Hi guys, so I bought a bass (TRBX174) and sent it for a set up at my local music store about a month ago. I got it back and couldn’t test it thoroughly until recently. I discovered that it wasn’t done properly. First few frets near the head have buzz due to the strings being too low.
I tried to do a set up myself with the video guide on BassBuzz’s youtube, which lead me loosen the trussrod. However, I’ve loosened it to the point of no resistance (many counter-clockwise turns), yet the strings are still touching the frets when i test it out.
New or used bass? (Or really) Did you buy from a retailer or a private individual?
Are you sure you’re loosening the truss rod and not tightening it?
Are you sure you’re using the right sized alan key and actually moving the bolt, and not just stripping it out?
Are you noticing any actual change when you make adjustments, or does it not seem like anything is happening?
“Many turns” should produce a LARGE and very noticeable effect. 1 complete turn is a major adjustment. “Many” should get your neck from completely unplayable one way to completely unplayable the other.
It sounds like you either have a defective product that needs to be returned.
Or you stripped out the head of the bolt with a slightly too-small alan key which is why you’re now getting “no resistance”.
I bought it new from the music store.
Here’s what I’ve done:
I’ve looked at the yamaha bass manual, so I am sure that I’m loosening it, and with the right sized alan key.
I do small (not whole) turns and wait at least 15 minutes before retuning. (Although I’m sure the number of small turns add up to a significant amount)
To check that the truss rod nut isn’t stripped, I’ve turned it back the other way (clockwise) and can confirm that I’ve gotten resistance back when I turn it.
There’s not a noticeable difference after making a small turn when I check with a business card, still can’t fit the card in as the strings still touch the frets. And of course the buzz remains the same.
Can you take a picture and show us? When you say first few, are you referring to at the head or at the bridge? If the first few frets are buzzing the nut at the head may be too low to begin with?
Sounds like it’s way too loose tbh. Loosening too much would make it buzz on those first frets because of the way the neck would bow. I’d slowly tighten the truss rod until the neck is just ever so slightly concave, then raise the action up to about 3mm which is on the higher side but should reset everything and get rid of the buzz. Once its there and the buzz is gone, you can start to adjust the action back down until you either get it somewhere you like it or just above where those first frets start to buzz.
I started with a 174 and had issues with it buzzing at the first fret on the D and G strings. I had to keep the action higher than I’d otherwise have liked.
Edit: If you get it to where the buzzing is gone, and you’re reasonably happy with where the action is set, the 3rd step to all this is to set your intonation. You’ll need a decent tuner and a phillips screwdriver to adjust the screws on the bridge.
So like - buzzing because you can’t actually fret properly? That there’s so much bow that you could press down to the fingerboard, and the string wouldn’t make solid contact on the fret?