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Lately I have been having a lot of string buzz on my acoustic. I even replaced the strings recently and it still does it. What might be wrong?
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String buzz
NOT fret buzz
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#1
AcousticSmash 
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Posted 10 January 2006 - 10:20 PM
MultiQuote
#2
annoying_2001
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Posted 10 January 2006 - 11:43 PM
is the guitar warping? the neck just might need some adjustments.
yeah, he's that cool
#3
Irishcocacola
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 12:25 AM
QUOTE (annoying_2001 @ Jan 10 2006, 11:43 PM)
is the guitar warping? the neck just might need some adjustments.
Check your nut (on the guitar
)If it is cracked, mishapen, or ground down this may be contributing to it.
I know on one of my acoustics, the nut is broken - and the 6th string buzzes a bit cause of it.
#4
AcousticSmash
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 12:50 AM
Its a brand new nut, made this past summer and is in fine condition. I am using D'Addario Light guage strings by the way. The neck is fine, I had the neck checked when I had the nut replaced. The guitar was setup for medium strings though and it does get a odd fret buzz on the low E at the 3rd fret but still, doesnt explain the string buzz problem. Might need new bridge pins, the original ones are quite hacked up now.
#5
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 06:13 AM
QUOTE (AcousticSmash @ Jan 11 2006, 05:50 AM)
Its a brand new nut, made this past summer and is in fine condition. I am using D'Addario Light guage strings by the way. The neck is fine, I had the neck checked when I had the nut replaced. The guitar was setup for medium strings though and it does get a odd fret buzz on the low E at the 3rd fret but still, doesnt explain the string buzz problem. Might need new bridge pins, the original ones are quite hacked up now.
Well if its set up for mediums and your useing lights you need a new nut dont yu. A set up wouldnt be a bad idea either.
#6
dadfad
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 08:10 AM
If they are definitely not buzzing against the frets, there has to be something internally or externally causing the buzz. (In rare cases a wound string can buzz on its own if the internal-core has loosened from the windings and they buzz against each other, but you said you've replaced the strings and it still does it.) If the slots in the nut are too big that might be it. Also if the slots are not carved with relief, tapering lower toward the headstock so that the neck-edge of the nut is the highest contact-point before they go onto the neck. Saddles don't often buzz but it's possible. Be sure that the strings, again, leave the saddle at the edge and the saddle is not slightly contacting the string as it goes toward the soundhole.
Assuming your nut and saddle are okay, there could be something internal. Possibly a piece of loose bracing or wood of some kind inside that needs to be re-glued. Also, the ball-end of the strings might be buzzing against the underside of the top. They need to be firm and snug against the underside.
It could be an external part buzzing. A bushing around a tuner-shaft or the shaft itself. Strap-buttons can buzz if they are loose. Possibly even the pick-guard being loose in an area. A guy I know who is fairly familiar with basic guitar maintenance had a buzz he couldn't find and brought it over. I checked it with a stethoscope all over and couldn't find it at first (by the way, a cheap stethoscope is a great tool to have in your guitar toolbox). Then I happened to notice an extremely simple thing causing his problem. One of his tuner-machine buttons was slightly loose (they were the kind that are held onto the turning-shaft by little screws). Two seconds to tighten it up and the buzzing was gone.
It can be pretty elusive. Check everything and narrow down the possibilities one at a time. A roll of masking tape can sometimes help. Stick a piece of tape on anything you aren't sure of might be causing it.
This was the hardest one I ever encountered. A buzz on the 3-string of my 1949 J-45. I checked everything over and over inside and out. I had enough tape on the damn thing to wrap a mummy. It seemed to be coming from about mid-neck but it was definitely nothing to do with the frets. I called a guy I knew who was the Company Historian at Gibson Company (what a job! Haha!) to pick his brain. He said he had heard in rare cases of the truss-rod itself buzzing against the inside of the neck. No way to be sure and the only way to fix it was to remove the fret-board and re-carve the rod-channel then put it all back together again. A pretty major repair job. Rrrrrrrr!!!!!! So I had an idea (at this point my wife would say I've become dangerous). I took a nail-setter with a point on the end and tapped my seventh fret-dot, cracking it into pieces and removed the pieces. I took a very tiny drill-bit and, twisting the bit by hand, drilled a hole through the fret-dot cavity into truss-rod channel. Using the flat end of the drill-bit now, I applied pressure to the rod as I played the 3-string. That seemed to stop or decrease the string-buzz so I was now pretty sure that was the problem. Of course I still didn't want to remove my fretboard and then have to replace it, probably re-fret, then refinish the neck and all of that. This is a really nice 1949 Gibson J-45 and I hated to start chopping on it. Soooo.... I got a can of expanding-foam, the stuff you use to insulate cracks around your windows in the winter or whatever. (It squirts in, then expands, then semi-hardens into a styrofoam-like material.) I got the little thin red tube that comes with a can of WD-40 and taped it tightly into the nozzle of the expanding-foam can. Then I stuck it into the fret-dot hole and filled my neck with expanding foam. I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd have to remove my fretboard and get it out, which I was going to have to do anyway to fix the buzz. A no-loss situation. It hardened in there and the buzz was gone, and still is after... maybe four years or so ("Guaranteed to Last A Lifetime" it said on the can!
). Then I glued in a new fret-dot, and that was it!
Anyway, good luck. It can be a real pain sometimes.
Assuming your nut and saddle are okay, there could be something internal. Possibly a piece of loose bracing or wood of some kind inside that needs to be re-glued. Also, the ball-end of the strings might be buzzing against the underside of the top. They need to be firm and snug against the underside.
It could be an external part buzzing. A bushing around a tuner-shaft or the shaft itself. Strap-buttons can buzz if they are loose. Possibly even the pick-guard being loose in an area. A guy I know who is fairly familiar with basic guitar maintenance had a buzz he couldn't find and brought it over. I checked it with a stethoscope all over and couldn't find it at first (by the way, a cheap stethoscope is a great tool to have in your guitar toolbox). Then I happened to notice an extremely simple thing causing his problem. One of his tuner-machine buttons was slightly loose (they were the kind that are held onto the turning-shaft by little screws). Two seconds to tighten it up and the buzzing was gone.
It can be pretty elusive. Check everything and narrow down the possibilities one at a time. A roll of masking tape can sometimes help. Stick a piece of tape on anything you aren't sure of might be causing it.
This was the hardest one I ever encountered. A buzz on the 3-string of my 1949 J-45. I checked everything over and over inside and out. I had enough tape on the damn thing to wrap a mummy. It seemed to be coming from about mid-neck but it was definitely nothing to do with the frets. I called a guy I knew who was the Company Historian at Gibson Company (what a job! Haha!) to pick his brain. He said he had heard in rare cases of the truss-rod itself buzzing against the inside of the neck. No way to be sure and the only way to fix it was to remove the fret-board and re-carve the rod-channel then put it all back together again. A pretty major repair job. Rrrrrrrr!!!!!! So I had an idea (at this point my wife would say I've become dangerous). I took a nail-setter with a point on the end and tapped my seventh fret-dot, cracking it into pieces and removed the pieces. I took a very tiny drill-bit and, twisting the bit by hand, drilled a hole through the fret-dot cavity into truss-rod channel. Using the flat end of the drill-bit now, I applied pressure to the rod as I played the 3-string. That seemed to stop or decrease the string-buzz so I was now pretty sure that was the problem. Of course I still didn't want to remove my fretboard and then have to replace it, probably re-fret, then refinish the neck and all of that. This is a really nice 1949 Gibson J-45 and I hated to start chopping on it. Soooo.... I got a can of expanding-foam, the stuff you use to insulate cracks around your windows in the winter or whatever. (It squirts in, then expands, then semi-hardens into a styrofoam-like material.) I got the little thin red tube that comes with a can of WD-40 and taped it tightly into the nozzle of the expanding-foam can. Then I stuck it into the fret-dot hole and filled my neck with expanding foam. I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd have to remove my fretboard and get it out, which I was going to have to do anyway to fix the buzz. A no-loss situation. It hardened in there and the buzz was gone, and still is after... maybe four years or so ("Guaranteed to Last A Lifetime" it said on the can!
). Then I glued in a new fret-dot, and that was it!Anyway, good luck. It can be a real pain sometimes.
Un-plugged is not the same as
never-was-plugged-in-to-begin-with.
John Jackson -My Teacher and My Old Friend
When the roll is called up yonder he'll be there
never-was-plugged-in-to-begin-with.
John Jackson -My Teacher and My Old Friend
When the roll is called up yonder he'll be there
#7
adds
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 08:52 AM
QUOTE (dadfad @ Jan 11 2006, 01:10 PM)
If they are definitely not buzzing against the frets, there has to be something internally or externally causing the buzz. (In rare cases a wound string can buzz on its own if the internal-core has loosened from the windings and they buzz against each other, but you said you've replaced the strings and it still does it.) If the slots in the nut are too big that might be it. Also if the slots are not carved with relief, tapering lower toward the headstock so that the neck-edge of the nut is the highest contact-point before they go onto the neck. Saddles don't often buzz but it's possible. Be sure that the strings, again, leave the saddle at the edge and the saddle is not slightly contacting the string as it goes toward the soundhole.
Assuming your nut and saddle are okay, there could be something internal. Possibly a piece of loose bracing or wood of some kind inside that needs to be re-glued. Also, the ball-end of the strings might be buzzing against the underside of the top. They need to be firm and snug against the underside.
It could be an external part buzzing. A bushing around a tuner-shaft or the shaft itself. Strap-buttons can buzz if they are loose. Possibly even the pick-guard being loose in an area. A guy I know who is fairly familiar with basic guitar maintenance had a buzz he couldn't find and brought it over. I checked it with a stethoscope all over and couldn't find it at first (by the way, a cheap stethoscope is a great tool to have in your guitar toolbox). Then I happened to notice an extremely simple thing causing his problem. One of his tuner-machine buttons was slightly loose (they were the kind that are held onto the turning-shaft by little screws). Two seconds to tighten it up and the buzzing was gone.
It can be pretty elusive. Check everything and narrow down the possibilities one at a time. A roll of masking tape can sometimes help. Stick a piece of tape on anything you aren't sure of might be causing it.
This was the hardest one I ever encountered. A buzz on the 3-string of my 1949 J-45. I checked everything over and over inside and out. I had enough tape on the damn thing to wrap a mummy. It seemed to be coming from about mid-neck but it was definitely nothing to do with the frets. I called a guy I knew who was the Company Historian at Gibson Company (what a job! Haha!) to pick his brain. He said he had heard in rare cases of the truss-rod itself buzzing against the inside of the neck. No way to be sure and the only way to fix it was to remove the fret-board and re-carve the rod-channel then put it all back together again. A pretty major repair job. Rrrrrrrr!!!!!! So I had an idea (at this point my wife would say I've become dangerous). I took a nail-setter with a point on the end and tapped my seventh fret-dot, cracking it into pieces and removed the pieces. I took a very tiny drill-bit and, twisting the bit by hand, drilled a hole through the fret-dot cavity into truss-rod channel. Using the flat end of the drill-bit now, I applied pressure to the rod as I played the 3-string. That seemed to stop or decrease the string-buzz so I was now pretty sure that was the problem. Of course I still didn't want to remove my fretboard and then have to replace it, probably re-fret, then refinish the neck and all of that. This is a really nice 1949 Gibson J-45 and I hated to start chopping on it. Soooo.... I got a can of expanding-foam, the stuff you use to insulate cracks around your windows in the winter or whatever. (It squirts in, then expands, then semi-hardens into a styrofoam-like material.) I got the little thin red tube that comes with a can of WD-40 and taped it tightly into the nozzle of the expanding-foam can. Then I stuck it into the fret-dot hole and filled my neck with expanding foam. I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd have to remove my fretboard and get it out, which I was going to have to do anyway to fix the buzz. A no-loss situation. It hardened in there and the buzz was gone, and still is after... maybe four years or so ("Guaranteed to Last A Lifetime" it said on the can! ). Then I glued in a new fret-dot, and that was it!
Anyway, good luck. It can be a real pain sometimes.
Interesting little read that cheers john
Assuming your nut and saddle are okay, there could be something internal. Possibly a piece of loose bracing or wood of some kind inside that needs to be re-glued. Also, the ball-end of the strings might be buzzing against the underside of the top. They need to be firm and snug against the underside.
It could be an external part buzzing. A bushing around a tuner-shaft or the shaft itself. Strap-buttons can buzz if they are loose. Possibly even the pick-guard being loose in an area. A guy I know who is fairly familiar with basic guitar maintenance had a buzz he couldn't find and brought it over. I checked it with a stethoscope all over and couldn't find it at first (by the way, a cheap stethoscope is a great tool to have in your guitar toolbox). Then I happened to notice an extremely simple thing causing his problem. One of his tuner-machine buttons was slightly loose (they were the kind that are held onto the turning-shaft by little screws). Two seconds to tighten it up and the buzzing was gone.
It can be pretty elusive. Check everything and narrow down the possibilities one at a time. A roll of masking tape can sometimes help. Stick a piece of tape on anything you aren't sure of might be causing it.
This was the hardest one I ever encountered. A buzz on the 3-string of my 1949 J-45. I checked everything over and over inside and out. I had enough tape on the damn thing to wrap a mummy. It seemed to be coming from about mid-neck but it was definitely nothing to do with the frets. I called a guy I knew who was the Company Historian at Gibson Company (what a job! Haha!) to pick his brain. He said he had heard in rare cases of the truss-rod itself buzzing against the inside of the neck. No way to be sure and the only way to fix it was to remove the fret-board and re-carve the rod-channel then put it all back together again. A pretty major repair job. Rrrrrrrr!!!!!! So I had an idea (at this point my wife would say I've become dangerous). I took a nail-setter with a point on the end and tapped my seventh fret-dot, cracking it into pieces and removed the pieces. I took a very tiny drill-bit and, twisting the bit by hand, drilled a hole through the fret-dot cavity into truss-rod channel. Using the flat end of the drill-bit now, I applied pressure to the rod as I played the 3-string. That seemed to stop or decrease the string-buzz so I was now pretty sure that was the problem. Of course I still didn't want to remove my fretboard and then have to replace it, probably re-fret, then refinish the neck and all of that. This is a really nice 1949 Gibson J-45 and I hated to start chopping on it. Soooo.... I got a can of expanding-foam, the stuff you use to insulate cracks around your windows in the winter or whatever. (It squirts in, then expands, then semi-hardens into a styrofoam-like material.) I got the little thin red tube that comes with a can of WD-40 and taped it tightly into the nozzle of the expanding-foam can. Then I stuck it into the fret-dot hole and filled my neck with expanding foam. I figured the worst that could happen is that I'd have to remove my fretboard and get it out, which I was going to have to do anyway to fix the buzz. A no-loss situation. It hardened in there and the buzz was gone, and still is after... maybe four years or so ("Guaranteed to Last A Lifetime" it said on the can!
). Then I glued in a new fret-dot, and that was it!Anyway, good luck. It can be a real pain sometimes.
#8
AcousticSmash
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Posted 11 January 2006 - 06:43 PM
It might be the tuners, I have noticed that when I restring my guitar some of the tuners wiggle a little, even though I went and removed all the screws, cut up pieces of toothpicks that would fit in the screw holes cause the tuner screws were a little loose in places. Its not a old guitar by any means thats for sure, it is at least 20 years old but no older than 25 I would wager. Its a Sigma that my dad bought back before I was born. I dont want to replace the tuners cause the original ones hold in tune better than any other cheap import guitar I have ever played (even better than my Yamaha 12 string). I dunno what might be wrong. My guess is it is a internal thing most likely, I have used light strings on the thing before and not really had any buzzing problems. Maybe I will just have it setup for light strings now since I am tired of mediums cause my fingers tend to get really sore even though I play all the time.
#9
datsjon13
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Posted 05 July 2007 - 09:23 PM
First time poster here. Well sure enough i finally got a guitar for christmas (cheapo Lyon by Washburn starter pack...bought from Target). Well I've been teaching myself and its been going fine except lately I've been getting this REALLY annoying buzz. I've been playing less than 6 months...just basic chords and strumming mostly, so im not sure if it's just my technique, or if its something wrong w/the guitar. If i just strum w/out fingering, there's no buzzing, but the minute i start puttin down chords and changing them, i get this horrible buzz. So yeah, im not sure if its just my technique is still bad (or more than likely my slightly oversized fingers) or its that i've got a cheapo guitar w/a low action or whatever. Any help would be appreciated.
-Jon
Also I've been looking for some reviews of my guitar, and i really haven't found any. Its ok, but i would be interested in some tech specs perhaps. Thanks again.
-Jon
Also I've been looking for some reviews of my guitar, and i really haven't found any. Its ok, but i would be interested in some tech specs perhaps. Thanks again.
#10
dadfad
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Posted 11 July 2007 - 12:42 PM
QUOTE (datsjon13 @ Jul 5 2007, 11:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
First time poster here. Well sure enough i finally got a guitar for christmas (cheapo Lyon by Washburn starter pack...bought from Target). Well I've been teaching myself and its been going fine except lately I've been getting this REALLY annoying buzz. I've been playing less than 6 months...just basic chords and strumming mostly, so im not sure if it's just my technique, or if its something wrong w/the guitar. If i just strum w/out fingering, there's no buzzing, but the minute i start puttin down chords and changing them, i get this horrible buzz. So yeah, im not sure if its just my technique is still bad (or more than likely my slightly oversized fingers) or its that i've got a cheapo guitar w/a low action or whatever. Any help would be appreciated.
-Jon
Also I've been looking for some reviews of my guitar, and i really haven't found any. Its ok, but i would be interested in some tech specs perhaps. Thanks again.
-Jon
Also I've been looking for some reviews of my guitar, and i really haven't found any. Its ok, but i would be interested in some tech specs perhaps. Thanks again.
To tell if it's the string buzzing against one of the higher frets or if it's just because you aren't fingering them firmly enough, just try holding and playing each individual string firmly. If it buzzes, keep moving up the neck one fret at a time until it stops. That's probably the "offending" fret. Do each string. If there's no buzz when you hold the individual strings in the same locations as the chord, then it's technique. It'll get better. We all went through it and some chords are easier to buzz than others. If it turns out to be true fret-buzz, a tech-guy or friend knowledgeable about guitars can raise the action slightly (or lower the fret). Since you're fairly new to guitar you probably don't want to do it yourself (but watch if you can for "next time") (there's always a next time
).And welcome to GTU.
Un-plugged is not the same as
never-was-plugged-in-to-begin-with.
John Jackson -My Teacher and My Old Friend
When the roll is called up yonder he'll be there
never-was-plugged-in-to-begin-with.
John Jackson -My Teacher and My Old Friend
When the roll is called up yonder he'll be there
#13
datsjon13
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Posted 13 July 2007 - 12:44 PM
Well first of all thankx for the help (and corny jokes...jones991). I took a look down the neck to see what's goin, and well i think its warped, fairly noticeably. I was talkin to they guy at our local guitar store and he said that with the way the weather's been around here (hot and humid), it affects the guitars. So I'm wondering...what do i do know?
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