Viperpunk

Do I? Or do I just settle because I don't know any better? It is more like 2.5 now. I know nothing but to my layman eye it does feel nice, don't tell anyone but the Squire affinity I was 'feeling' seemed worse qualitywise but of course that might be just my bias, I really dislike the Fender style basses 😅

I am assuming it was supposed to be 0.010 to 0.015 of an inch, as all business card type of paper I have currently is 0.29 mm which is 0.012 of an inch according to my callipers. I still have a lot less than that. In fact it is exactly 0.16 mm ( 0.006 of an inch ) at the moment. I am satified for the time being though.

I did it! 😁 I loosened the truss rod. Everything is fine, no one died. I don't know why I was so worried 😆 No casualties unless you count ages it took me to tune the strings back, that time will never be recovered. The quality of life improvement... Oh my! Massive! I almost feel like I'm cheating now, it's hard to get buzz! Well not really but considering the difference it is great. And I didn't even listen to it amplified after surgery yet (yes I know bad practice for a noob to play acustically, I was very bad today). A bit more loosening will probably be good at some point but I am happy for now and will leave it alone. Unless it will get worse after it settles. Thanks everyone for all the help I got here! I get you! I totally get that and love that kind of tone as well. It didn't work for me though, neither playing hard or the tone. My headphone device probably not capable to do that. Maybe in the future when I build up my strength and gear 😆 (I swear I forgot how to write in english in only five years. Use it or lose it I guess)

Thank you all for welcoming me in the community 🙂

You have no idea how much I wish this was an option, I wouldn't be here at all if it was. Sadly it is not. And I do thank TheGreek for what he said already why the future tense! 😉 I am very greatfull for every single input here and that was a very good and insightfull one.

I have not tried anything yet. Most of buzz is around first frets though, and I thought bridge saddles would affect the other end only?

No, just some of them, A string is the worse, rest have only a few frets where no buzz is unachievable (I already learned not to pluck so hard 😆)

I am in Poland, hope that's ok, description said UK and Europe I never been in UK although I always wanted to, it is like cursed for me or something, not allowed there. I can't even count how many times a planned trip fell flat the last minute.Eventually I stopped trying because if I succeeded one day it would probably mean it's the end of the world🤣 I just unintentionally lied. I was in Northern Ireland on a day trip in Belfast, it was raining cats and dogs and we spend most of the day in a caffe because you could drown by just walking down the street, so it slipped my mind. Technically though I was in UK, in one caffee My bass is Cort Action Plus, made in Indonesia, just a tiny step above the very bottom😅 I love it regardless. This is exactly why I was freaking out so much, I thought it must be my lack of technique. But actuall seeing strings touch where they should't when pressed precisely and with utmost care (using the tumb🤣) made me doubt everything in the world. Again thanks everyone for all the help and warm welcome. I will loosen the truss rod tiny bit and see what happens, worse case scenario I'll have highier acction - actually a good thing 🤣

Is it now? Because I felt bad and made an actual introduction post, it is even worse than this one lol I know hard to believe. As for allen keys, the bass came with some I am assuming they are the right size and in a pinch would do, but my dad already flexed on me by pulling out his huge set of allen keys of all sizes. A weird flex but ok, now watch me "borrow" some. I have no idea why he had them in the first place, flatpack furniture I assume but is he furnishing a whole city? No one knows. Thank you very much for all of the input and good advice, you can't imagine how calming it is to actually talk about this to someone and get a replay as opposed to just ... being confused and going back and forth "am I crazy or not". So it seems I did recognize the problem correctly, a tiny bit proud of myself (not really). Now to tackle it. I'll work on this tomorrow, and by that I mean I'll probably just sit on it for days and obsess some more but that is okay, I feel like I know what needs to be done now. Thank you very much everyone!

Hi, I am Viperpunk and I never know what to write in those introductions. I am a proud owner of a "cheapo bass" Cort Action plus in transparent red, and it is the most beautiful and amazing thing in the world and I am going to die on this hill! lol As you can see, I am not objective here, because I fell in love. I can't be held accountable, love has it's own rules. But seriously I am surprised how much I like it. It is not what I wanted, it is what I had to settle for. I am sort of an Ibanez psychofan and as my first bass I wanted Ibanez SR 300 in iron pewter ( I know, everyone's and their dog first bass, I swear I made that decision before knowing that though) however after almost two years of saving and watching the price go higher and higher, I decided I need to revise my options or I'll be just saving for the rest of my life and never actually have anything. And that is how the Cort happened. I was worried I will be dissapointed just because it is not "the one" and doesn't have humbackers, but no such thing. It turned out to be so much nicer than I expected. I am genuenly in love. I know it is nothing to write home about and everyone here will probably laugh, but it is mine, it plays and it is beautifull to me and that is all that counts. I can't say that I play, more like I attempt to play for best part of three days now and I am terrible at it but I'm having the time of my life. I wanted to play bass for forever (well first I wanted to play violin, 6 year old's are weird like that) but as a teenager I for some reason decided that I am too stupid for this whole music thing and shouldn't even try anymore. I used to have keybord but as my parents couldn't afford private lessons for me, I failed at figuering this all out on my own from the books (the pre-internet times we are talking about here) and so since a 12 year old couldn't understand music theory and learn to be a virtuozo on its own that clearly meant too stupid and never will get to anything. Teenagers are touchy I suppose. Anyway I just settled, made my peace with the fact I will never play myself and be always just enjoying music from the sidelines and ruining my hearing by standing as close to the bass amp at concerts as possible and never even thought about this again. For some reason I bought this whole "you are bad at maths so you can't learn music" ... I can count to four though. There is many musicians with discalculia as far as I know. Anyway I suddenly woke up about two years ago and realized it is all not true. Sure I probably will never be good at it but that doesn't mean I can't try and have fun with it. Times have changed and with all this resources avilable now, where we can actually hear and see what is being taught it should be easier than trying to make sense out of a book. Not to mention I am quite a bit older now and more patient. So this is how I got here, after almost two years of planning hopeing and salivating I am finally doing it, making my childhood dreams come true! And you know what makes me the most happy? My dad ( I put his age here initially but maybe I should not expose him like that) seems to be interested too, at first he said I'm crazy but three days in, he is already telling me I need to get number stickers for the fretboard because he gets lost and needs them numbered... HE gets lost... I don't seem to have a problem for some odd reason lol I don't mind getting stickers if it will make him want to play more. I am happy to share, we will see who learns faster I guess. OK, how is that for "about me"? You probably got the most important thing - I talk too much! Happy to meet everyone! I hope you don't mind an overexcited noob around here.

Hello. I hope it is the right place to post, as my problem is most likely just in my head and not actually technical one. Seemed stupid to post this amongst gear modification and the like. I am very sorry if it is not, I promise I will do better next time. This is going to be just rumblings of overexcited and anxious noob, that probably needs to be told to breath and stop overthinking and overanalizng everything, so either, please brace yourself or leave now and save your sanity. 🤣 I think I just succesfully confused myself with too much "internet knowledge". As freshly baked aspiring bassist (very late to the party) and a bass owner of almost three days now ( no I have not bled yet, don't know if I should congratulate myself on this insane self restrain or am I just doing this wrong 😆) I have consumed way too much of youtube content for my own good and started to freak out about my beloved, new cheapo bass' health. I struggle with rather insane amount of buzz, and don't get me wrong here, I know that most, if not all of it, is a user error. I was aware this is going to be a thing, small hands, zero strength, tremors on left ring finger, I never thought this is going to be easy. However as I watched the A string consistently touching the second fret when pressed on the first one I started wandering, am I getting additionaly sabotaged here? And believe me, I do not need any additional sabotage, I suck plenty on my own, I am in fact terrible at it. So I decided to check my setup following along about 100 instructional videos and now I feel even more stupid than before. I feel like I have the necessery puzzles, but I just can't make sense out of them. I do not see any bow on the neck (might be just blind though) it all looks perfectly straight to me... But shoudn't there be a tiny bit of a bow? The action seems to be set up perfectly along the instructional, a little more than 2 mm on E string and exactly 2mm on G on 12th fret. About 3mm on last fret and about 0.5mm on first - approximate as I do not have anything thin enough to push there under the strings on that first fret. So that shouldn't be a problem right? Then again I read opinion that on this entry level cheapo basses a🤣tion should be set up higher in general as they are more prone to uneven frets and other quality problems that may cause issues with lower action... So should I raise my action anyway? And ruin that beautifull job someone already did on it? And now the worst part, I followed this whole "press on the first and last fret (first and 12th, first and wherever neck meets body, depending who is talking) and look how big is the biggest gap between frets and string" thing and discovered that no matter the method used, there is no gap at all, strings are firmly touching the frets and if there is a gap in the middle, it is so miniscule that it's imperceptable by human eye and can only be heared a little when tapped. So that is bad right? There should be a little bit of a gap and I should adjust the truss rod. But how? I gathered that in this case it needs more relif so turn down, counterclockwise, away from myself (my acces is by the headstock) but then I stumbled upon some infographics telling me that fret buzz on top and bottom frets which is what I mainly experience, means it is the opposite and truss rod should be tightened. I am confused and freaking out. The thought of having to perform such a surgery on my new baby on the THIRD day is terrifying on its own not to mention not knowing which way to turn! I haven't been this stressed in years. So I guess what I'm asking here is, am I just freaking out for no reason? Is all of this maybe normal and I am just trying to find a problem? Insane amount of buzzing is to be expected from a beginner who never touched an instrument before (well I touched, never tried to play though) and there is no reason for me to worry about truss rod at this stage? It does get better, now on day three there is less buzzing. Or should I be worried? If the truss rod is not very bowed, which it isn't, it is not bad for the instrument itself right? Even if it is not exactly as it should be it will just make it harder for me, and not damage my shiny new baby? I just don't know what to do. Unfortunetely professional setup is out of question, there is a reason I bought a cheapo bass. I literally spent my last penny on it. Priorities, who needs to eat anyway, am I right? So I am left with this dilemma and need to deal with it on my own. I am just going crazy. Any thoughts and suggestions will be greatly appriciated. Or even just "don't freak out, you will live" I might need a reality check right now. Thank you for reading this insanity. P.S. I am sorry for any weird typos and random emoticons in wrong places, I am on a tablet and it is suprisingly hard to type on a touch screen. Touching emoticons turned out to be a bad decision as they just froze and refuse to work at all now leaving me with some random ones that can't be deleted. I hope it will let me edit them out later, but if not, I am sorry. 🤣