LeftyBassist.com

I have a 3 week old bass I just got(pictures pending) and in the middle of playing this morning I got some weirdass buzz from my A string while playing an open string. Fretting, there doesn't seem to be a problem and all the other strings seem ok. Tried various volumes. Tried removing the amp to somewhere different so it wasn't getting buzz from something behind or touching it. Still the same problem.

If I hadn't tried the open string I might not have noticed. What's wrong and how can I fix it?

Ibanez 300L bass
Peavey KB15 amp
Planet Waves cable

Amp is maybe 20 years old. The other two are new or very close to....anything else?

Midnight

if you unplug your bass, press your ear against the body, and pluck the A-string - do you still hear the buzz?

there's several things it could be - both bass and/or amp. establishing that you can hear the buzz even when the bass is unplugged helps to narrow down which way to look further.

ideally we'd just be able to check this out in person .... since we can't, we'll take a hunt/peck mode at isolating the issue

all the best,

R

Try to determine where the buzz is coming from. Pluck the A string and hold the A string saddle to see if it is buzzing at the bridge. If you can hold the saddle and the note rings clear with no buzz then there's your culprit. It may be a poorly cut nut slot too. a lazy man test (which I am) is to stick a thin strip of paper under the A string in the nut slot and see if that corrects the open string buzz.

If I had to guess though, I'd say it's probably the bridge. Rod will be along with the "I actually know what I'm talking about" answer soon. That's the answer I suck at.


* Rod beat me to the punch.*

Course the other thing it could be is the idiot noob behind the bass not checking his eqs to make sure he didn't have everything cranked all the way, thus creating more distortion than he probably needed.

Thanks for the helpful advice. I found the eq thing while adjusting a saddle and turning wrong knob for volume. Hopefully next time I won't be quite so noob.

"By Fire".... the greatest way to learn sometimes:)

Midnight