I've just finished a DIY setup on my old Fenix Jazz bass. It always had a horribly high action at the first few frets, and was strung with very old and heavy strings.
I've carried out a setup - the nut needed quite a bit of filing to bring the string heights down to a sensible level. I've also fitted a new set of Newtone 042-096 roundwound.
The playability is massively improved; I'm no longer having to actually work at applying pressure to fret in the first few positions! However the low E is buzzing. The buzz seems to be the same regardless of where I fret it so I don't think it's do to with the nut. I can make the buzz disappear by pressing firmly on the string behind the saddle, so I wondered if there was something loose in the bridge assembly - but I've gone over it all and there's nothing free to vibrate.
Any ideas? The only worry I have is that the strings were all very long, and I had to shorten them before installing - apparently this is a bad idea with Newtone strings, but I couldn't see any other way to install them. Not cutting would have left about twelve wraps around the post... could cutting the string before it was under tension have caused this?
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But if the problem is at the saddle end, that sounds less likely unless the whole wrap has shifted on the core right down the length of the string... maybe possible, I don't know - I've never cut a Newtone before fitting it.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I was trying to avoid having to wind it up to tension with a foot of spare string flapping around!
I'll get a replacement low E ordered and see if that fixes it. Thanks for your help.
If the Fenix bass has through body stringing, there could be a problem where the string meets the lip of the hole through baseplate of the bridge.
Finally, how high is the saddle adjusted? On some Gotoh (and clone) bridges, the low E saddle can end up adjusted all the way down, resting on the baseplate. There is an argument for shimming the neck so that the bridge saddles can be adjusted upwards.
They're all adjusted pretty damn low - I actually did wonder about shimming the neck to give me a bit more adjustment range but decided to do without that for the time being:
I have made sure that all the saddle screws are tight, so they're not what is rattling.
If you cut, remember to do it from the bottom . A friend of mine didn't .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Good call on shortening the saddle screws. I don't tend to have my hand there when playing but it'd be good to reduce them anyway.
Edit for the benefit of future readers of this thread: replacing the E string did indeed get rid of the buzz, so it looks like the problem was caused by cutting it before it was under tension. I must have been lucky with the other three.
The only question is how much to take off. (Or simply replace with shorter ones, if you know the thread size.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein