help and advice needed : corvette 5 strings neck buzzing

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benlh

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Hi to all,

I recently note a strange sound on my corvette 5 strings. Indeed when I play on the A string a metallic buzz is present and it seems to come from inside the neck. I'm afraid it is the truss-rod that have a problem.

The sound is really annoying on long notes but can be imperceptible on short ones. As I said above, this phenomenon appears only on the A string (and emphasized on open string) and never on the others strings.

I bought the bass, brand new in a music shop about 3 years ago. It was part of the last series produced in Germany. I think it's too early to have a such problem on this kind of bass. The bass was regularly (once per year) checked and adjusted (neck curvature, string action, intonation) by the shop where I bought it and I only made small adjustments on the truss-rod when needed (1/2 turn max to get rid of frets buzz).

When I gently shake my bass or gently beat the neck, it looks to me as if something move in the neck. I checked all the elements on the neck (machine head etc...) but all is well screwed.

Did anyone as an idea about the problem and the source of the buzz ?

I just hope that the truss-rod is not broken and the neck not dead...

Thanks for your help

EDIT : the buzz on the A string depend also on the attack : a soft attack will produce no noise or a very little buzz while a hard attack will create a well earring metallic buzz (it's not the frets !)
 
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You can try turning the tussrod just a little bit one way or the other. It may be loose.
 
I already tried to turn the trussrod but nothing changed.
If it is loosed, maybe I should do that without the strings on the bass ?
 
If it is the trussrod it should probably resonate on other A's as well. I'd try and raise the nut half a turn to see what happens.
 
on the others strings I didn't notice any buzz playing A notes.
I will try to raise the nut tomorrow and will give you the result as soon as possible but why do you think it could change something ?
Is it a question of resonance ?
 
the A string is part of the pack I installed on my bass. It's been perhaps one year that the strings are on the bass. For more details, I use Elixir nanoweb strings, same gauge as the original warwick strings : 45-65-85-105-130TW.
 
Schlobster is right, it might also simply be a bad A string. If it were the trussrod then yes it would be a question of resonance but somehow I think it isn't the rod. Another posible cause is the bridge saddle.

You can try eliminating posibilities by fitting the A string on the D string position and see what happens.
 
benlh said:
the A string is part of the pack I installed on my bass. It's been perhaps one year that the strings are on the bass. For more details, I use Elixir nanoweb strings, same gauge as the original warwick strings : 45-65-85-105-130TW.
Click to expand...

Just try :)
 
ok, that sounds sensible. I will try an other A string and also try to put the A string at D string place.
thanks to all for your help, I hope I will be able to give you good news tomorrow :)
 
Hi there,

I had a simmilar buzz or rattle with the E string on my Streamer LX. At first, like you, I thought it was something related to the trussrod until I decided to change strings and see what happens, and violà, the buzz dissapeared. For some reason, ONLY that string made a buzz that seemed to be inside the neck.

Hope you solve your buzz soon. 8:
 
Sometimes it is hard to track the source of a buzz, but you canlet the open string ring, and put the hand on a nut, or bridge, etc, and see if the buzz stops. If the tr is loose, that will buzz o other strings too, and it is hardly a open, metallic buzz...
 
hi guys,

So today I tried several things you suggest me yesterday.

First, I changed the A string by an other A string coming from an other string pack and the result was the same.

Thus, I re-installed the original A string and changed the nut height. To do this I released the strings and lowered the nut to the maximum, then I raised it with one complete turn on the each screws (indeed, the nut was much higher than that before I modify it). I tuned the strings progressively and tried to play a little.

As a result, the buzz on the open A string has disappeared :D
However, I can still hear few buzz on some notes like B on the A string 2nd fret.

So the result is better than I had at the beginning of the problem but I have the feeling that it's not clearly finish.
I think I have to let the bass one or two days for stabilisation and I will see If the problem is still present.

Thanks again to all for your help, I'll give you news before the end of the week.
 
A bit more truss rod relief and accordingly adjusting your bridge will most probably fix the buz on your 2nd fret.
Good to hear raising the nut is helping.

Cheers, Marco
 
Yeah,

Thanks to all. I was afraid that the neck was dead.
I didn't think that such bad adjustments on nut provoke buzz like that.
I think I will give the bass to adjust by a pro in order to be sure having the good adjustments.

Best regards
 
I played a little today and it was great : no buzz !!!
Hope it is really gone.
 
I had a similar experience with my '98 FNA5 where the A string started to buzz, after close inspection I discovered that the original JANII nut was sagging in the middle causing the A string to be much lower than the rest. Replaced the JANII with a brass JANIII and all was better.
 
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