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Posted by: NoSkill May 28 2010, 03:00 PM

Hi Bogdan,

I have two bass guitars. A Fender Jazz Bass, and a Musicman Stingray. In some of the recordings I've made with the J bass, there was a clicking when I picked the strings. I had the action very low and was able to greatly decrease that sound by raising the action a bit. The noise, as I could tell, was coming from the strings making a contact "click," with the upper register frets, after I plucked the string. This only happened when I was plucking aggressively.

The Stingray has a different tendency. When I fret and pluck the note, it sounds pure, but when I release the fret, I get a minute buzz. This shows up in recording, but I don't hear it when I play. I've messed with the action, but get the same result with it higher, or lower. The noise is coming from the string buzzing against the fret that I'm playing, WHEN I release my finger. I get the same noise if I release fast or slow. How do I fix this? There is a tiny bit of relief on the neck, but it's essentially flat. Maybe a few thousands with the bass fretted at the body joint ant the first fret.

Sorry, I don't know the strings or gauge. It's still strung with what it had from the music store.

I hope I'm explaining myself well enough.

Thanks, Bogdan!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 28 2010, 03:15 PM

I believe I hear similar "issue" on Bogdan's bass guitar too. Not sure what is the solution, and if there is any. You said raising the action helps. I think this clicking sound is something "normal" for jazz bass. Not sure if it can be removed completely. I always hear clicking sound on a J-type bass, if you bang it.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 28 2010, 07:09 PM

Very interesting questions.

That clicking sound comes from the way you attack strings with your fingers. If you make a nice "swing" with your plucking fingers before attacking the string clicking sound will come out. In order not to have it, try making the shortest "swing" and being really close to string your are plucking. That way you will be able to avoid it completely. Also rising the action should help. Clicking is most easily accomplished on on thickest strings.

Now generally this really depends a lot on the style of your playing. Mr. Steve Harris for example loves that sound and most other bassists that like that "heavy dirty sound" have those "percussive clicks" intentionally. I also like that sound very much and tend to "use" those clicks very often especially on passages that need more accented/energy/aggressive tone.

And yeah, Fender precisions and jazz basses tend to accent those clicks more then other type of basses.

Regarding the second problem about fret buzz coming from releasing the string I haven't really much thought about it. I think you are bound to have it more or less. More when playing finger style as the string is vibrating in certain way/direction and less when playing with a pick. It shouldn't be too much obvious in recording though. Don't use tone that has exaggerated treble (high) frequencies since there will be noises heard from all over the place and sound won't be natural.

Generally I would always suggest taking one of your basses (main one) to the technician for the professional setup. Also put new strings , regular gauge will do nicely something like - 45-105

Posted by: NoSkill May 30 2010, 04:28 PM

Thanks, Ivan and Bogdan. That information is useful.

Bogdan, if I select a different tone, then I don't notice the Stingray at all. As for the Jazz bass, I'm just going to embrace the click. I lowered the action on the Stingray, added some relief to the neck and reset the intonation and am back in love.

Cheers!

Tom

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 31 2010, 08:06 PM

QUOTE (NoSkill @ May 30 2010, 05:28 PM)

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 3 2010, 11:11 PM

On this web site you can get a free book on how to setup your bass:
http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/

Its very well done!

Posted by: NoSkill Jun 4 2010, 05:09 PM

That's good stuff man!