Aaagh! Buzzing and nut FUs
Catlyn Gregory
Yes, 'tis I...
My beloved Fender Jazz/Aria Pro II-mongrel-puppy-bass is fritzing once
again... First, it was fret buzz, which I tried to compensate for by
raising the bridge saddles (hence the action, I hoped). The buzz has only
been mildly alleviated and NOW my A string wants to pop out of the nut
during strenuous playing (a function of the raised action, I thought). What
to do? Different home remedies? Professional help (for the bass, I mean)?
Or just drink more coffee and live with it?
By-the-by, my mail server is currently bugging out. If anyone has recently
e-mailed me, I apologise for the delay in reply.
Catlyn
Peter Barszczewski
> My beloved Fender Jazz/Aria Pro II-mongrel-puppy-bass is fritzing once
> again... First, it was fret buzz, which I tried to compensate for by
> raising the bridge saddles (hence the action, I hoped). The buzz has only
> been mildly alleviated and NOW my A string wants to pop out of the nut
> during strenuous playing (a function of the raised action, I thought). What
> to do? Different home remedies? Professional help (for the bass, I mean)?
> Or just drink more coffee and live with it?
The nut condition can be solved by ensuring that your strings are wound
around your posts properly. On the first turn around the post, the string
has to overlap itself going DOWNWARD, so that on subsequent turns it has to
go downward on the post <I wish I could draw a picture>. Basically the
more you turn your tuning post, the farther down the tuning peg the string
wraps should go. This provides the pressure necessary to hold the string
on the nut. There should be no more than 3 turns on the post.
Your fret buzz problem is probably caused by your neck ... err, your bass'
neck, not being straight (I'm sure your's is just fine). This is fixed by
adjusting the truss rod. If it is back-bowed then turn it right to tighten
the truss rod and straighten the neck. If it is front-bowed, then turn it
left to loosen the truss rod and provide relief. Most fretted necks have
slight relief to allow for the "loop" a vibrating string makes. BTW, I'm
assuming you have a Jazz neck and the truss adjustment nut is at the end of
the neck near the body. It should be real easy to turn. A 1/4-1/2 turn is
quite a lot, don't turn it more than that in one day. If the next day it
hasn't settled properly, then do another quarter turn.
I would recommend buying the Guitar Repair Book. I can't remember the
author, but its pretty popular and you should be able to find it at a good
book store or music store. It has tonnes of info on adjusting and
maintaining guitars. Its one of the few music related books I use
regularly.
Regards,
--
Peter Barszczewski (ba...@bnr.ca), Montreal, Canada.