waylander Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 Hey guys Ive always had slight fret buzz when playin my guitar but put thtat down to my lack of experience at playing, and it not being a great guitar ( i have a Gear 4 Music 4 string bass). but my bass teacher suggested i got the action lowered as it was quite high and he thought that might reduce the buzz. so took it to a music shop and got them to lower the action for me, trouble is since i got it home its WORSE!!! if i try and play any string on the 1st to 5th frets i get alot of buzz and then frets after that is on and off. Any suggestions or thoughs ? (other then buy a better guitar :-p) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 (edited) [quote name='waylander' post='672933' date='Dec 3 2009, 10:29 AM']my bass teacher suggested i got the action lowered as it was quite high and he thought that might reduce the buzz.[/quote] Get a better bass teacher. Seriously though, it sounds like your bass needs looking at by someone who knows how to do a setup. If you're getting a lot of buzz in the first 5 frets then it sounds like the neck has got a backbow on it. If you're getting "on and off" behaviour above that, then it sounds like the frets are uneven. Take it to a pro who knows what they are doing. Be prepared to spend a bit of money to get it playable. S.P. Edited December 3, 2009 by Stylon Pilson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waylander Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 haha my bass teacher didnt do the work, i took it to a place called project music in exeter where they did the work and kinda did spend some money lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 No but his/her advice was wrong. Lowering the action on an instrument that suffers from fret buzz is going to make it worse not better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 [quote name='waylander' post='672953' date='Dec 3 2009, 10:47 AM']i took it to a place called project music in exeter where they did the work and kinda did spend some money lol[/quote] If you went in there and said "please lower the action" then they did what you told them to. I suggest you go back, grovel profusely, and say "sorry, I asked for the wrong thing, I didn't want the action lowered, I wanted the fret buzz curing". If you're lucky, they'll take pity on you. However, if you initially asked them to cure the fret buzz, then you're within your rights to demand a full refund. S.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waylander Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 o!! sorry didnt understand tht first was meant like so best course would then be to get action higher again then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waylander Posted December 3, 2009 Author Share Posted December 3, 2009 [quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='672980' date='Dec 3 2009, 11:15 AM']If you went in there and said "please lower the action" then they did what you told them to. I suggest you go back, grovel profusely, and say "sorry, I asked for the wrong thing, I didn't want the action lowered, I wanted the fret buzz curing". If you're lucky, they'll take pity on you. However, if you initially asked them to cure the fret buzz, then you're within your rights to demand a full refund. S.P.[/quote] thanks for the advice, i havent been playin bass long, and this is first musical intrument i have owned so im still adjusting to it all n kinda took wat my teacher said on face value Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylon Pilson Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 [quote name='waylander' post='672984' date='Dec 3 2009, 11:19 AM']thanks for the advice, i havent been playin bass long, and this is first musical intrument i have owned so im still adjusting to it all n kinda took wat my teacher said on face value[/quote] One little test that you could do for us right now - with your left hand, hold down a string (any string really) at the first fret. With your right elbow, hold the same string down at the top of the fretboard (so the 20th fret or whatever). Look closely at the spacing between the string and the frets. Is the string touching any of the frets (you can use the fingers on your right hand to push the string down and see if it moves)? Ideally, there should be a slight curve in the neck so that the string isn't touching any of the frets, but sufficiently slight that the gap is no more than a millimetre or two. I hope this makes sense. S.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 [quote name='waylander' post='672933' date='Dec 3 2009, 10:29 AM']Hey guys Ive always had slight fret buzz when playin my guitar but put thtat down to my lack of experience at playing, and it not being a great guitar ( i have a Gear 4 Music 4 string bass). but my bass teacher suggested i got the action lowered as it was quite high and he thought that might reduce the buzz. so took it to a music shop and got them to lower the action for me, trouble is since i got it home its WORSE!!! if i try and play any string on the 1st to 5th frets i get alot of buzz and then frets after that is on and off. Any suggestions or thoughs ? (other then buy a better guitar :-p)[/quote] go cool man even the best guitar can be lousy if not set up properly...and the worst guitar ..perfect! the people you took it to will probably be able to assess the fret alignment if that is ok then get the bow set...frets 1-9 approx then the action...higher gets rid of buzz and it should occur now only in the upper frets near the end of the neck this means raising the saddles and retuning after each movement...recheck for buzz till its gone on each string fretting at the 12th fret...thats the one i use then after all is set...get the intonation set... then the pup heights to the new string architecture and you are away with a perfectly set up bass its costly unless you learn to do it yourself...then you wonder why you are charged so much... hope you can get it solved without too much hassle cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waylander Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 [quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='673128' date='Dec 3 2009, 01:17 PM']One little test that you could do for us right now - with your left hand, hold down a string (any string really) at the first fret. With your right elbow, hold the same string down at the top of the fretboard (so the 20th fret or whatever). Look closely at the spacing between the string and the frets. Is the string touching any of the frets (you can use the fingers on your right hand to push the string down and see if it moves)? Ideally, there should be a slight curve in the neck so that the string isn't touching any of the frets, but sufficiently slight that the gap is no more than a millimetre or two. I hope this makes sense. S.P.[/quote] ye they were, i got someone else to look at it and he sorted it out abit for free, dnt get much fret buzz now wen i used fingers to play, still get alot wen i use a pick but i think tht might be cause im not used to the loweness of the action and just need to get used to not using the pick so hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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