Buzzing frets

[cadencethefire]

Hey,
The bass player in my band is getting a buzzing noise off his frets when he plays certain notes, usually on the higher strings and not the lower. He is kind of a new bass player but i'm sure it's not his technique because no matter how hard he presses on the strings or no matter where he places his fingers on the fretboard it still makes that same sound. If it's the bass is there a way to fix it?

i don't know the exact model, but he's got an ibanez active bass

[PietroCrespi]

Sounds like he may need to raise the action because his strings are hitting one of the higher frets.

[cadencethefire]

Cool, thanks. Is there a way to do that on only the higher strings?

[PietroCrespi]

I don't know. You'll have to wait on someone else's reply. I'm not even sure that's the problem, but that was the problem on two guitars I've owned. One the action was too low to begin with, and on another, the fret right before the nut (on a classical acoustic) was coming up out of the board.

[Pluperfect_Arson]

There are many different Ibanez's that are active...

Anyway, like Goldfinger stated, sounds like an action problem, and, with that said, the action must be too low if he is receiving a consitant buzz no matter how hard he frets. You are going to need an allen wrench to raise the saddles located on the bridge, and you are probably going to have to adjust your intonation some, and I suggest you check the intonation as it is just to make sure that it is intonated correctly. You are going to need a tuner and a philip screwdriver to adjust the intonation.

Just go look up how to intonate and raise the action on your bass. There are about a million and one articles that you can find on the subject.

[Killer Fridge]

Actually, if its only buzzing on the higher frets, its probably a truss rod issue.

Get him to take it into somewhere like Guitar Centre and get them to give it a full setup

[Pluperfect_Arson]

He only stated that it was mostly on the higher strings and not the higher frets.

Unless he meant higher up on the strings. Then, yeah, you might have a truss rod issue, threadstarter.

[cadencethefire]

it's the whole string, the E and the A strings are fine but D and G strings are the ones that buzz

edit: even on the lower notes of those strings

[Pluperfect_Arson]

it's the whole string, the E and the A strings are fine but D and G strings are the ones that buzz

edit: even on the lower notes of those strings

Okay, then, yes, that sounds like an action problem. Just refer to my eariler post and then find an article that shows how to do it properly.

Thanks for the clarification.

[cadencethefire]

sweet thanks

[Killer Fridge]

Yup, I agree with Pluperfect, and take back what I said about the truss rod.

I should really read these things better before I answer!

[EADG]

It's actually pretty unusual to only have 2 strings buzz, up and down the neck. I'd get it looked at professionally.

[BassIsPrettyCool]

^Yeah, I agree. I'd say have him take it to a luthier or something of the sort and have them set it up. It definitely won't hurt, and will definitely fix your problem, and most likely help to avoid any other problems you may have in the long run.

[sheephead]

Whilst on the subject of buzzing, could the techies out there help me with this oddity: whenever i play a 5th fret harmonic on the G string and let it ring out and play a 3rd fret on the E (they're both Gs) the harmonic distorts itself. I can play it a touch quiter and get rid of it, but it'd be nice not to have to do that...
This happens regardless of whether I play the harmonic before, after or simultaneously with the normal G. This only happens with these two fret combinations. The two Cs get along just fine (5 string)! Any suggestions? Don't mean to hijack your thread dude, but it looks like you've got an answer or two that should sort your mates bass out.