Fretless 'buzz' - seems to be down to a slight kink in a string. Can strings be straightened?

[pn_day]

Dear all,

 

I recently changed my fretless 5-string Clement from black tapewounds (I've had D'Addarios on there, and La Bella's before that) to rather lovely and brigher Gold White nylon tapewounds from La Bella (760G-B). This was all great apart from on one string - the A string had an extreme MWAH/buzz (depending on string height) just behind the 9th fret line (only on this 1 string, and only at this point on the neck). https://www.labella.com/product/760g-b/. 

 

I wasted several weeks monkeying around with neck relief, action, reseating strings in the saddles, feeling the neck for high spots, and gradually got more confused. However, today I took the offending string off to try and reseat it again, and noticed a subtle wave/kink in the string - just at this point. I wish I'd seen it before, but there we go - it's all part of the learning experience!

 

This was a new set bought just a few weeks ago - so I'm a bit miffed. 

 

Has anyone had success in straightening out imperfections in a string? I wondered about tuning the A up a 4th and letting it sit for a day or 2 to see if the kink would stretch out. Thoughts from those with more experience would be most welcome.

 

I'm reluctant to bin the strings - but might have to just to get an even sound throughout the neck.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer. 

 

Phil

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by pn_day
typos

[itu]

The kink should be bent back. It is not easy but far more effective than trying to break it with higher tension. Take your time.

[pn_day]

Thanks for the help @itu

 

[Dan Dare]

Given that strings are made to be flexible, "straightening" them isn't really an option. If it's an actual kink and you attempt to bend it in the opposite direction, you may fatigue it and cause it to fail when it's taken up to tension. Probably safest to replace it. It sounds as if it could have been faulty - is there any chance you could return it and get a replacement?

 

[Andyjr1515]

I would certainly contact the supplier and see what they can/will do.  Explain to them what you have said in your opening post.  You can just about get away with an aberration with a fretted bass but it never works satisfactorily with a fretless - the tolerances between buzz and no buzz are infinitesimally small!

 

 

[pn_day]

Just a follow up to this. 
I tried re-bending to remove the kink. Unfortunately I couldn't get it good enough to please my preferred low action on the fretless - so I then tried to add more tension to the string to flatten it out - and eventually did the foolish thing of snapping the string. What a muppet!

 

I bought a new set, and have asked BassDirect if they can source an individual string separately - currently they don't have the individual strings in stock.