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Posted by: steve25 May 13 2008, 02:21 PM

I keep getting fret buzzing on my guitar. I bought it in February and i've not had it set up or anything i kind of wanted to do it myself. I lowered the action not too long ago but i was getting fret buzzing so i've had to raise it again. Perhaps it's something i just didn't realise but right now my high e string is as high as it can get and there's still fret buzzing. Whenever i try and do bends the note ends up getting choked off and goes away quickly. What can i do?

Posted by: skennington May 13 2008, 02:29 PM

Sonds to me like you have the same prob I do, Time for a new set of stings. 4 mo is a while on a set. They've prolly streched to the point of no return!

Posted by: Smells May 13 2008, 02:33 PM

does the bent note choke no matter where you play it on the fretboard or is it around the 12th fret?

Posted by: steve25 May 13 2008, 02:35 PM

I'd say it's more noticeable around the 12th fret, going lower isn't too bad but you can still hear it there as well

Posted by: Smells May 13 2008, 02:42 PM

probably need a bit of truss rod adjustment by the sound of it, if your not confident of what your doing with the truss rod then I`d take it to a tech guy at the local store to do a set up on it, can do a lot of damage with the truss rod if you do it incorrectly.

Posted by: steve25 May 13 2008, 02:44 PM

Yes i feared i may have to change the truss rod. Unofrtunatly, even with all the tutorials around i don't really want to mess with something that could harm my guitar as i wouldn't be able to afford to get this guitar replaced so looks like the local music shop for me.

Posted by: Smells May 13 2008, 02:47 PM

it`ll be worth it to get a good set up on it

Posted by: fkalich May 13 2008, 03:19 PM

1) I set up my own guitars. However if anyone screws ups, I disavow all responsibility. But what I am saying is true.

2) On the truss rod, if you want to be safe, you do this. First check what the relief is. Just get an Idea. Typically it is about the width of your thin E string, or should be. It can be less than that if you never hit strings hard, especially the bass strings. Anyway check what it is. Then loosen the truss rod just a bit, maybe a 1/8 turn, or 1/4. Then check the relief again. It should have increased. Ok, now you know it is working. So you can tighten it back the same amount as you loosened it. If you need to tighten it more, go ahead. But the pressure you have to put on it when you tighten it more than it was originally should not increase much, it should feel about the same. It it gets tight, don't force it. You may have reached the Max.

3) Again, I worked on my MG when I was 18, I played with bolts, so I know about bolts, and stresses. If you have no experience in this type of stuff, take it to a shop as smells said. I know that today, a lot of people don't do that kind of thing anymore. People don't fix things today as we used to, it is a throw away culture. So if you don't feel confident, take it to a shop.

4) I doubt the truss rod causes the buzz you are talking about. The truss rod is adjusted to give the neck a tiny amount of bow up to the first 12 frets or so. Not past there in general. This is to account for the fact that strings have an elliptical pattern of vibration. If you make the neck totally straight, you may get buzz when you play near the nut, or open strings, especially on the bass strings. If you hit strings very lightly, it is not so important. Some shredders set the neck to straight. Anyway, the truss rod has little effect on the upper frets EXCEPT indirectly. If you have too much bow, you will not need to set your action as high at the bridge to play near the nut and still not have fret buzz. But that is all wrong. Then you will probably get fret buzz at the top, because you set you action so low. The bow is only on the lower part of the neck, up to the first 12 frets or so, so near the top in this circumstance, that would translate to fret buzz near the top.

5) The buzz you get when you bend a string will be more apparent, depending on the radius of the neck. Shred guitars then to have pretty flat necks, at least in part for this reason. I know of no other reason, but there may be others. Fender necks generally have more rounded necks, and it with these that you would have the most issues bending. Gibson is in between, I have no problems.

6) Fact is, you can only set you action so low, after that you will have this problems. I don't care what Guitar you play. A vibrating string is a vibrating string, you need so much clearance. I will tell you, nobody here, I don't care what guitar you play, can set your action any lower than I can on my plek'ed Les Paul Standard. And probably not as low, as it has been plek'ed to allow the lowest action physically possible on any guitar in the universe.

7) You can get away with lower action on the Bass strings than the thin. If you have a light touch. Take Gibson for example. Spec is 3/64 of an inch on the thin, 5/64 of an inch on the bass. I set my bass to about 4/64. My thin string, just slightly less than spec. Some shredders set the bass even lower, to 3/64. But you can't set the thin string too low, just won't get away with it, no matter how light your touch.

8) Of course you could have problems with the neck/frets, and it may need work because of that.

Posted by: steve25 May 13 2008, 03:55 PM

Ok just been down the music shop down town and all i have to say is GRRR. My guitar's tross rod is different to any other truss rod the guy has ever seen. My guitar is a PRS SE Paul Allender model and the truss rod is too different for him to go into. He wasn't going to touch it because he wasn't sure. He's found a load of people and not many of them have experience with PRS guitars. He's going to phone me if anything comes up but looks like i'll have to go out of town to see to this one. He had a look at my guitar and said that it does need adjusting because the area near the lower frets seems a bit wonky. Sigh :/

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion May 13 2008, 03:58 PM

He doesn't sound like an expert lol. Some muppet messed up my Parker Nitefly M truss rod and I could have slapped him but he sent it to somewhere proper to fix for free and it was better again

I'd just find out online where your nearest PRS dealer is.

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 03:23 PM

Well i finally had the truss rod adjusted today so that's fine. It made a huge difference to the action but here's my next problem. The stirngs buzz now like never before. I've raised the action really high again and it seems to be buzzing on the first fret. So does this mean i now have to have my bridge raised? I'm not sure how to do that.

Posted by: Smells May 14 2008, 03:32 PM

How have you raised the action to its highest? isnt that done by raising the bridge in the first place or do you have individual saddles on the trem that you can raise?

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 03:35 PM

http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/ishibashi-shibuya/cabinet/guitar12/311721400-03.jpg

Have a look at that, that's my guitar. On the bridge its got 6, well, would you call those saddles? For each string. It also has 6 screws on the bottom of the bridge. To raise the action i've just used a small little metal key into the slots on the saddle and raised them that way. My low E string is at its highest and it's still buzzing

Posted by: Smells May 14 2008, 03:40 PM

hmm looking at the picture, I`d have thought that its a little like a fender trem, height adjustment on the strings like you`ve already done, quality guitar, I`m a little suprised your having this much trouble with it to be honest

I think if I`d have got as far as you`ve got and it was unplayable I`d be contacting the PRS dealer you bought it from.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 14 2008, 03:42 PM

Thats a bummer..But keep in mind that new guitar has to "play in" for some time (for frets to start to wear etc).. Maybe it will go away in time..And maybe a more precise work on truss road can be done..Also you may try to get a new saddle that is higher or do some kind of modification (put something underneath it ) if its ok and sound good of course

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 03:42 PM

I like the guitar, feels nice sounds good etc but its just being a nightmare for customising it. The problem is, i've had the guitar since February so the question they'll probably ask is why it's taken me so long to complain about it. Not really sure what i can do, i thought i might have to literally raise the actual bridge up.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 14 2008, 03:45 PM

Well if you have warranty on it , and no luther can help you , I would consider taking it back.. Its a high quality guitar , and should be perfect..

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 03:46 PM

Ah unfortunatly i have no warranty, and from what i remember i wasn't given the option either. I'm going to contact PRS see if there's anything i can do about it.

Posted by: Smells May 14 2008, 03:47 PM

I totally agree with Bogdan here, its only a couple of months old, pricey, quality guitar it should be perfect!

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 14 2008, 03:47 PM

Where did you buy it ?? If you bought in store there must be some warranty ..

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 03:48 PM

I tried it in a store to see if i liked it however i didn't buy it from a store because they're more expensive. I bought it online instead because i could get it for a lower cost then all the stores round where i live.

Posted by: Pi38 May 14 2008, 03:49 PM

Oh, that's a shame.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic May 14 2008, 04:38 PM

Ah I see...Well I hope the problem will disappear after some use of the instrument...Also if you can try to find a better Luther who can help you..

Posted by: skennington May 14 2008, 05:43 PM

I'll go back to what I mentioned befor, when was the last time you relaced the string's? Try a new set, not expensive and cant hurt to try. Mine started buzzing more as they got older.

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 05:54 PM

Thanks guys, i don't know what's going to happen. It is extremely annoying not being able to play guitar tonight . And there's no way i'm going to afford a new one if it can't be fixed this is ridiculous :/.

skennington - it's not that kind of buzzing, put your action too low and try and play, you'll see what i mean

Posted by: steve25 May 14 2008, 06:58 PM

Ok after a little messing about the High E string seems ok, although the action isn't quite what i want i could live with it. The Low E is the most noticeable no matter what i do with it it'll buzz no matter how high the action is. The B string has a little bit of buzz but the G string has a lot of buzz yet it is quite a bit higher up than the B string, this is rather odd :/