Meet Veronica

Old Fart

Old Fart

Mar 11, 2011
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#1
Some of you have advised me in my first build project, and I hope you know how much I appreciate your inputs. At 9lbs 5oz she's a pound heavier than I prefer but she's pretty and fun to play. I find the ebony fingerboard makes for a more aggressive sound. She's got the 6230 mandolin frets I prefer and EMG Geezer pickups which I have never used but which I can appreciate now. She's got the standard profile Warmoth neck which is thick and an 1 11/16" nut. This neck would not work for everyone but works for me just fine. I have a question:

Buzzing on the open A string and frets 1, 2 and 3 on the A string. I have made adjustments that caused the buzzing on frets 4 and 5 to go away but these three (open, first fret and second fret) remain. Right now, relief is set about 0.010" and string height is about 2.5mm at the 12th fret. The other strings do not have this buzz.

I know that open string buzzing suggests the A string nut slot is cut too low. First fret clearance using the usual nut slot height test is 0.003". That is......the 0.004" feeler gauge drags oh so gently while the 0.003" feeler gauge drags not at all. In any case, I am happy to make another nut but first I would like to hear suggestions about how to eliminate the buzzing at frets 1, 2 and 3. I assume nut height does not affect buzzing at these frets.

What is the fix here? Paint the frets with a marker again, and hit it with the sanding beam again?

IMG_0964.jpeg
 
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#9
Some of my p basses have a relief of 0.015" and they work just fine, I would start with this and see how it goes for you.

Also, what strings are you using on this ? Some light tension strings tend to buzz easily so it might be the situation here.

And if I can ask, what kind of wood and tinting is that body ? That looks great !
 
#13
That's a great looking ebony fretboard (and body/hardware match)!

I too think maybe there's some taller frets closer to the nut with the A cut maybe just a bit deep, but I'd gander that Warmoth's CNC programming for nut cuts has to be top notch. My Warmoth partscaster had a bit of buzz (despite my tinkering) until I finally took it to the luthier for a full setup.

Relatedly, that's a good note about the Warmoth standard bass neck and 1 11/16ths nut being a thick cut. I'm considering a build and think I might prefer 1 5/8ths nut for faster/tighter action. My Stingray Standard feels wider than I remember after playing a US-era SUB for the past year.
 
#14
Wood is Black Korina. Chambered.

I can see how she might look masculine but she's all-female, if you know what I mean ;) Brunette, obviously. Korina comes from Africa.

I'm hoping to hear from Bruce who wondered whether it has some sort of S-shape, in case he can suggest a fix for that, but i just don't know why the A-string area would have an S shape while the rest of the neck is fine. And no, I did NOT over-tighten the truss rod at any time. I made the fingerboard flat for leveling but that's all:

How to fix a backbow?

Yes, a whole bunch of relief helps. Like 0.018" or so. But I shouldn't have to do that. A stupid amount of relief just solves a wrong thing with another wrong thing. That said, the strings I have on this are Thomastic Infeld Jazz Flats which are a very loose rubber type of string. I suppose I could put Labella Deep Talkin' Flats on it, which are VERY tense strings, like bridge cables, and this might help. But if this bass were really set up properly, neither of these types of strings would buzz with 0.012" relief and 2.5mm string height.
 
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#15
musicmansf said:
That's a great looking ebony fretboard (and body/hardware match)!

I too think maybe there's some taller frets closer to the nut with the A cut maybe just a bit deep, but I'd gander that Warmoth's CNC programming for nut cuts has to be top notch. My Warmoth partscaster had a bit of buzz (despite my tinkering) until I finally took it to the luthier for a full setup.
Click to expand...
Warmoth makes really good stuff, but they're not always perfect. I have had to do some cleanup of frets - out of about 20 necks I've used from them, on 2 necks, I had to deal with a 10th fret that was a tiny bit too low. I have also had a nut slot that was cut low on one string on one neck - I raised the nut and cut the other slots to match.

I'm able to play most of the necks from Warmoth without any fret dressing, but when they get to about 3 years old (once any initial warping has occurred), I go ahead and dress the frets - after that, they play like the proverbial frozen dairy fat.

My 4 string necks always play great with .006" relief, on 5's I go to .010". String heights at the 15th fret I set for .070 (G), .075 (D), .080 (A). .085 (E), and .090 (B). With that setup, I play clean if I need to , and clink and clank as well when I want to.
 
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#17
Update: It was the strings. I chased down the local Fret Whisperer and learned a lot. Even with high action and high relief, the Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats were buzzing unacceptably. They might work for pick-playing which plucks the strings laterally and for light-touch playing but did not work for my style in this instance. A switch to La Bella Deep Talkin Flats more than did the trick. When I am done, action and relief are going to be silly low. Currently trying to make a perfect string nut. Very frustrating.

BTW, these two types of strings are my favorites. But they just could not be more different from each other. I use both, but just not on this bass apparently.
 
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