fretless fretbuzz

[Kragen]

About a week back I posted about a fretless bass I wasnt sure about... anyway, I wandered back down to that shop last weekend and had another play about and changed my mind... I dont quite know what it was, but my worries about how it sounded and played just went...

Anyway, I've been playing around with it and I'm dissappointed to note that on the G string at the 12th frett more or less exactlay there is a substrantial amount of buzz :( I've played and played around with it, and it's more or less exactlay where I should be fretting to play that G. Inspecting the fingerboard closely I can just about feel a small blemish in the fingerboard.

I have to admit, at the moment I'm really feeling kinda down about it - it's the only place on the whole board where it's immediately noticable, but the fact that it's there has made me a little paranoid about the quality of the fingerboard in general, and the posibility of very mild buzz in other places.

I'm feeling kinda stupid atm - perhaps trying to buy a nice fretless as a second bass was a little silly - not having played many fretlesses meant that I wasnt really sure what I was looking for, or what i should be expecting...

Now that I think about it, I do remember the action being set higher on that string the first time I went down there....

Is there anything I can do to fix that buzz at the 12th frett, and how much should I be expecting in the way of buzzing on the fretboard anyway for a £500 bass?

Thanks for any help...

A somewhat dissappointed owner of an otherwise very beautiful fretless bass :(

[Killer Fridge]

Its probably just not set up fantastically. Have a play with the action (raise it a bit on the G...like you said), and it will probably solve the issues. If not, take it into the shop, and ask to have it set up, and tell them that the G is buzzing - they should sort it out for you without any hassle at all :thumb:

What bass was it btw?

[Kragen]

It's a tanglefoot prototype, when the light is better I'll take some photo's - it does look very very cool, so I really hope it is just me being paranoid :S

[FunkMetalBass]

You could take some very fine sandpaper and try gliding along it.

Also, action, intonation, truss rod...those could all affect it. If the latter don't work, consider the first option.

[Kragen]

I messed around with it some more, found another small "dent" in the fingerboard on the G string and there was quite a lot of buzz there as well...

I'll try raising the action to see if that fixes it... but is it normal to expect a couple of spots like that on a £500 fretless?

[red n black]

IDK if it's normal. But the store should fix it up for free or I'll come and spank them silly. :p

[Killer Fridge]

I messed around with it some more, found another small "dent" in the fingerboard on the G string and there was quite a lot of buzz there as well...

I'll try raising the action to see if that fixes it... but is it normal to expect a couple of spots like that on a £500 fretless?


You can get spots like that if its in a £4000 fretless if its due to a bad setup, but if its due to a notch in the fingerboard, I would take it into the shop and get them to do something about it - if the product is defective when you bought it, they have to do something about it, so I wouldnt expect any fuss from them.

I certainly wouldnt take sandpaper to the fretboard, as that would almost certainly void any warranty that you might have, and may make fixing whatever problems there are, allot harder, and allot more expensive.

[FunkMetalBass]

You can get spots like that if its in a £4000 fretless if its due to a bad setup, but if its due to a notch in the fingerboard, I would take it into the shop and get them to do something about it - if the product is defective when you bought it, they have to do something about it, so I wouldnt expect any fuss from them.

I certainly wouldnt take sandpaper to the fretboard, as that would almost certainly void any warranty that you might have, and may make fixing whatever problems there are, allot harder, and allot more expensive.

Of course it would void the warranty. That's why I suggested he try every other means first. Sanding the fingerboard down slightly wouldn't really be too much of a problem at all. I haven't a clue how big the "notch" is and whether or not it would affect it, but if you know what you're doing, it's no trouble to sand it out.

[Kragen]

When I say "notch"... the fretboard seems to have a slight low point - it's very slight, the only way I can detect it really is by touch, it's quite hard to detect.

What I'll do is phone the place I got it from and get them to take a look at it (I live about an hour from the place :P)

[katana_manatee]

I had the same problem, just raise the action slightly.

[Kragen]

The action isnt exactlay low at the moment - I'm not sure what would be more of a hinderance to play with - the high strings or the buzz.

[Machines]

It's also possible that the nut has been cut too deep, this can cause string buzz towards 1/2/3 frets however.

If it's at 12 i'd say the action is too low OR the neck is slightly bowed.

What bass is it anyway ?

[EADG]

It's also possible that the nut has been cut too deep, this can cause string buzz towards 1/2/3 frets however.




Don't say that at Talkbass.


According to them, that's not true.

[Kragen]

well, I've found those two low points on the fingerboard, tbh I'm fairly convinved thats the problem - in which case persumably sanding down the whole board very slightly and refinishing it would do the trick (obviously done by someone who knows what theyre doing though).

If im right... how difficult / costly is that?

I've given the place I got it from a buzz, they said "no prob's bring it down and our guitar tech will give it a tweak", which is good, although "give it a tweak" sounds very much to me like just raising the action a little, and as far as I'm concerned, the action on the G string is already a little too high, so I hope they had something else in mind :)

[myles]

well tell them that you think that theres a little dent, ask them to check it out and fix it ( if there really IS a dent there )

[Kragen]

I'm 100% certain that its either a small dent or a small raise in the fingerboard- anyway i'll see what they say...

As promised - pictures :)

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/360/1en5.th.jpghttp://img260.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1en5.jpg

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8120/2sx7.th.jpghttp://img383.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2sx7.jpg

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8999/3gw7.th.jpghttp://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3gw7.jpg

EDIT: are links disabled or something?