Having issues with a mystery buzz/rattle on my parts P-bass I built in 2021. (Warmoth neck, MIM Fender body).
Some months ago, I started noticing a buzz/rattle just hitting a low F note on the first fret of the low E. I adjusted the truss rod and tried a few different amounts of relief but no dice. Still rattled- even with high action.
Next, I brought down the nut slot a bit, thinking perhaps it was too high and I wasn’t fretting the note cleanly enough as a result. Dialed that in and no still no change.
I then start noticing a buzz on the low B flat note fretted on the 6th fret of the low E in addition to the low F. So now I think it’s definitely a sympathetic vibration and some hardware is rattling. I checked all my screws on the tuners, string tree, etc. I even swapped around tuners to try to isolate it. No change.
I also had an issue with the tuner bushings starting to pull up out of their holes. I had opened up the holes slightly with sandpaper when I installed them and did slightly too much. I took the bushings out, put some Titebond on them, and then reinserted so the glue would fill the extra space in there. They seemed to stay put, but the bushings weren’t perfectly seated because I just pushed them in by hand.
To see if this was the issue, I put together a little DIY bushing tool with a machine bolt, two washers, a wing nut, and some felt for padding. This worked well in pushing the bushings that last little tiny bit and are now very securely seated in their holes.
The rattle is now much worse- extremely loud and metallic ugly buzz coming from somewhere on or near headstock. It’s really hard to pinpoint its exact location. It’s as if fully seating the bushings made the vibration transfer better and the rattle got worse.
I’m worried the truss rod or (maybe more likely) one of the steel stiffening bars is the culprit. It’s definitely not fret buzz and I’ve done everything I can think of to address hardware rattling on the headstock.
Has anyone encountered this?
Is there a good way to confirm my suspicion?
Anything else I could rule out?
Some months ago, I started noticing a buzz/rattle just hitting a low F note on the first fret of the low E. I adjusted the truss rod and tried a few different amounts of relief but no dice. Still rattled- even with high action.
Next, I brought down the nut slot a bit, thinking perhaps it was too high and I wasn’t fretting the note cleanly enough as a result. Dialed that in and no still no change.
I then start noticing a buzz on the low B flat note fretted on the 6th fret of the low E in addition to the low F. So now I think it’s definitely a sympathetic vibration and some hardware is rattling. I checked all my screws on the tuners, string tree, etc. I even swapped around tuners to try to isolate it. No change.
I also had an issue with the tuner bushings starting to pull up out of their holes. I had opened up the holes slightly with sandpaper when I installed them and did slightly too much. I took the bushings out, put some Titebond on them, and then reinserted so the glue would fill the extra space in there. They seemed to stay put, but the bushings weren’t perfectly seated because I just pushed them in by hand.
To see if this was the issue, I put together a little DIY bushing tool with a machine bolt, two washers, a wing nut, and some felt for padding. This worked well in pushing the bushings that last little tiny bit and are now very securely seated in their holes.
The rattle is now much worse- extremely loud and metallic ugly buzz coming from somewhere on or near headstock. It’s really hard to pinpoint its exact location. It’s as if fully seating the bushings made the vibration transfer better and the rattle got worse.
I’m worried the truss rod or (maybe more likely) one of the steel stiffening bars is the culprit. It’s definitely not fret buzz and I’ve done everything I can think of to address hardware rattling on the headstock.
Has anyone encountered this?
Is there a good way to confirm my suspicion?
Anything else I could rule out?
