Weather Change/Fret Buzz

Dec 9, 2009
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Okay guys,

With the recent weather change and the sharp turn to colder weather and dry heat, my P bass has started to buzz pretty bad. From what I can tell, most of it is acoustic buzz, but more of it is being amplified than I like.

There is enough, if not too much relief in the neck, as its a visible curve when looking down the neck, and the strings look to be a fair amount away from the neck IMO. Strings are Superbrights and are low tension/slinky.

The bass buzzes throughout the middle of the fretboard 5-10/12 depending on the string. It is worse on the A/D strings even though those saddles are set higher.

Any thoughts on what causing the sudden fretbuzz??
 
You really can't check relief by looking at the neck. The best way is to capo or hold down the string at the first fret and hold down the string at the last fret and see how much space is between the string and fret 8 or 9. It should be about .010 to .015. Or use a feeler gauge. If you don't see any space you have back bow and need to loosen the truss rod a bit.
 
Buzzing up in the middle of the neck is usually caused by the bridge saddles being too low. The high action you are describing sounds like it's being caused by too much relief. Try tightening the truss rod till there is VERY little relief. You will probably be buzzing like crazy all up and down the neck at this point. Then , raise the bridge saddles till there is no buzzing. I have one bass that I got really cheap that had this problem when I bought it. I think that's why the guy sold it so cheap. I could see a very visible bow in the neck when I bought it. I did exactly what I described above and it plays great now with no buzzing. I've been gigging with this bass for about 5 years now.
 
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You really can't check relief by looking at the neck. The best way is to capo or hold down the string at the first fret and hold down the string at the last fret and see how much space is between the string and fret 8 or 9. It should be about .010 to .015. Or use a feeler gauge. If you don't see any space you have back bow and need to loosen the truss rod a bit.

It was originally set with a capo and using a pick as a feeler gauge. I was taught to use a thin/medium pick, and to set the neck relief to where the E string would touch the pick as i slid in, but that the pick wouldn't move the string out of the way. I was just looking down the neck because I was assuming the temp change had caused the neck to bow forward. I was surprised to see that the action and relief looked worse (higher), but not in the direction I was expecting with the amount of buzzing that's started (lower).

Buzzing up in the middle of the neck is usually caused by the bridge saddles being too low. The high action you are describing sounds like it's being caused by too much relief. Try tightening the truss rod till there is VERY little relief. You will probably be buzzing like crazy all up and down the neck at this point. Then , raise the bridge saddles till there is no buzzing. I have one bass that I got really cheap that had this problem when I bought it. I think that's why the guy sold it so cheap. I could see a very visible bow in the neck when I bought it. I did exactly what I described above and it plays great now with no buzzing. I've been gigging with this bass for about 5 years now.

I think this will be the course of action I take. I'm going to give it a quarter turn or so and let it settle tonight as I won't be able to practice. I'll raise the saddles and fool with the intonation tomorrow before I practice.

Thanks all!
 
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If I remember correctly , when I got my bass with the visible bow in the neck , I had to give the truss rod almost a full turn. If it has a really bad bow to it , a quarter turn won't do much for it. If you're not comfortable cranking it that much , go with the quarter turn. Just be prepared to go more after the neck settles in. Personally , I don't wait for any settling but a lot of folks are uncomfortable with that. If you're not worried about it , crank it till it's straight. If it bothers you to go that far , just go a little at a time.
 
The truss rod was very creaky and it felt forced to turn it, so I went with a little bit at a time. I don't remember it being so bad when I set the bass up last summer when I tried flats and came back to rounds. Is there anything I can do to help that out? Strings were detuned all the way floppy, allen key was all the way in, etc.

Relief is now set where there is a gap at frets 8-9, but just enough to see it/feel it when I tap my finger against each string while the capo and last fret are held down. I can fit, just barely, one of the super thin nylon guitar picks in there. I think this is just about where it would've been set back during the summer. Or maybe it's a little straighter than it would've been set then.

Didn't get a chance to play with the saddles last night, but I did run through a couple of songs. It buzzed a bit more in the same spots, and the intonation is a bit off. But that will all be fixed tonight or tomorrow.