A Sterling/Status with a buzz... Graphite setup issues

[BassAgent]

Question for you all: my Sterling has a fretless graphite Status neck on it, and it has a bit of buzz on the highest positions, especially on the G-string. I know that issue from wood Fender basses with the famous "ski slope", but what could be the issue here? Would the neck possibly need a shim?

[Doctor J]

A shim changes the angle of the neck relative to the body, it's not something you'd use to fix localised buzzing.

Do these necks have a truss rod, what is the neck relief like?

[BassAgent]

Thing is the buzz is only on the high positions, so neck relief isn't the issue here.

[hubrad]

4 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

Thing is the buzz is only on the high positions, so neck relief isn't the issue here.

It's likely part of it.  Setup is a right ould balancing act of nut slots, saddles, neck angle, relief and evenness of board, strings..

Try raising the saddles, having a similar effect to shimming the neck although it means the string being further from the body so a slightly altered picking position. If that has the desired effect in higher positions, you'll find the rest of the action has also risen, so need to look at relief and nut. If the picking position is now a problem, it's worth shimming.

Lighter strings will buzz more easily than heavier; also old strings can end up with enough of a kink that, even under tension, they end up causing buzz.

Nice colour bass!

[Steve Browning]

I was thinking of doping this myself (the mod!!).

[BassAgent]

10 minutes ago, hubrad said:

It's likely part of it.  Setup is a right ould balancing act of nut slots, saddles, neck angle, relief and evenness of board, strings..

Try raising the saddles, having a similar effect to shimming the neck although it means the string being further from the body so a slightly altered picking position. If that has the desired effect in higher positions, you'll find the rest of the action has also risen, so need to look at relief and nut. If the picking position is now a problem, it's worth shimming.

Lighter strings will buzz more easily than heavier; also old strings can end up with enough of a kink that, even under tension, they end up causing buzz.

Nice colour bass!

Yeah normally I'm pretty proficient at setting up basses but somehow I've failed with this one so far. Let's see what happens when I adjust the neck. I really don't know that a graphite neck does when you adjust the truss rod...

[AJ567]

Buzz in the high positions only usually means too much relief, so you need to tighten the truss a little.

I have one of these status necks and the truss adjustment works just as you would expect on a wooden neck.

I like to follow the 'even buzz' method when setting up mine. Set the saddles so that you have correct radius, then lower them all evenly until you have some strong buzz (in the high positions, in your case). Then straighten the truss until you have the same amount of buzz up and down the neck. That's when you know the relief is about right. Then raise saddles up until you have the action you like (and no buzz). 

[Doctor J]

55 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

Thing is the buzz is only on the high positions, so neck relief isn't the issue here.

Relief is everything. The string is a straight line between the bridge and the other contact point, the nut or where your finger pushes it onto the board. If you've a lot of relief, it will exaggerate the action at the lower end and, if you set the action low, you're effectively guaranteeing the notes will buzz higher up the neck as the actual string height (when you've effectively ruled out the extra clearance provided by the relief) will be too low there. If you want to check this for yourself, hold a string down at the 15th fret and look at the string clearance to the end of the neck. Now do the same around the 3rd fret. See?

[LeftyJ]

1 hour ago, BassAgent said:

I really don't know that a graphite neck does when you adjust the truss rod...

Exactly what you would expect from a wooden neck 

I've made some minor adjustments to my S2 Classic necks when I switched string gauges, and the necks responded quickly and did exactly what I wanted. 

[Lfalex v1.1]

2 hours ago, BassAgent said:

Yeah normally I'm pretty proficient at setting up basses but somehow I've failed with this one so far. Let's see what happens when I adjust the neck. I really don't know that a graphite neck does when you adjust the truss rod...

Should behave the same as a wooden neck, but with less susceptibility to temperature and humidity changes. 

[4000]

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

Relief is everything. The string is a straight line between the bridge and the other contact point, the nut or where your finger pushes it onto the board. If you've a lot of relief, it will exaggerate the action at the lower end and, if you set the action low, you're effectively guaranteeing the notes will buzz higher up the neck as the actual string height (when you've effectively ruled out the extra clearance provided by the relief) will be too low there. If you want to check this for yourself, hold a string down at the 15th fret and look at the string clearance to the end of the neck. Now do the same around the 3rd fret. See?

I see so many people fiddling about with string height without first getting the relief right. “Relief is everything” should be pinned. 
 

Also, as others have said, buzz in the upper register is a fairly common product of too much relief. The first thing I’d have done was tried adjusting the neck. 

Edited January 7, 2021 by 4000

[BassAgent]

Alright, I'll try that first then. 

[BassAgent]

Well, it's a bit against my own initial bass setup logic but I've tightened the truss and raised the saddles a bit and that seems to have worked. Thinking about it, it's quite reasonable: the angle of the strings compared to the bass has changed so that was the solution. Thanks

[hubrad]

Excellent!

[BassAgent]

It's so weird: I've set up dozens of basses over the years, I do all my own setup work on my basses but somehow I couldn't figure this out. 

[4000]

If it’s something that’s new to you then it’s new to you. There’s a first time for everything. FWIW the first time I experienced it it caught me out too. 

The advice on relief still stands though. 😉

Edited January 7, 2021 by 4000

[BassAgent]

I aaaaalways start with neck relief. Of course