I know there’s plenty of info on fret buzz on the tinterwebs and this forum, but I’ve done the usual things and am running out of ideas here.
To cut a long story short, my strat has developed a fair amount of buzz on the E\A\D\G strings around the middle of the fretboard. I gather this is often a neck issue sorted with a truss rod adjustment. However, I’ve already done this to the point where the neck is in obvious relief… you can see it just by sighting the neck, and there is a very obvious gap when performing a tap test. As far as I can tell, no frets are riding high, and the only noticeable wear is on frets 1-3. (Years of beginners death grip on open chords.) As for the bridge, I’ve already adjusted the saddles so that the action is around 1mm higher than standard. Yet the buzz remains.
Anyone have any other ideas of what’s going on here?
Please note that taking my guitar to a luthier isn’t something I want to do at this stage. Assuming I could even find one near me, nearly every single trade I’ve dealt with in this country has caused more problems than they solved. I can’t afford to risk my guitars being damaged by a self-taught incompetent pretending to be a skilled tradesman.
Have you used a fret rocker to check? A high fret would seem the most likely cause if you have suitable relief and action.
When you adjusted the action did you check the curvature of the bridge matches the radius of the neck?
When you say in the middle of the neck, I assume you mean when fretting in the middle of the neck.
What are you doing when you get the buzzing? What frets are you fretting and in which strings?
Does it buzz with a capo at the same fret?
How many frets up before the buzz no longer occurs? How many down?
If you are fretting in the middle of the neck, like it seems you may be suggesting, the relief would have nothing to do with it. The relief is greatest in the middle of the neck and once you press the string down there, all that matters is the trajectory to the saddle. In fact, I imagine it is possible that too much relief could cause buzz as you can press the string too far below the highest frets farther towards the saddle. I suggest correcting the relief to the right amount (just a little) and correct the saddles to an action just a little on the high side. Then recheck.
If that isn’t it, it is probably either technique, low action, or a high fret. But you also say you have the action very high and that didn’t resolve it. So look at the 3 frets higher than the fretted one and consider something loose in the saddle area.
I agree with @jamolay on the relief - it sounds like that is not the problem, even from the beginning.
I would have checked with a fret rocker like @mathsjunky mentioned. Even a credit card can work in most places if you don’t want to get an official rocker.
first off, make sure you fix what you messed up. If the relief is really deep, clean that up. If the action is set too high at the bridge, clean that up as well. You need to measure the suspected problem area before making adjustments or you can generate enough trouble that you don’t the initial problem. You should know why you are making an adjustment! Get those corrected is my first advice. Make sure you are testing the relief properly (there has been some incorrect information on the forum): fret at fret 1, fret at your highest, check your relief in the middle (probably fret 8-ish). If you have a little relief, barely enough to notice, that is great. If it is a lot more, then adjust it back out.
From getting the relief and action back to typical, you need to make sure you are hearing the right problem and also start looking at what else can be causing it. I have seen the following on my gear:
The bridge springs on my strat vibrate and I can hear it. It is a little bit like a fret buzz, but doesn’t make it into the amp much nor does it quit with the string vibrating, which is how I can tell the difference. I placed a soft piece of foam in the cavity in the back over the springs and that fixed it.
On the saddle pieces on my fixed bridge Ibanez, if the screws that set the height of each saddle piece are not extending the same, the saddle piece can vibrate. Make sure when you set the action, you try to keep the little height adjust screws the same on each side of the saddle piece.
Is your nut loose? My Ibanez comes unglued from time to time and it can rattle. If you only hear the problem when fretting the strings, this is unlikely the problem.
Are your tuning pegs loose. There is a nut that secures the tuning machine to the head. Those can work loose a bit and then all kinds of weird things happen. Make sure those are tight. Be careful not to damage the finish with a poor tool for the job.
You have sighted down the neck. Does it look twisted? If so, this is a bigger problem than I can help with.
I was going nuts on one of mine, sort of like your story. I literally had checked everything fron nut to bridge 100 times. After a lot of stress and anguish, it turns out it was exactly what sequences is suggesting. It was loose tuner button. I still amazes me how such a small detail can absolutly derail the process.
Huh. Yes, it can be anything. I used to work on violins and tracking down a buzz was a nightmare job. I had one where it was loose purfling in the purfling channel.
Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated.
One thing I didn’t mention in the OP is that I’ve been successfully doing my own setups for some years now, so while I’m not an expert, I think I have a good idea of what I’m doing with the various adjustments, and why. Also, to clear a couple of things up, when I said my neck relief was obvious and action high, I didn’t mean excessively so. Sure you can see the relief by sighting the neck, but it’s not a massive curve or anything. It’s just off straight. The action is higher than the norm, but not to the extent where it really affects playability. Both of these are recent adjustments trying to solve this problem. The neck was almost dead straight and action lower for at least a couple of years before the buzzing started.
I mean the buzzing is most obvious around the middle frets, between frets 5 and 13 or so. The saddles are indeed adjusted to match the curve of the neck.
Plucking the strings. Seriously though, the main time I’m above fret 5 at my level is when playing power chords. But while trying to solve this issue I’ve been plucking single strings and it still happens, both with perfect finger placement/pressure and with a capo.
I’ve got some time this weekend so I’ll have another go at sorting this out. Thanks for the advice so far peeps.
One thing I have noticed for myself is that my ears can’t localize the buzz very easily.
I have had issues at the nut and first fret sound a lot like they come from the middle or saddle end. So i try not to limit my searching and keep my mind open for anything.
Is the buzz only open string, is it still there with fretting?
Well, I’m at a loss. I spent another few hours messing about over the weekend, first returning everything to stock and tweaking from there. I’m still getting loads of buzz when fretting between the 5th - 15th.
The buzz can also be heard through amps when using clean tones.
There are no loose parts on my guitar, and the trem is blocked.
I’ve checked and re-checked the frets. As sure as I can be that none are high.
The neck does not appear to be warped or twisted in any way.
Neck relief gives ~0.3mm gap at the 8th when fretted at the first and last. (stock = 0.25mm)
Action height for all strings at the 17th is 2mm. (stock = 1.6mm)
Pickups are all 0.5mm lower than the stock heights.
String intonation is great, not that it makes any difference here.
Nut is irrelevant, as there is no buzzing on open strings.
Strings are the same brand and gauge I’ve been using for years.
I have no idea what else to try at this point. Looks like I’m stymied unless I can find a luthier that I trust, which is doubtful. Very frustrating.
I’m thinking that the tuning machines are part of the “no loose parts” item. But, did you think to verify the neck? I think it is a bolt-on in your case, so if the joint is loose, that can generate some issues. I did tighten mine at one point and gained sustain. I did not have any buzz problems beforehand. It was not a lot of tightening, but it was some. I live in a dry climate and the wood certainly did shrink afer a while in my house.
things I am assuming here:
you see the problem on more than one string along the same distance (5 to 15)
you are in standard tuning
good attention to detail on the setup has been observed
I’l also running out of ideas and would start testing weird things, like if I hold the bridge does it still buzz, do I have ANYTHING else I can tighten, stuff like that, am I doing anything silly in my picking or fretting.
If something else comes to mind, I’ll post here. right now I am just down to the “didn’t expect that” stuff and that seems silly to send you off to go try. About the only thing related to a string change I can think of that is silly is to examine how the ball end sits in the bridge block and see if it is not seated correctly. This sure seems like a silly thing as I’d expect that when you tighten things down, the string would seat properly after tension is applied. But, that is the silliness you get when out of ideas.
Good idea. When I worked on violins we did this sort of thing with a buzz we couldn’t track down. We’d get someone to play the instrument and make it buzz then touch/squeeze/hold all the different parts to try and make it stop.
If you can get an assistant to do this it might help narrow down the source.
This is indeed strange. You clearly know how to set up your guitar well and have tried all the right things.
I wondered whether a fret has popped up. The obvious one to test would be 15, if you have buzz from 5-15. But you said that you checked the fret heights. I had a similar issue with fret buzz on the partscaster S type on E, A and D. In the end I gave in and took it to a luthier and it was a fret that had popped out a bit. I bought a good quality neck but the frets are not actually glued in. He pushed it back in and since then it’s been good. I’m sure that when I checked fret height they seemed ok. But I’m sure he was right because he fixed it.
You mentioned not having access to a luthier. Do you live in a very remote place or are you just assuming that any local luthiers might not be good? Or have you had a bad experience? Perhaps you can look up local luthiers online and see some customer reviews. I sort of thought the same before taking my guitar to a luthier and didn’t expect much. That was based on the fact that setups done for me at a guitar shop (supposedly by their own luthier) were not good at all. But I was lucky and when I found another luthier he turned out to be really good.
It seems that you are running out of things to check and it’s getting to the stage when you start thinking of very unlikely things, because all obvious things seem ok. So perhaps it is time to find a luthier.
Nope, I didn’t even think to check those bolts, to be honest. Good catch, I’ll check them when my cat decides to go sleep somewhere other than my lap.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll ask my wife to help out with that when we have some time.
I don’t have any direct experience with luthiers here in Romania, but I do have lots of experience with many other tradesmen. A general lack of regulation and/or enforcement means that you can just work in a trade you have no real training or experience in. A lack of customer protection (or perhaps lack of willingness to complain) means that people get away with it. I could literally write an essay on all the time and money I’ve wasted having to learn how to do various things I’ve never done before, just to fix the issues caused by the so-called professionals we’d called to do a job in the first place. So yeah… handing guitars I can’t afford to replace to a person like that is pretty much unthinkable. The first thing they’ll probably do when I explain the issue is start wrenching hard on the truss rod…
Oh yeah, I actually made a post here some time ago about a little guitar shop that sold me D’addario strings at Western European prices, only for them to turn out to be total fakes! I get my strings from outside the country now.
Edit: There are some good trades here though. The cobbler has done a great job every time, and even refused payment for one job just because he liked us. Great bloke.
Romania isn’t yet an online culture, at least not to the extent of the UK and Western Europe. Many major businesses here barely have an online presence, let alone little family places and sole traders. So there aren’t any reviews to find. I’ve put the feelers out to family and the few people I know here to see if they know any local musicians etc, but it’s hard going as I don’t yet speak the language.
I used to work on violins and tracking down a buzz was a nightmare job. I had one where it was loose purfling in the purfling channel.
Seriously though, the main time I’m above fret 5 at my level is when playing power chords. But while trying to solve this issue I’ve been plucking single strings and it still happens, both with perfect finger placement/pressure and with a capo.
