Is my Spector nut too high?

[hammfisted]

Honestly, this is the reason I don't have my basses set up anymore. Every time I take one of my basses to a guitar tech or a luthier, they set it up in such a way that I find it unpleasant to play (action too low, too much of a buzz). Thus, I set my basses up according to factory recommendations (note that the following happens on *all* my basses) and with the recommended relief and action the first few frets *always* buzz. Either all of my basses have a high fret in a low position or, more likely, I must have the touch of a coal miner. And you must too. Also because my conclusions are exactly the same as yours: look at this bass, it plays beautifully, like butter, but if I dig in just slightly over "lightly" I get fret buzz. I'm sorry, mate, your "lightly" must be as slight and gentle and delicate as a fart after two weeks of eating raw eggs and falafels.

Anyway, high nuts don't cause any issues related to fret buzz. They may cause intonation issues (when *extremely high*) or fatigue (much more likely).

hahaha. To be fair the action is very low, which was my request. But I'm shooting after something I had in my memory from after I bought it. Note that my concerns that there may be "something wrong" have been egged on by 1) the intonation issue early on (unambiguous and nothing to do with fatigue) and 2) a guitar tech recently telling me the nut was to blame. I'm a total tech noob, I don't know, I'm just trying to make sense of what I've been told, and find the answer. If the answer is simply: well you have a very low action, so a small amount of buzz when you play beyond lightly is just the trade off, I'd be fine with that answer. I actually don't really mind the buzz, what I would mind if there was some major issue with my instrument as I have been told there is.

But maybe that's wrong. Maybe the buzz was there before and I forgot, or maybe I played lighter then, or maybe just the weather changed or the neck permanently changed slightly in 5 years... all of those are answers I could believe if they came from an expert I could trust. Thanks for your help.

 

[hammfisted]

Hi dude, sorry your Spector euro made is that sketchy.

To me there are many assumptions to make:
- if the nut is stil the original one, then it's not a problem as many others have mentioned here.

Original

- dodgy fret work ? original frets ? replaced frets ? we don't have that information

Original

- you put it aside, left under a couch for 5 years: did you put any moisture/humidity control packs in the gigbag/flycase ? and if so, did you control them regularly to check if they were still doing their job ? when the packs are a bit "inflated" it means the balls are full of humidity and can't do their job properly.

To be more precise. Didn't play much for about a year. Left in gig bag leaning against wall for around another year. Then left under couch in gig bag for around another 2.5-3 years. Just the Spector branded padded gig bag it came in, nothing special. No humidity control or measurements. Also Sydney gets quite hot and humid.

If you're talking about a bowed neck, there's also maybe someting else: the fretboard might be not flat anymore even in its neutral position (truss rod completely loosen) without string on the bass.

The guitar tech was saying it's not flat because it's set up with relief to compensate for problems with a high nut. I don't fully understand.

I would give it to a good luthier to make a proper complete refret job after removing the old frets and ask him/her to check the fretboard and if needed to do a sanding to get it perfectly flat before doing the refret. Yes it costs a bunch of money to get everything done that way, you could also brought it to a Plek machine guy but I don't know if there's one Down Under near you... this shop does all the jobs Refrets with a replaned fretboard done by the Plek machine, pricey, but given the price you paid, and the quality of this instrument, I'd do it IMHO.

Yeah, I'm looking for a quality luthier I can trust and will do what they tell me. I'm not too worried about price. Appreciate your generous reply and advice

 

[Jcountrybass]

I'm the author of the post you referenced in your OP. I have two Euros and I had to file the nut slots down a tad on both to get to my playing preference. I watched a tech do the first and did the second myself. If that's your issue, replacing the nut would be overkill as the filing is pretty simple, even with brass. I have no open string fret buzz. I did have some high frets I had to fix on one as well.

Like others, I wonder if your action isn't too low. It shouldn't be any less than 5/64 at the 12th fret on the B string and should probably be closer to 6/64.

 

[Barticus]

Please measure and please provide the current specs, relief, etc. otherwise this is all speculation.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Take the bass to a real luthier, not some local setup hacks.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

This series by Caruthers has passed the TB Pro Luthier Sniff Tesf, it’s what I use for all my basses. His numbers are conservative, in practice I sneak the relief and action a little lower, but this is Fender Spec “do no harm” level. Do this in sequence and you’ll have at least a decent starting setup.

 

[adamrobertt]

The guitar tech was saying it's not flat because it's set up with relief to compensate for problems with a high nut. I don't fully understand.

This does not make any sense. All necks need some relief - many people chase a perfectly flat neck but they are misguided. At least .010” on a bass is necessary for string clearance.

However, a high nut would necessitate less relief, not more. Also a high nut wouldn’t cause buzzing issues in the first position, that’s what a too low nut does.

Either you have it backwards or your tech is incompetent.