Music man Sterling Neck 35HH setup

5stringsoffury

5stringsoffury

Dec 14, 2015
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Baltimore
#1
I just got this bass last week and began to work on it. Are these necks known to be particularly difficult to dial in? I do all of my own setup using the jerzeydrozd guide, the youtube vids in another link in this subforum. I also have zero issues with any of my basses using a reasonable amount of relief and bridge saddle adjustment-without neck shims, or any other other means of compensatement.

This is my first experience with a Musicman, and am surprisingly unable to elimate the fret buzz throughout the 7th fret+ without an absurd amount of truss rod assistance... Capo'd on the first fret, finger depressed on the final fret of the B string I am currently at 1mm understring measurement on the 12th fret and anything under that causes fret buzz throughout the entire neck.

To compensate, I have tried .025" (ended up being too much) and currently have a .015 shim in the two bolts closest to the headstock to give extra compensation-this has had nearly zero effect.

Additionally- the saddle height at the B string is in excess of 2+mm at the 24th fret. Any (I mean any) combination that is within reasonable measure of reduction in neck relief and saddle height adjustment leads to fret buzz on the B string.

In comparison to my 6'ers that have dual truss rods-this one is a nightmare and at this point I'm stumped and need some advice.

I'm using the same strings (DR Hex core .045- .130) I use on all my basses with 2 1/2 wraps minimum on the tuning peg.
 

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#3
Capo the first fret. Hod the string down at the point where the neck meets the body (17th fret approx) and measure the amount of relief at the 7th fret. Adjust the rod until you have between 10 and 15 thousandths of an inch (.3 to .4 mm). Then adjust the saddles so that there is no fret buzz from the 5th fret to the last. There's no point trying to fix a fret buzz at the 7th fret and up with the truss rod - it's of no use there.
 
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#5
Turnaround said:
Capo the first fret. Hod the string down at the point where the neck meets the body (17th fret approx) and measure the amount of relief at the 7th fret. Adjust the rod until you have between 10 and 15 thousandths of an inch (.3 to .4 mm). Then adjust the saddles so that there is no fret buzz from the 5th fret to the last. There's no point trying to fix a fret buzz at the 7th fret and up with the truss rod - it's of no use there.
Click to expand...

Anything below 1 mm minimum@ the 7th fret was buzzing. I'm currently @ 3.5 mm to the bottom of the B string with a hefty 1mm-7th & 8th frets and the buzzing has stopped.
 
#6
5stringsoffury said:
Anything below 1 mm minimum@ the 7th fret was buzzing. I'm currently @ 3.5 mm to the bottom of the B string with a hefty 1mm-7th & 8th frets and the buzzing has stopped.
Click to expand...
You MUST set the relief first as I outlined. If you don't you will be fighting issues on the upper half of the the neck, as it seems you are.
 
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#7
Turnaround said:
You MUST set the relief first as I outlined. If you don't you will be fighting issues on the upper half of the the neck, as it seems you are.
Click to expand...

The numbers I gave are overalls. I always set the truss rod first, action, then intonation. I'm still ending up with some head scratching numbers to eliminate buzz on a normal range of relief. After starting over and going with .4mm @ the 7th fret, following the procedure- I ended up at 5 mm height on the last fret of the B string to eliminate any buzz.

Hex cores are much stiffer, and I'm using a .130 B string. Any thought on that playing a factor in conjunction with a thinner, tighter radii neck?
 
#12
JKos said:
Pics? Sighting up the neck as best you can?
Click to expand...
I can get some, but there's no way around the numbers. I have to have a minimum of 1mm clearance on the B string underside (1st and 17th fret pressed/measured at the 8th fret) to eliminate buzz. Using the same setup methods and measurements I incorporate on my other basses is not cutting it for this one.
 
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