I bought my first guitar about one and a half weeks ago in person from a store, an electric Ibanez GRG170DX-SV. Itās been real fun, but the last couple of days some slight fret buzz has started making an appearance while playing the first few frets on the thinner stings. The third string second fret sounds especially bad. Itās quite the buzzkill (sorry).
It looks like the neck is slighly bending backwards, but itās honestly very hard to tell. Pressing on the back of the neck (close to the headstock) while playing removes the buzzing sound. This suggests that a sliiightly bent neck is the issue, right? I am planning on taking it back to the store to get help fixing it. It was working fine when I bought it.
Now, I do have a confession to makeā¦ I sleep with the window open. The guitar is stored in a wardrobe pretty far away from the window, but it is in the bedroom nonetheless. It gets pretty cold during the night, so I suspect the temperature change might be the cause of our suffering. I have learned my lesson, from now on I will keep my room room temperature.
My question is this: Is it reasonable to assume that temperature change is the reason my guitar has started fret buzzing? Especially considering it sounded good when I bought it 1,5 weeks ago. Iād like to take good care of my equipment, but Iām not very knowledable yet, so any tips and insights are appreciated!
Fast temperature changes will make for your guitar being temperamental about tuning and, it sounds like, neck relief. Also, it will take several days for your guitar to acclimate to your house versus the store. 10 days feels about right to notice something like this.
You can check your neck relief quickly:
fret or capo at fret 1
holding fret1, also fret at the largest fret (24 in your case)
press the string at fret 12 and see if there is still some space between string and fret. it wonāt be much, but you should be able to notice the string press down a little to the fret
If no, then you need to adjust the relief a bit. If you are not handy with tools and thinking through mechanical stuff, then youād best get help from a friend who is good, or guitar technician.
I suggest that you run this experiment under the cold and warm conditions your guitar sees to see if it is moving a lot. If it is moving a lot, then you will probably want to set it so it will be playable in the worst condition, but also limit the temperature extremes the guitar will be exposed to.
Since this is your first guitar, did you get a setup with the purchase? If so, then Iād go back and let them know your problem and see if they will nudge it in the right direction for you. They may do that even if you did not get a setup. You wonāt know unitl you ask.
I did your neck relief test, and there was no space whatsoever between the string and fret 12. (There wasnāt even any space when just pressing down 24 and not 1!)
This is my first guitar, and I did not get a setup. But I bought the guitar they had on display (last one), so I assume it must have been setup already.
I got a free service coupon with the purchase, so Iāll bring it back and let them know.
Iāll sleep with my window open FOR THE LAST TIME tonight, just to check the relief in the morning, like you suggested. Thanks for the help!
you may not learn anything. If it is worse in the morning, and it is already touching, then you canāt know which is the worst unless it has space in the morning (i doubt it).
A guitar on the shelf wonāt necessarily be set up, and it sounds like it needs it. Most new players would choose to buy a setup and eventually learn what they are comfortable to do themselves as time goes on. If you do buy a setup, you know it is done properly and wonāt wonder.
Temperature variations will affect the setup, but this will be most noticeable in the tuning. Does the guitar go very far out of tune (more than a semitone)?
It may be that your guitar does need a setup but if the tuning drifts by a semitone or less (or not much more) then itās not likely to be due to you having the window open at night.
And, even if it does get cold at night, unless the temperature is dropping by 10ā or more in your room overnight, then itās unlikely to affect it badly; by the time the room warms up in the morning the guitar should be back to approximately normal setup and tuning.
As an indication, where I keep my guitars overnight regularly drops to 14ā during the winter at night and thereās no adverse impact on my guitars.
IMO, get the guitar set up with the service coupon, and carry on as normal and see how you go. The chances are it may need another tweak in a year or so, but thatās standard for guitars.
Yep, common enough problem. I used to store my guitars in rack. (aka, āout in the openā).
With temperatures and humidity percentages that fluctuate in that room, it sure had an effect on the guitars.
Out of tune really quick, fret buzz, etcā¦
So i started to keep them all in their cases/bags, and voila. No more problems.
I always check tuning before i start playing, and itās usually not far of the mark.
So keep in mind, since their made of wood, temperature and humidity will affect your guitar(s) in one way or the other.
Take it to a luthier, or back to the store if it has people working there that know what theyāre doing,
I see notable seasonal changes in conditions. even though I keep my guitars at home and keep the temps pretty consistent, the humidity in my area fluctuates a LOT from summer to winter. Winter humidity gets pretty low whereas summer humidity tends to get pretty high.
Today I saw that itās forecast to be around 14%. In summer, not uncommon for the outside humidity to be 75%+ for extended periods (and still above 50% in my air-conditioned house). I have started humidifying my office where I keep my guitars (my wife also has several ukuleles and a few of them are solid wood, so more sensitive to humidity than my guitars). On the driest days, that humidifier isnāt enough, and itās supposed to be according to the specs and the room size itās supposed to be able to handle. I think next winter Iām going to get a whole home humidifier connected to my hvac.
I do notice a difference with my guitars on days where the humidity is high enough that the humidifier cuts off and days where it canāt keep up. I have a couple hygrometers in the room to keep track and they both agree with each other pretty well. They even log conditions, so I can see the fluctuations even when Iām not around.
It is my understanding (?) that while there is a correlation between temp swings and guitar reaction, the cause is usually humidity (temp determines moisture capacity). Most of my life Iāve been unable to control humidity for a variety of reasons, and my nicer guitars now stay in their cases with humidipaks, and it works! My grabānāgo guitar, well, I adjusted the truss rod just last night. Itās just a thing.
Itād be worth asking the tech who does your setup if you can watch, or if theyād give you a few pointers. Itās scary taking the wrenches to a guitar the first few times, but itās very doable, a great skill to have, and a different but very satisfying way to become close to your gear.
That sounds like the best plan to me. They will probably just need to adjust the truss rod. Should be an easy job for an experienced guitar technician.
Hello, just a quick update: I went abroad for a week and decided to wait until I came back before getting the guitar looked at. When I came back some strings were buzzing when playing them open, so it mostly seems like a moisture thing (seeing as I kept the windows closed when away).
I took the guitar back to the store, and they adjusted the neck (and action). They even let me keep my free service coupon. Next time Iāll try adjusting it myself, now that I have seen someone do it.
I just had the guitar corrected. The queue for a full service was apparently very long, and the tech said it probably wasnāt needed yet anyways. But he did adjust the truss rod and action slightly, since it was such a quick fix. My free coupon lives to see another day! Super nice of him.
I will definitly try to adjust the neck myself next time, now that Iāve seen it done!
