police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 So, I've had my Bravewood 'Sting' relic/replica since November last year. An incredible bass but it suffered fret buzz quite a lot. I put this down to tuning it to Eb, neck relief etc. I finally got round to taking it to me local tech, 'Andy Crockett'. He said he's seen this before and could sort it. Well he eventually did a fret level and it made no difference. Very strange. Andy said that's also happened in the past, where he just can't sort it. Everything is as it should be. Last ditch effort, Andy said, 'try changing the strings'. So I picked up the '83 JV Squier P bass which had a set of lightly used Swing bass (tuned to E this one) and swapped the strings over, making sure to put the Bravewood strings on the Squier. Hey presto, Bravewood almost as perfect as anything else (detuned to Eb too) and the squire had developed the Bravewood problem, only worse. I don't know what the strings were, but they were nickel wound and I think had lower tension. Anyone else come across this problem/fix Here's a gratuitous picture of the Bravewood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkyard Rocket Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I had something similar when I first bought my CIJ mustang when they could be picked up for £300 secondhand. As soon as I got it home I took off the roundwounds & put on a set of thomastik JF-324 flats, which are just as light & floppy as my favourite long scale 344s. I did as a good a setup as I could, but there was awful fret buzz around 7-9th frets which made the bass fairly unplayable. It seemed that this was due to the lighter strings being unable to pull any relief into the neck. I took it to the Gallery & the diagnosis was that the frets needed to be levelled. A fews days later I picked it up and it was perfect - no buzz or choked notes at all. The frets were leveled, crowned & the edges smoothed, and surprisingly there was now the ideal amount of relief in the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) You'd think Gordon would take better care of his bass! Edited August 8, 2013 by iconic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 [quote name='Junkyard Rocket' timestamp='1375945320' post='2167632'] I had something similar when I first bought my CIJ mustang when they could be picked up for £300 secondhand. As soon as I got it home I took off the roundwounds & put on a set of thomastik JF-324 flats, which are just as light & floppy as my favourite long scale 344s. I did as a good a setup as I could, but there was awful fret buzz around 7-9th frets which made the bass fairly unplayable. It seemed that this was due to the lighter strings being unable to pull any relief into the neck. I took it to the Gallery & the diagnosis was that the frets needed to be levelled. A fews days later I picked it up and it was perfect - no buzz or choked notes at all. The frets were leveled, crowned & the edges smoothed, and surprisingly there was now the ideal amount of relief in the neck. [/quote] I had the frets levelled etc and bearing in mind the bass is almost new, it still rattled. Maybe the strings were lower tension or possibly just knackered, who knows but it's lovely now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 My lovely Bravewood jazz neck has always had a rattle around the third fret, mainly on the A string. Had a complete re-fret..and it was still there. Best guess is there is carbon fibre reinforcement that keeps it from relief (truss rod is almost loose). Its a great neck and wears heavy flats so its not a problem, but if it had rounds (DR Sunbeams) I'd have to resort to some spot levelling to make it play well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) I would have gone to flats but there's no need now Edited August 8, 2013 by police squad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 [quote name='police squad' timestamp='1375942997' post='2167611'] Anyone else come across this problem/fix [/quote] Not as such, but everything else being equal, a higher tension string will "travel" less and theoretically should buzz less. Although I wonder if you've just added extra relief by increasing the amount of pull on the neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I should also add, in the interests of balance, that I also used to have a one piece maple P bass Bravewood neck. Not only was it the best neck I have ever played (or heard!) the fret work was great and had no issues at all with either DR Sunbeams or Thomastik (floppy) flats. Your Pbass looks fantastic - whats the weight like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) [quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1375960051' post='2167860'] Not as such, but everything else being equal, a higher tension string will "travel" less and theoretically should buzz less. Although I wonder if you've just added extra relief by increasing the amount of pull on the neck. [/quote] relief is fine. As I said, it was set up by my local tech. He said everything was perfect. It must be the tension thing which reminds me, how do they increase the tension in strings without changing the gauge? Edited August 8, 2013 by police squad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 [quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1375960054' post='2167861'] Your Pbass looks fantastic - whats the weight like? [/quote] I don't know what it weighs but it's very light. John is a massive Police/Sting fan and copied Sting's number one bass for me (as far as the pictures will allow). I've even got the same seymour duncan custom shop p/up as Sting uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) - Edited February 19, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Hey Jus, where abouts in south east england are you? any where near Dover? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) - Edited February 19, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
police squad Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 ah ok, it's just that when I used to frequent the Gibson les paul forum I noticed a similar signature and the chap was in the next village to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 [quote name='police squad' timestamp='1375960165' post='2167863'] relief is fine. As I said, it was set up by my local tech. He said everything was perfect. It must be the tension thing which reminds me, how do they increase the tension in strings without changing the gauge? [/quote] If you increase the string tension, it will increase the relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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