I really, really want to be able to set up my own guitars. But every time I do it I seem to make things worse.
This week I was looking at my Yamaha Revstar. It was kinda sorta buzzing above the twelfth fret. (I don’t know if the sound is actually a buzz, but it sounded like something was making contact where it shouldn’t across all the strings at that point. It was fine further up the neck.) I decided I wanted to try to take a look at it myself and save a few dollars.
My first impulse was that the guitar had a backbow and that I needed to add more relief. So, I held my breath and turned the truss rod a bit. I waited a few minutes and then tried the guitar again. No better. So I gave it another slight turn. Waited a few minutes. Tried again. No improvement. If anything, it was worse. Sigh. I decide to give up for the day.
I come back to it again and this time turn it the other way. Wait a little bit. Once again, no improvement. Wait. Try again. Also seems to be getting worse. I put it aside for a little while and dig out the feeler gauges. It seems like my first impulse was correct, and that there’s actually not enough relief. Great. So I try again. Still no improvement.
It occurs to me that maybe it’s the action, not the relief, and I am getting nervous about manipulating the truss rod so much, even though I can’t get my 0.08mm feeler gauge under the string when I put the capo on and measure at around the 8th fret. So I try raising the action at the bridge. This actually helps, a little bit. But when I measure the action, it seems like it’s already where it should be.
Of course, every resource I find online tells me something different about where the action and relief should be. I’m wary of messing up my beloved guitar so I am going to give up and take it to my friendly neighbourhood tech tomorrow. But I’m annoyed because this is something everyone says is easy and straightforward but every time I try to do it myself I end up making things worse and having to take it in anyway. Grumble, grumble.
It appears to me that the problem you are having is that you are making adjustments without having a measurement to back up why you need the adjustment.
You did not mention eliminating any of the other likely causes before targeting the truss rod. I also do not consider 1 day enough time for the neck to move much - I give mine around a week or two.
Causes of buzzing that I often see, in the order of likelihood I expect:
poor fretting finger position
poor fretting finger pressure
fret height consistency
action (bridge and nut heights)
neck bow (truss rod adjustment)
neck twist (never seen, bigger problem that most folks will NOT want to fix themselves)
Make sure you can measure each of these and eliminate in order. These are pretty much in ease of correction as well as likelihood of seeing.
I have seen several recommendations that are guitar related that I’d never do. Sometimes you need to think through the stuff you read online and make a decision if it sounds like good advice. Many of the folks posting are not professionals and are just spewing what they read from similarly poor postings. Feel free to take my post here with a grain of salt!
Truss rod adjustments are usually my LAST resort, not my first.
in many cases, it is saddle height / action. You have to make sure you follow the radius well enough and in some rare cases a nut slot got too much wear from a string.
if it’s a bit off, it might buzz with “only a bit less than perfect fretting fingers”. As sequences said, don’t forget about proper fretting position and pressure.
When you get your guitar back from the tech, take a measurement of all the basics…relief, action, nut height, pickup heights etc; and write them down somewhere.
These are your new reference points for this specific guitar.
The next time you have an issue, you’ll be troubleshooting with the assistance of historical data.
There are professionals that do in-house training sessions and online courses. I bought a signed hard back book from one in the UK that’s in-house guitar tech courses were highly recommended, a quality reference book, and came with a 50% discount code for their guitar tech course covering both electric and acoustic. Maybe there are similar where the OP lives.
Your first point of call is to check the neck relief so it is almost straight or as straight as you can get it. Once that’s done then you can check for any rocking frets using a fret rocker.
Ideally using a notched straight edge for the neck relief first. Adjusting the relief is for the neck and not the action although it will make a minimal difference.
If it doesn’t buzz played open then it’s unlikely to be the nut slot depth.
If it only buzzes on certain frets and then it often comes down to level frets are any high etc. Does it happen across all strings or only on one. Such as the low E etc.
It will be ruling things out one at a time but adjusting a truss rod without any prior measurements isn’t ideal. You can always put it back where it was but I’d get it straight first and then check the frets and the action at the bridge and saddles after that.
Hi David
In your Post you it is buzzing above the 12 fret but also that it seems to buzz across all strings at that point but is fine further up. I am presuming you mean that the buzzing is from the 12 and upwards. Looking at the construction of a revstar it might be that the Neck pickup is too high, another thing that comes to mind is the so called ski ramp effect where the neck starts to raise slightly at the end. This however usually afflicts Bolt on necks with a badly installed shim. Sometimes strange buzzes can be parts of the guitar resonating at certain frequencies. In My case i have had problems with buzzes from the clip on tuner / loose tuner Bushings and the like. If it is a single string it can be caused by a kink in the string which is not visible under tension.
Good Luck
