I just bought a bass and when setting it up I realized the bass has bad fret buzz on the higher frets.It starts around fret 14/15, and it's almost like a 'fretting out' sound. The note doesn't ring out, it gets cut out. And if I drop the saddles even a little, the note doesn't even exist and you'll hear the same note (the note before it cuts out) over and over.^^^ hope that makes senseI checked for high frets by using a metal ruler and credit card and there does not seem to be any high frets.The action has to be too high (for my liking) for the buzzing not to be there. The saddles can barely make it half way down before it buzzes like crazy again. There is no buzzing on any other frets around the fretboard.The truss rod is tight, it can go further but it is tight. Saddles are 90% maxed out in height.
There is a shim, but a thin shim.TL;DR:- Frets 14 - 20 are fretting out and buzzing, no other frets are affected-Bridge saddles have to be high in order to remedy the buzzing, raising the action too high for my liking-NO high frets- What's wrong?I did search for higher fret buzzing but need some personal instructionAny thoughts? I just bought a bass and when setting it up I realized the bass has bad fret buzz on the higher frets.It starts around fret 14/15, and it's almost like a 'fretting out' sound. The note doesn't ring out, it gets cut out. And if I drop the saddles even a little, the note doesn't even exist and you'll hear the same note (the note before it cuts out) over and over.^^^ hope that makes senseI checked for high frets by using a metal ruler and credit card and there does not seem to be any high frets.The action has to be too high (for my liking) for the buzzing not to be there. The saddles can barely make it half way down before it buzzes like crazy again. There is no buzzing on any other frets around the fretboard.The truss rod is tight, it can go further but it is tight. Saddles are 90% maxed out in height.
There is a shim, but a thin shim.TL;DR:- Frets 14 - 20 are fretting out and buzzing, no other frets are affected-Bridge saddles have to be high in order to remedy the buzzing, raising the action too high for my liking-NO high frets- What's wrong?I did search for higher fret buzzing but need some personal instructionAny thoughts? Click to expand.Well strings are different tensions. Higher tension strings have more pull and then there's the particular wood used for the neck and the design of the neck.I have basses that take almost nothing to adjust.and then I have one that seems to take a lot of turn to even get the neck to move.You may possibly have to shim if none of the above advice works effectively.Different necks seem to respond differently to truss rod adjutsments.
Some make a 'bow'.Others the string nut end of the neck comes up in a bit of a 'ski jump ' effect.Depending on which end of the neck the adjustment nut is can also affect the look of the 'bow' that is formed in my experience.
You need a little bit of bow in the neck so fret the E string at the first fret and the last fret as the neck connects to the body; it doesn't flex after this. This makes a straight line between the two frets. Now measure how much the string sits above the 12th fret. Also look at whether the string hits the frets further on from the 12th. On the G string, push down on the string at the first fret and the last fret at the same time. You should be able to slip only about 2-3 sheets of paper under the string around the 9th fret. (not that you can actually slip paper under there.your hands are busy holding down the string.).