Buzzing frets after changing strings - same gauge and brand as before...

[chrisaxe]

Hello,

 

Having some issues with my precision bass and was wondering if anyone could help me out...

 

I had a set of LaBella flatwounds on my bass for around four years, and unfortunately the low E broke on a gig the other night. I immediately changed the strings for the same gauge of LaBellas (45-105) and began to have some serious buzzing on the D and G strings from around the 12th fret onwards.

 

I have raised the saddles slightly which didn't seem to make much difference, and the neck relief feels and looks fine - it should be the same tension as the old strings?

 

Any suggestions would be much appreciated as I'm a little baffled as to why this has suddenly become a problem. Played absolutely fine before and I'm using the same gauge of strings.

 

Thanks,

Chris.

[chrisaxe]

Just to add to this - the bass has a neck shim which was added to lower the action a little and make the bridge more useful. I tried removing this, which obviously raised the action a fair bit across all strings, and the buzzing remained. I have since put the shim back in as it didn't seem to make any difference to the buzz.

[Paolo85]

I'd wait for replies from experts, I am not one, but I think I heard that changing strings, especially if they are not replaced one by one, tuning immediately, may result in some movements in the neck which may require truss-rod adjustments.

You say relief feels and looks fine. Did you try fiddle with that anyway?

 

[chrisaxe]

Yep tried adjusting the truss rod to no avail. Thought the neck might be too concave resulting in the higher frets being buzzy, but adjusting the truss rod isn’t helping. I’m now wondering if I’ve got a high fret on the G side of the neck that only noticeable with new brighter strings. I think I’ll have to get it looked at! 

[Paolo85]

It could make sense. New strings tend to buzz more. Would you say you are now in a situation where you get a buzz unless you have a very high action?

I just thought that sometimes when I remove strings and fiddle a bit, it can happen that some saddle screws move. From one reason or another, you may have found yourself with a very different setup after changing strings compared to what you had before. So that could have been a bad reference point to start adjusting.

What I would do personally would be to forget about the previous strings and start fresh as if the bass was new. I would do a reasonable setup (eg 0.3mm 0.35mm relief, 2,5mm string height at the 12th fret on E side, a little less on G side), then adjust further if needed to remove any unacceptable buzz. Once that is done, I would see if the resulting action is acceptable for me.

Reading between the lines you may have done that already. Just thought it would be worth mentioning it.

Btw you should be able to identify any obvious fret bump yourself by using a rocker (or any straight object really, I use an affordable string height gauge such as this  https://amzn.eu/d/asRKJIE ) - you just put it across 3 frets and see if it rocks. You can start with strings on and some relief (if you see a bump in that case it is a really big one), although a proper job requires a straight neck.

If there is no bump, I doubt a luthier could help with a quick fix (although they may still be able to help I guess either with a full fret dressing or by spotting something that you did not)

 

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by Paolo85
Corrected wrong figure for relief

[Velarian]

2 hours ago, Paolo85 said:

3mm 3.5mm relief

That doesn’t sound right. 

[Paolo85]

7 hours ago, Velarian said:

That doesn’t sound right. 

Ha! No it does not. That divided by 10 is reasonable

[chrisaxe]

Just wanted to give an update on this - took my bass to a luthier and they identified a slight ski slope at the bottom of the neck. Took the frets out, sorted out the bump and re-fretted the neck. After putting the same La Bella strings back on, the buzz reappeared. The fretwork has certainly helped as it now plays much better in the higher register, but the strange sitar like buzzing from the G string is still present. The luthier did a great job and is very experienced but even he couldn't get to the bottom of it. He suggested it might be an issue with the strings themselves.

 

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole and discovered that this is an issue that some others have experienced with La Bella strings - particularly the G string. Sure enough, if I string my bass with different strings then the issue disappears. Furthermore, putting the buzzing string on another bass creates the exact same issue - so I am certain that it is the string.

 

I have tried a couple of sets of La Bellas and unfortunately all have had the same issue. I've been in touch with the shop I purchased them from, as well as La Bella themselves, and both have shown great customer service - should have some replacements coming soon.

 

I'm hoping that I have just been unlucky here, as I've never had any issues with La Bella's in the past.