Regarding fretbuzz after self-setup a cheap Craftsman bass for low action

[edyeo123]

Hi.

Just a brief intro.

*Clarification: I'm not a bass player i do not know much technical stuff about bass but I play and know some technical stuff about guitars.


I have a friend who owns a Craftsman j bass copy. The problem is it comes with high action in stock condition and it was not setup yet. He could not send to citymusic for setup because warranty is expired.

My friend approached me and I offered to setup the bass for him. (I had experience setting-up an electric guitar before. It was successful actually, low action, minimal relief with minimal buzz).

I first checked the relief. I felt that it needed a truss-rod turn because from my judgement, the curvature is quite a lot.

I detuned the bass and turn the truss-rod (It comes very tight as i turned it). After turning the truss-rod (which much attempt as i turned, it became tighter), the relief is much lesser (but still the neck couldn't be dead-straight, still have slight curvature) and i went on to lower the action at the saddle area.

After lowering the action, I checked for intonation and it was ok.

>>> However, the problem is as i pressed the frets while playing the bass, it caused some fret-buzz, and a more amount of buzz @ fret 4 and 6. I do not want to make the action higher as it was not comfortable to play...

The good thing is the buzz was not amplified on the amp.

In conclusion, is there any way to make the fret-buzz minimal or is it normal to have fret-buzz due to thick bass strings?

Pls state ur comments. Any help will be much appreciated.

Thank you very much.
Ed.

 

[alanchia]

either the frets needed to be filed down, or (very likely) perhaps you being a non-bass player may have exerted alot of strength on the strings while playing and thus cause the buzz.

 

[Resetti]

it all depends if you can live with it or not.... even if the buzz gets amplified by the amp and you can hear it through the amp, you may be able to cut some treble frequencies with EQ to remove it.... it all depends on if you like the tone when you cut the frequencies or not also...

if you cannot solve it and cannot live with the buzz then better take it to a pro tech to look at it and see what needs to be done. stuff like filing the frets and all that should leave it to the pros to do i think.

 

[funkygeos]

As long the buzz is not amplified, its ok~

 

[AlNino10]

yeah a slight buzz is fine, as long as it doesnt come out through th amps.

thats the trade off fer having really low action.

i usually setup my bass to a mid height so i dont get a buzz while th strings are still pretty close to th fretboard.