Guitar String Buzzing (Need Help)

[laserkelt]

Hi, I seem to be having quite a bit of buzzing for my low E, A and D string when i put my fingers at the first couple of frets while picking the strings.

I've also tried to follow online guides such as pressing down the 1st and 12th fret to see whether there's space between on the 6th fret and the string or not. There isn't. Which means too little relief or too much bow, am I right?

So I've tried adjusting the truss rod counter clockwise and initially the adjusting felt tight, and I've adjusted until a point where anymore adjusting feels extremely loose like there's no longer any more effects? I assume this means there's no more relief to be obtained, but however the buzzing problem still persists and there's still no space between the 6th fret and the string.

I've also tried adjusting my bridge screws in order to bring the action higher, which does help, but puts the action of the guitar at quite a high amount and also this does not seem to solve the issue of the space between 6th fret and the string which I mention earlier.

Any idea/clue on how I should go about this? Currently using a brand new yamaha pac112v.

[Majik]

If you've completely loosened the truss-rod to the point where it's loose and the string height is too low still, it's possible the guitar may be defective. It may eve have a slight "back-bow".

If it was an older guitar, there are things to try, like putting heavier gauge strings on to increase the neck tension, that you can try. There's also more extreme things you can do to fix this, but they involve taking the neck off and, personally, I would recommend you talk to a luthier for this sort of stuff.

However, given it's a brand new guitar, I would take it back to where you bought it and either ask for a replacement or for them to fix it to your satisfaction (or get a refund and buy a new one from somewhere else).

However, before you do that, leave the guitar with the truss rod loosened for a few days and then recheck it. They can take quite a time to respond if the truss rod was overtightened.

Cheers,

Keith

[Majik]

UPDATE: If it's a 112V, apparently the newer ones have a double action truss rod. That means that you should be able to continue adjusting the truss rod counter-clockwise and it should start to get tighter again, and will start to introduce relief into the neck.

As ever, do this carefully, a bit at a time, and let the neck settle.

Cheers,

Keith

[laserkelt]

You were absolutely right, I tried further adjusting anti-clockwise and it did get tighter.

I did a 1/4 of a full turn while its tight and now I'm gonna let it settle for a bit. Any idea how long does it take to settle? Or before I can start adjusting again.

[DarrellW]

Best to leave it overnight, it may happen quicker but it’s something I’ve always done and never had a problem. I may be over cautious but that’s me!

[Majik]

Small adjustments (a fraction of a turn) should settle in within an hour or two, but bigger changes will take longer. I think DarrelW's suggestion of overnight isn't a bad shout.

You can tune up the strings immediately, and even re-measure the neck relief for changes if you are curious, but I wouldn't do any more big changes until the neck has had a chance to settle.

Cheers,

Keith

[troy]

WHOOOAAA !!

If you're measuring relief at the 6th it's no wonder there isn't any ! You need to measure further down.

There are a million different ways suggested online and a lot of them are very wrong indeed, even getting the turning of the nut/rod the wrong way !

This is the way I do it and it hasn't failed yet. I very rarely get buzz after doing the following.

1. Capo on the first fret.

2. Press down the low E at the LAST fret and hold it there.
 
3. You can now easily sight along the length of the neck against the straight string and see if there is any relief. If the strings are flat on the deck there isn't any ! Try tapping the the midway point of the string against the 11th-12th fret area to assess clearance.
 
4. I use a bit of D'Addario card from the sleeve you get new strings in. Slip this under the 10th fret and see if the string lifts at the 11th. If it does, the neck is too flat, so slacken off the rod a smidgen to give a bit more relief. If there is too much of a gap, there is too much relief, tighten the rod little by little to straighten the neck until the card just slips under the 10th without disturbing the height at the 11th. Thin business card will also do. We're thinking Kelloggs packet thickness here.

Little by little and slowly ! (hours, and sometimes days to fine tune in some cases). Always slightly undo the truss rod initially even if you wan't to eventually tighten it. Keep tuning to pitch constantly.

Once that's done, and if you have an adjustable bridge I go for a string height of 1.5mm-2.5mm on the low E at the 12th fret and 1mm-1.5mm on the high E at the 12th.  This is for an electric. An acoustic I would add 0.5mm to the above measurements.

After that set the intonation if your guitar allows.


I fully expect others will disagree with the above, and I'm aware that other methods also work, but this one works for me and is pretty simple.

Regards


 

[Trish]

I have the same problem but in an Epiphone LP Tribute (new) I wasn't that adventurous so I just tried to adjust the string that buzzes in the rod thingy. No luck.

Have you managed to fix it?

In my case is the 5th string only, do I try adjusting the whole t. Rod or only at the string? How do I mesure the action? I'm new to all of this, I'm unsure about the relief part...

Thanks

[CT]

The best advice I can give is to check around your town for a qualified guitar tech, get to know them, and take your guitars that need mods/repairs to them. Consider it a cost of ownership.   

[Trish]

The best advice I can give is to check around your town for a qualified guitar tech, get to know them, and take your guitars that need mods/repairs to them. Consider it a cost of ownership.   

Yep! I googled few near me and will take my guitar for assessment... See what's goin on.

[stitch101]

One thing nobody has mentioned is fret buzz can be caused by bad fretting technique or strumming to hard.
Are you placing your fingers as close as possible to the frets?

[MrBumble]

One thing nobody has mentioned is fret buzz can be caused by bad fretting technique or strumming to hard.
Are you placing your fingers as close as possible to the frets?

Particularly if you have a low action.

My Ovation is prone to this on the e and B strings if I am fretting too far away from the fret, especially at the nut end of the fretboard.

It had me worried until I realised it was telling me I was being careless!