Fender 1973 Precision - how to diagnose fret issue?

[Druxar]

I am in possession of a 1973 Precision bass that someone else owns and wants to sell so I was looking it over and doing the research on it (This is the first time I touched a bass, so I'm a beginner with some electric guitar experience).

 

On the 2 high strings up near the highest few frets close to the body, those 2 high strings go buzzy or else two sequential frets sound the same note.

 

What is the most likely cause of that? I was thinking the truss rod may not impact that outer section of the neck so much so could it be worn frets or some other type of neck deformity?

[Kindness]

It could be lots of things. It could be a high or low fret or frets. It could be too much relief in the neck with too low of saddle height. You can read my setup guide below to see if it is something you can correct with a setup.

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2067718

[BigPigPeaches]

If the strings are high-tension, there could also be a hump in the neck - fairly common in older Fenders at that spot.

 

Kindness's setup guide is definitely the place to start, but if you are not 100% sure what the problem is, I would take it to a luthier for evaluation.

[Druxar]

Would they charge an inspection fee normally if I'm looking for insights and a quote?

 

I did try a few setup things, I did some truss adjustments over the past week and now I also tried adjusting the action to no avail, so my next experiment was to take a sheet of paper and lay it over the frets in that area to in theory build up the fret again and sure enough suddenly the frets sounded properly, distinct notes rather than 2 or 3 frets doing the same highest note.

 

Does that point to fret wear or is it meaningless info since I could have simply compensated for any of the possible array of problems and not just fret wear by doing that?