Doctor J

What is the relief like on both sides of the neck, holding the strings down at the first and last frets? Is is a gradual very slight curve, symmetrical as you move towards the 8th fret in both directions?

And what is the relief like if you hold the strings down at the 12th and last frets? Is there a ski jump at the butt of the neck, a warping where the neck bends slightly just before where it gets bolted to the body?

If you have a 6" ruler to hand, start looking at how straight 6" sections of the neck are from the first fret to the last. Are there any spots where you see a gap under the middle of the ruler?

When the neck has all the relief dialled out you still get buzzing on the higher frets, but the lower frets are ok, despite the action being uncomfortably high?

If you loosen the strings, that saddle bar probably comes out and you could sand the bottom of it to get the action you want.

However...

I'd take all the strings off except the A string, since that's what's readily causing the buzz and try to isolate the source of the buzzing first. Hit the string, make it buzz, then put your fingers on what you suspect is vibrating and causing the buzz. Apply pressure to stop the different bits vibrating, e.g. the saddle, the ball ens of the string, the ends of the bridge against the body, check the truss rod isn't slack, strap buttons, tuner keys, even the bracing inside the sound hole. 

Gary Human

Manor Threat

Stiff Little Mingers

Manned Heat

"as I cannot put the neck any straighter without buzz (truss rod trials)"

Buzz where?

A lot of the people on that Rolling Stone list are greatness-challenged which makes their presence on such a list a bit of a puzzle, other than meeting some sort of positive discrimination criteria decreed at boardroom level.

Sounds like it's coming from the bridge? Find out where it's coming from for sure. Does it happen if you play at the first fret? Does it happen if you play the E string at the 5th fret, is it a resonant vibration?

Start with the basic setup. Check the neck relief. Check the strings are wound properly on the tuners so there is good pressure on the nut. Check the string clearance from the nut over the first fret.

Add pictures of the bridge.

Drunk

Bras

Emifem

The Fillers

The Spray Cats

Mister Fister

Rodflesh

Iran Maiden

It's a machine which fits into the criteria of the game.

Nine Inch Sails

The Mangles

UK Pubs

The Hamas and the Papas

Siouxie and the Manshees

20 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

But surely a shim will only raise the neck further, meaning the saddles at the bridge needing to be raised even higher to achieve proper action, also if the shim is placed at the back of the pocket, as it usually would, it would decrease string angle in relation to the fretboard, thereby decreasing the string action at the upper part of the fretboard/upper frets closest to the bridge, which would make any eventual fret caused buzz up there even worse.

 

So I'd say leave the shim out all together, and as otherwise suggested tighten the truss rod to decrease neck relief.

 

When pressing down the low B string at the first and last fret simultaneously you would not want any more than just about a business card (not credit card) thickness gap at about 8th fret.

 

And probably in your case even less, so if above doesn't help, try this:

 

Set your neck relief, adjusting the truss rod, so that pressing down the low E string at the first fret with a finger on your left hand, simultaneously with the little finger of your right hand pressing down the low B string at the 17th fret, and while doing so taping the thumb of your right hand against the low B string on the 12th fret, doing so there should be just exactly enough clearance/relief for you to hear a faint tap sound, nothing more.

 

It's got a Badass bridge, that's why.

13 hours ago, TimR said:

What about the poor bass player who fell on hard times and had to pawn his bass?

 

And now finds out it's worth $80k. 

Maybe he was a nasty individual who got his just desserts?

NoFT

INSS

Greed Day

Paul Hardcattle

10CD

W.A.S.H.

Sadness

Bad Mangers

Spandau Pallet

The Prerenders

The Pooclaimers

derrière pocket always works.

My earliest memory is listening to my Mum's Mother of Invention LPs, specifically Absolutely Free and We're Only In It For The Money. As a result, when it comes to music, anything goes, particularly the more varied and eclectic stuff.
 

I will also call any vegetable, any vegetable at all.

My favourite shim was made from a Callan Veterinary Hospital business card. They closed a few years ago, sadly, so now I use Aldi AAA battery packaging. I haven't checked to see if the AA card has different tonal properties, but some day I might. As for Lidl, let's not open that can of worms.

How do you set the relief? Any bow in the neck adds string clearance for the lower frets only and tends to mean you have the action lower on the higher frets than you really should have, giving you this kind of buzz. The bow is adding behind the fret you're playing at, meaning you've sod all clearance at the higher frets. Loosening the truss rod will only exacerbate this.

First, put the original shim back in at the heel. A Badass bridge maxed out means the strings are a long, long way from the body.

Set the relief so that, when you hold the strings down at the first fret and the last fret, you have a gap about the width of a business card between the bottom of the strings and the top of the frets. No more than that. Once that's done, then set the action.

"Early in ZZ Top's career" = 1969 to 1975 or thereabouts.

Before Reverb and even before eBay and even before ludicrous Fender fetishisation. 

Shaky Hands are not a million miles away from music I would listen to regularly, but I didn't think much of them, to be honest. The songs don't tend to go anywhere and I was losing interest by the end. They're the kind of band I might enjoy more hearing only one song of as, going from one into the next, it all gets very samey very quickly. I didn't hate it but I can't see myself ever listening to it again. There are much better bands ploughing that particular furrow.

As a standalone song, it's nothing special, though I can't say I disliked it. It reflects the restrictions under which it was made. It's ok. As an endeavour by a couple of friends to close a circle, so to speak, honouring another couple of friends, and what they did to finally complete a song using what sounds like little more than 30 seconds of abysmally recorded original material, I found it quite moving.