String alignment issue.

[aragorn35016]

Hey guys I'm pretty close to my 1 year anniversary with my essence and its every bit still as cool when I bought it! Bday is coming up and with that I asked the wife If I could put the bass in the shop for some fret crowning (the bass is 25 years old). In addition to that Id like to see about getting the strings realigned to the fret board. I didn't notice how bad it was off before I started hanging the bass on the wall, and now it drives me crazy to look at. I have a high spot on one of my frets on the G string and I actually think the buzz it brings is from the string sitting right on the end of the fret. Before I go and spend the 60 dollars for new bridge saddles, I was going to get the collectives opinion and see if there may be anything I'm overlooking to cause this issue. The string spacing is pretty accurate, its all just shifted to the right.  Apologies for the not so clear shots, I just got a new phone, and I am not happy with the camera on it at all.

[gtrguy]

I would start by asking myself some questions;
Does the high string have a tendency to slip off the fretboard while playing? If not, it is probably OK.
Is the bridge jacked up unevenly? Try leveling it out and do a setup on it. However, The low string does look shifted over some.
Are you happy with the middle 2 strings? They may be OK or you may be able to swap saddles on them to line them up more to your preference.

I bought a bass with a similar problem a couple years ago and all it really needed was to shift the low string over to the outside a bit. Thanks to Nick (Afrobeat Fool) and the forum I was able to obtain an unused saddle and move the low E to a better position (or was it the high string? Memory is not perfect).

[aragorn35016]

The g string can roll of the fretboard but its pretty much like every musicman bass Ive ever owned in that regard. The strings themselves are all equally spaced so if you were to just move one string it would throw the whole symmetry out of wack. I have tried flattening the bridge  and it helps very little, but then either the action is to high on the g string side or too low on the E string side when I do that. its almost like the entire bridge needs to be shifted slightly to the left. I wonder what the cost difference would be between buying new saddles and paying someone to file the proper slots vs. (if possible) adding a bridge block and move the bridge over in the process?

[aragorn35016]

It almost seems like this not uncommon on the 4's to have a little drift to the treble side. Here's a couple of TB pics with the same issue.


https://www.talkbass.com/attachments/p1010018s-jpg.220968/


https://www.talkbass.com/threads/alembic-essence-1750.1193865/


https://www.talkbass.com/threads/fs-1999-alembic-essence-4-w-europa-electronics.1046510/

[pauldo]

Curious . . . 
It is hard to say how much parralax we are experiencing, but the last link in your latest message has a photo that looks like the tailpiece is mounted off center of the neck.  Although tailpiece (slot) position is important it does not define where the bridge aligns the strings to the neck.

You are saying the the G "can" roll off the neck, but does it really roll off the neck to the point of being a nuisance?  I CAN roll my Distillate's G off of the neck, but it is not a problem . . . .  unless I am sloppy drunk when playing (which embarrassingly enough has occurred in the deep dark past - I like to think I am more mature these days).  Then that is not a string alignment issue, it is the interface between brain and fingers . . . .


I digress - have your frets redressed and see if the buzz goes away and then convince yourself that everything doesn't have to be symmetrical to be beautiful.

[aragorn35016]

I actually got rid of the buzz on the one fret yesterday, i gave treble side truss rod a 1/4 turn to  flatten that side of the neck and slightly raised that side of the bridge and its seemed to solve that problem! Your right on the symmetry thing, I need to let it go!

[pauldo]

I actually got rid of the buzz on the one fret yesterday, i gave treble side truss rod a 1/4 turn to  flatten that side of the neck and slightly raised that side of the bridge and its seemed to solve that problem! Your right on the symmetry thing, I need to let it go!

Glad the buzz is gone.
Letting go?  Easier said than done, I think we all have "things" that we get over anal about (I know I do) and we know we shouldn't and then the wrestling match starts; "I should be ok with this, but I'm not.  Really I should be ok with this because . . . .  but it bothers me because . . . . ". Back and forth we go, the curse of the analytical mind and general human condition.