www.FretlessBass.com

My name is Riju and I'm from Mumbai, India. I bought my first fretless today and I'm loving it. Basically I've been playing for some years now and made the transition today. I'm glad to see that an awesome community like this exists. I think I'll have plenty of questions in the coming days and dont think there's any better place to get em answered.

I play in a humour rock band called Workshop(www.myspace.com/workshopindia), we call our genre heavy mental and I have another project called Albatross(www.soundclick.com/albatrossindia). Anyways glad to meet y'all.

Welcome to the Fretless Bass community Riju. Your questions will help others with similar concerns.

Ask away!

Hey man. Nice to meet you.

Well I bought my bass yesterday(Yamaha RBX270F). There's a small buzz in the strings when I'm sliding in the first five frets. Is it a problem with the strings or the guitar per se? The thing is it only happens when I'm playing unplugged. The amp does not pick up this buzz. Please bear in mind I have never played a fretless before and these questions might seem silly to you. But I'll be grateful for any help.

This does not sound like a serious problem if it does not effect playing through an amplifier.

Does this occur on all of the strings or just some?

When playing amplified, is the loudness in the buzz area the same as the rest of the neck?

Is the instrument easy to play?

Does it have the Mwah sound we talk about?

Does this buzz occur when you play an open string?

Is the fingerboard surface coated or is it natural wood?

It is very unlikely that you have a problem with the strings if they are a normal set.

Have you checked your neck for relief? Search this site for neck, relief, flat, setup, "set-up" for more information. Your neck/fingerboard may not be adjusted for optimal fretless set-up.

There are several possibilities:
The previous owner or set-up technician may have set the action too low at the bridge.
You may have too little relief (neck too straight).
The neck may have a bend in it (other than normal relief curvature).
The fingerboard may need leveling/surfacing.

Your fingerboard should have minimal relief but not be absolutely flat. Some necks can go flat but most need a small amount of relief.

Do the standard relief check by holding a string to the fingerboard at both the 1st position and the end of the fingerboard, look for normal relief. Do this while tuned normally. Measure the maximum relief gap if you have feeler gauge available. If no feeler gauge try to borrow one from an auto mechanic.

Get a good straight edge and place on the fingerboard (tuned) and look for low and/or high spots. The straight edge should be of good quality and be approximately .5 meter in length. Use a back light to shine between fingerboard and straight edge. Make notes of the exact location and nature of any defects.

Please let me know what your relief measurement is, and if you see any defects in the fingerboard surface such as dips, high spots, twists, or other imperfections.

Yamaha basses are usually very good quality so defective neck is low possibility. You most likely just need to adjust the tensioning rod.

While you are obtaining tools, see if you can acquire the proper hex (Allen) wrench to adjust the tensioning rod. Don't adjust it yet, just get the tool. Since you have large seasonal humidity variations you may need to make adjustments twice a year to keep your bass properly set-up.

wow...thanks for this enormous response

It's more pronounced on E and A, and not so much on D, on G its barely audible.

Yes, the loudness is the same everywhere

It's waaay easier to play on my fretted. But then yamahas are a piece of cake as compared to my Fender.

If by mwah you mean the fretless sound, yes. And I love it .

No it doesnt occur when I play an open string.

It is natural wood.

Hey, and I got the tool free with my bass. Won't do it myself since I know squat. I guess I'll give it to luthiers in the area if the problem persists.

Thanks again.

OK, that's all good except for one thing.

You said:

It's waaay easier to play on my fretted. But then yamahas are a piece of cake as compared to my Fender.

I find that statement to be somewhat ambiguous.

It is not typical of a properly set-up fretless bass to be way harder (physically) to play than a fretted. Can you please confirm that this is what you meant?

What is the relief measurement?

How does the neck look when inspected using a straight edge?

would you say that the string buzz is like a bad omen hanging around your neck? ha ha; coleridge.

@redbeardred, hahahahha nice.

@ fretless, that's what i meant. The fretless runs are much easier than the same runs on a fretted. As this is my first fretless, pardon my ignorance.


Relief measurement I have no clue. But I doubt its warped man.

Welcome to fretless bass, Albatross...have a good mwaah!!

Hey thanks. Is this like a welcome kiss?

Welcome to fretlessbass.com

You will find fretted bass less attractive at last

Hey Funk. I already do