[humesy]

If the neck is straight and the action is high, either the neck is bowed/bent out of shape or it needs a fretjob. As for the intonation, if your action is too high, fretted notes can go out of tune from the pressure needed to play them. I'd do a full setup myself, change strings (perhaps they're dead and causing further issues) and just take a look down the neck as well, sometimes it's pretty clear when it's twisted. Plus, you can see the condition of the frets as well.

I'd certainly start with the truss rod, though. Make sure that works, the neck is straight (press or capo the first fret and near the 17-19 fret, where the neck joins with the body and see if you can slide a card under the 7th to 9th frets, between the frets and the strings), then lower the action (bridge saddles) to preferred height and see if there's still buzzing. At this point, you can take a look at the neck for any visible twisting. If the above are in spec and there's no twist, it most likely needs a fretjob. Or you can raise the action a bit more to compensate, although that'll make the instrument harder to play and that's never good.

And by the way, any "tech guy" worth his salt would measure first and check all the above before raising saddles and would certainly be able to ascertain whether a bass needs a fretjob or not.

Thanks for suggestions. The action was low to start with. We raised it to try to deal with the fret buzz. The strings are new and I am wondering if this is part of the issue. The truss rod seemed to work fine though he was reluctant to change it as neck was straight with the instrument strung.

He did mention the possibility of a fret job but that was a last resort.