Tobias basic neck too straight

[guyfergy]

I have many basses and haven't played my Tobias for a long time. I took it out of the case and started to play it when I noticed fret buzz down about the 1st fret. I checked the neck and there wasn't enough relief. I losened the 2 truss rods all the way and let it sit for a few days but that didn't help, the neck was too straight. I had light gauge strings on it , .040 on the G string. I changed the strings and put .050 G string set on and let it set for a few days. It was a little better so I tightened the truss rods up just so that they were putting a little tension on the neck. It's been weeks now and I was hoping that the heavier guage strings would give it some front bow so that the rods would have needed some adjustment but no change. I'm worried that this neck seems to want to have back bow instead of front bow and I have no clue why this happened to my bass in the 1st place. Is there somethign else I can do to correct this. I bought this bass brand new and have taked care of it like a baby. It's never been exposed to extreme temp changes or anything like that. Can you help?

[tim]

If you have fret buzz down around your first fret (I'm assuming you really mean the frets down by the pickups and not by the nut which is really the first fret) then you probably need to raise the bridge a bit, after tightening your truss rod back up a bit...there is a juggling act going on here, enough relief in the middle of the neck so your strings don't vibrate on the neck when you're playing closer to the nut (first 3-5 frets). I usually set my relief at about 2 business card thickness (.015 - .020ish). I play with a light to average touch...if you are an aggressive slap and pop type of player, you may need more relief. Then I play further up the neck like the 14th fret and up and adjust the height of the bridge until the strings don't vibrate on the neck. sometimes I need to go back and readjust the truss rod again. You should always adjust the truss rod(s) with little to no tension on the strings. If this still isn't working for you than the best thing to do is take your Toby to a qualified luthier and have him/her take a look at it. You DON"T want to be snapping your truss rod in there...it'll ruin your whole day and the better part of your evening.

If you really are having buzz up on the first fret by the nut, then the grooves in the nut are most likely cut (or worn) too low. Not much you can do about that other than have a new nut cut by a luthier/guitar tech.

[guyfergy]

My Tobias

No, I am talking about the 1st fret at the nut. This is from too much back bow and not enough relief.

[tim]

guyfergy,

Do you have a long straight edge that is pretty much as long as the neck? It has to be straight. If you have one, lay it on the neck and see how much back bow that you have. I've never seen a bass with back bow set in it that has two truss rods in it, especially when it's been strung to pitch tension. Whenever I hear a buzzing first fret, it's always been a nut that's been worn down over the years of tuning or it's the first fret that's popped up out of the fret kerf a bit.

Your best bet is to have a good luthier/guitar tech take a look at it.

[guyfergy]

My Tobias

I just got a machinest straight edge that will cover the whole neck and also got a fret rocker from StuMac. I'll check it out. Since this bass wasn't used much I didn't consider nut wear, Thanks, I'll check it out and post when I get it all figured out.

[jrfrond]

When checking nut height, here is a quick test: press the string down at the 3rd fret. If you don't have any clearance between the first fret and the string, the nut is too low. On a bass, the clearance should be about the thickness of two business cards. If it passes THAT test, then press each string down at the first and last frets (a capo comes in handy here). If you clearance isn't about the same (again, on a bass) between the string and the 8th fret, then you may have a relief issue.

Personally, unless a neck is backbowed, I don't consider it to be "too straight". A dead-flat neck with a slight increase in string height will always feel better to play than low action and some relief, but the lack of relief tends to magnify any anomalies in fret height. Some instruments won't play dead-flat unless the frets are leveled and maincured.

[tim]

guyfergy,

I was wondering if you had looked into this yet....just curious...