Fret buzz

stu

Hey guys

I have a bit of a problem with my old Ibanez. There has always bee a bit of fret buzz on the low E string but it hasn't really bothered me. But over the past few weeks its got a lot worst and Im starting to hear in on the A string as well. Its also pretty bad on the 6th fret of the E string and I can hear on some of the other frets too. It seems a bit more concerning sine there is buzz further up the fret board.

Is this something I can fix myself or will I need to take it to someone?

aja

When last did you change strings?

The changing weather will change your guitar's wood ?

stu

aja wrote: When last did you change strings?

The changing weather will change your guitar's wood ?

About March, apparently. Ive only had i since then.

Is that why when the seasons change my guitars all go sharp or flat on all the strings?

Malkav

Does your guitar have a locking nut? if so is it shimmed?

What does your neck relief look like?

How old is the guitar and have you ever had it refretted? do the frets look a bit worse for wear?

Is your action reasonable or too low?

There are some great setup guides all over the net, a very comprehensive one can be found on the Fender website. The instructions would be for a strat which depending on the variety of Ibanez may or may not translate, there are also many comprehensive youtube videos on guitar setup technique. I'd be sure the setup is correct before assuming the frets are trashed or that the nut needs to be shimmed, the neck relief would be sorted out in the setup itself.

If you last changed strigns in March it just may be worth looking into a new set of strings, you can't do a setup on all old strings...

Ibanez guitars normally come with a manual that gives a good guide on setups, you may be able to find it in pdf form on the net if you look.

[deleted]

stu wrote: Is that why when the seasons change my guitars all go sharp or flat on all the strings?

Guitars are remarkably sensitive to all kinds of atmospheric and temperature changes. You may not notice it all that much in your house, but yes, from a cold day to a hot day your guitar will go from flat to sharp (which is why it's a very bad idea to tune up at sound check and put down your guitar believing it'll still be tuned right when you play your gig, once the venue is filled with bodies and lights). As Chad says, a number of factors could be at play...

zohn

Are the frets protruding noticeably along the sides of the neck? It has been exceptionally dry in Gauteng lately (as low as 10%RH @ temps hovering around 28Deg C - it is 20% @ 27 degrees right now in Pta). The classic tell tale of a dry guitar are sharp fret ends and low action with buzz. (the neck and finger board material shrink - the frets don't)
I'm convinced that is the problem. You don't mention whether the guitar is electric or acoustic. If it is acoustic get a humidifier and put the guit inside the case with it. It is not so prominent for an electric, but certainly also happens.
Edit: Swelling/shrinkage beacause of humidity is a wood thing (not a guitar thing)
The good news is the rainy season is just about here (touch wood ?) and the problem should go away as humidity picks up. You can also just lift the action ~~under the nut with thin paper in~~ by putting some thin paper in the nut slot/s (under) the string/s the mean time.
Hope it helps.
? ?

stu

Thanks so much guys. Okay so I will wait and see if its better when the rain comes before I do anything. Its an electric guitar by the way (Musician MC150). Hopefully things will be better when the rain comes because I need it for December.

The nut looks like it is glued on, how can I get it off without damaging anything? Incase the rain doesnt help.

Stratisfear, Ill keep your tip in mind if I start giging ?

AlanRatcliffe

Firstly, change your strings. Ideally you change them about monthly if you play fairly regularly. They are usually pretty horrible and causing tuning and intonation problems by three months old. Nine months is way overdue by any standards and there is no way its not causing some problems - especially if you are getting extra buzz on the upper frets. So change the strings first and re-evaluate.

Don't worry about the nut unless you are getting lots of buzz on the first three frets.

A bit of extra buzz is usually just seasonal changes affecting the neck (especially on a slender necked Ibanez) and a slight truss rod tweak usually sorts it out. If it's buzzing around frets three to 12, you need to slack off your truss rod slightly to get a little more relief. Turn the truss rod key 1/8th to 1/4 of a turn anticlockwise and it'll get better straight away and will relax and improve a little more overnight.

zohn

stu wrote:
The nut looks like it is glued on, how can I get it off without damaging anything? Incase the rain doesnt help.

Stu although it might have sounded somewhat misleading (sorry for that) don't remove the nut - the paper "shims" go between the string/s and the nut in the string slots, effectively lifting the string/s away from the fret board.
a String change is also a veeeeery good idea as suggested by other posts.
When I say rain I mean relatively humid weather (as in the rainy season).

Edit: Naturally the guitar needs to be set up correctly from the start as suggested by Alan and Chad. My method is a relative measure for a guitar that was "perfect" a while ago, but changed because of weather.

Malkav

Dude you are damn lucky, to anyone who doesn't know the MC150 here are a couple of examples...

And here's a section on setting up Ibanez guitars from Ibanezrules which is a great source of info for all things Ibanez, though by the looks of things it doesn't really cover the Gibraltar style bridge your guitar would have, it may just be helpful though:

http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/index.htm

chris77

I don't want to highjack the thread, but I have a similar problem. I have an Ibby acoustic electric, strung with 12-52's I think, with a buzz on the b string, especially noticable when I play open chords. I have filled a bit of the nut-slot with superglue to make the string sit higher, still there. I have tweaked the truss rod and it helped, but then the action on all the strings is too high. The saddle is pretty much as low as it can go already. Any suggestions?

Malkav

chris77 wrote: I don't want to highjack the thread, but I have a similar problem. I have an Ibby acoustic electric, strung with 12-52's I think, with a buzz on the b string, especially noticable when I play open chords. I have filled a bit of the nut-slot with superglue to make the string sit higher, still there. I have tweaked the truss rod and it helped, but then the action on all the strings is too high. The saddle is pretty much as low as it can go already. Any suggestions?

Worst case scenario with an acoustic, the top has warped and no amount of adjustment will help - an old acoustic without a solid top that's been subjected to many years of .12 gauge may have slight warping, check the area just behind the bridge for a sort of lumped apearance, this may indicate warping. Assuming that the truss rod is tweaked correctly and the saddle really is as low as it can go then this is the main concern I'd have, it also might just be that your frets are worn out and you need a refret - but without seeing the guitars frets I wouldn't want to guarantee this.

A friend of mine once locked his acoustic in a bunch of vices to force the top back down, it was a R700 acoustic and he's a cheap bugger so he wasn't worried about whether or not this would do further damage. It seems that this helped but that may be a 1 in 1000000 fluke, if your acoustic is at the point where it's knackered then heck why not give it a shot? Of course if this is your only guitar and you don't have money for a replacement then I wouldn't recommend this...

Hopefully though I'm completely wrong and someone will mention a perfect fix to a problem I didn't even register on it possibly being ?

chris77

Thanks Chad, but it's pretty new - about two years old. I have thought about shimming the saddle to raise it a bit (or buying a new one) and then tightening the truss rod a bit. Now idea if that will work though, but its the opposite of what i've been trying so far so maybe it will work?

zohn

Chris

If it is only the B-string that buzzes, it could be the string slot that is too low. Once again an easy check is to put a piece of paper between the slot and the string and check for buzz.
It could also be a flattened fret which might need a re-level and a re-crown to make the top of the fret round again.

You mention the saddle is low, which makes it very likely the neck angle is the problem which is common for an older acoustic.
This happens because of extensive and continuous string pull exerted on the neck, which is also the reason for the soundboard buldging (which is normal) - check out this article to check the neck-angle: at worst the guitar might need a neck-reset which is expensive.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/NeckAngle/neckangle.html

This is what a re-set entails:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/NeckReset/00028Reset/00028reset01.html

zohn

chris77 wrote: Thanks Chad, but it's pretty new - about two years old. I have thought about shimming the saddle to raise it a bit (or buying a new one) and then tightening the truss rod a bit. Now idea if that will work though, but its the opposite of what i've been trying so far so maybe it will work?

Ok so the guitar is relatively new - off course that could be the problem too (too low a saddle). Many players take too much off the saddle to achieve better action. The premium one pays then is less volume and thin tone.

Edit: here is a great article on buzz as well (from the same web-site)

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Technique/Setup/BuzzDiagnosis/buzzlist.html

Malkav

chris77 wrote: Thanks Chad, but it's pretty new - about two years old.

Okay sorry, didn't know that...

chris77 wrote: I have thought about shimming the saddle to raise it a bit (or buying a new one) and then tightening the truss rod a bit. Now idea if that will work though, but its the opposite of what i've been trying so far so maybe it will work?

Ideally you want the truss rod to be fairly straight, when you fret at fret 1 and around about fret 14 on the low E there should be about enough relief from the top of the 7th fret to the string to slide a business card under - it's hard to be exact with this cause all guitars are different so yours may like more relief or it may like to be dead straight, once that's sorted out I'd look into getting an opinion on whether the nut is cut correctly and seeing if you can get that sorted out. Then I'd look into the saddle height as now all other corresponding issues or possible discrepancies should be sorted and if you can't lower it more or if the action hasn't become more manageable or acceptable then either there is some sort of defect, or you're expecting an unreasonably low action, or I'm just missing something and yet again hopefully someone else will have better advice ?

I mean no offence by saying that you might have unreasonable expectations, it's just that some guitars just aren't built for super light action and what's considered light action on acoustic could still be considered fairly high on electric - without pics of your action I can't be too sure.

chris77

Thanks. I will start over again. Get a new saddle and then try to get the best result with the truss rod as straight as possible. I wont send it for a frett dress and a pro fix. I'm in kimberley, so the cost of the fix + courier charges there and back wont be worth it. If it doesn't work I will sell it, I only paid about 3grand for it, so if I can get half back I will cut my losses and look for something else. Hope I rather get it right though.

stu

I put some paper between the string and the nut and that has fix my problem for now ? Thanks zohn.

Ill get some new strings month though.