How Much String Buzzing Is Acceptable? |
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How Much String Buzzing Is Acceptable? |
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Mar 29 2008, 01:38 AM |
I believe string buzzing is always unwanted and should be avoided, but yet I was surprised after trying a few guitars at my local music shop, when I found out that many of them had some buzzing when pressing certain frets.
I asked the salesman there, and he told me that as long as the buzzing isn't heard through the amp it's not a sign of a bad guitar, as long as the action is low. I even found that a Gibson les Paul Standard, worth 2100 euro = 3000 $, also had a little bit of buzzing on certain frets. You could only notice it when playing "unplugged", not through the amp, but that made me wonder too. Such an expensive guitar, did it too! And I guess that Gibsons are properly set from factory. At least they should, with that price tag. So I ask you guys: how much buzzing is acceptable (if any!), is it normal for low action guitars to buzz a little bit? Doesn't it substract from the overall tone of the guitar? (Less sustain, etc.) I'm no expert on setting guitars but I know I like clean sounding guitars through the whole neck, no buzzing at all if possible, with a low action too. Is that impossible to achieve? Is a tiny amount of buzzing always present? -------------------- Guitars:
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2570MZ, Epiphone SG G-400 Amp: Vox AC4TVH head + V112TV cab Effects: Vox Satchurator, Vox Time Machine, Dunlop CryBaby, Boss MT-2, Boss CE-5, Boss TU-2, Boss ME-70 Recording: Line-6 POD X3 + FBV-Express, Pandora PX5D GMC wants YOU to take part in our Guitar-Wikipedia! Have a good time reading great articles and writing your own with us in our GUITAR WIKI! Share your playing and get Pro-advice from our Instructors: Join REC |
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Mar 29 2008, 01:47 AM |
I can't judge how much buzzing should be accepted in general but as far as I'm concerned I want none what so ever.
I can understand that there could be buzzing when setting a very very low action, but I don't buy that either. I'd say that's too low then - at least for me it is. Personaly I want a straight line from the nut down to the bridge, a well set action and the necks' trussrod setup so it's harmonizing that "straight line" so the distance between fret and string all over the neck is enough to aviod buzzing. -------------------- My bands homepage
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Mar 29 2008, 01:51 AM |
I see, ok.
remember that i'm not referring to the open strings, but also when you fret them in each fret. None of the guitars had buzzing with the open strings (that would be unacceptable for sure), but many of them had a bit of buzzing in the 12th fret or 15th on certain strings... and they were quite expensive guitars, that got me thinking... -------------------- Guitars:
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2570MZ, Epiphone SG G-400 Amp: Vox AC4TVH head + V112TV cab Effects: Vox Satchurator, Vox Time Machine, Dunlop CryBaby, Boss MT-2, Boss CE-5, Boss TU-2, Boss ME-70 Recording: Line-6 POD X3 + FBV-Express, Pandora PX5D GMC wants YOU to take part in our Guitar-Wikipedia! Have a good time reading great articles and writing your own with us in our GUITAR WIKI! Share your playing and get Pro-advice from our Instructors: Join REC |
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Mar 29 2008, 02:03 AM |
Few weeks back my neck got out of "tune" and I had buzzing on the first fret on thickest strings..When I played on that fret I had a little dead notes..You could hear the note but it was not powerful and sounding right as others..It was really bad..I adjusted neck and now its cool...Too much buzzing can kill tone..Some is acceptable of course..Just don't sacrifice your tone for action
p.s. it was on my bass This post has been edited by Bogdan: Mar 29 2008, 02:26 AM -------------------- For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
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Mar 29 2008, 02:31 AM |
It sure is Ok Skennington
The more info, and doubts solved, the better! -------------------- Guitars:
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster, Ibanez RG2570MZ, Epiphone SG G-400 Amp: Vox AC4TVH head + V112TV cab Effects: Vox Satchurator, Vox Time Machine, Dunlop CryBaby, Boss MT-2, Boss CE-5, Boss TU-2, Boss ME-70 Recording: Line-6 POD X3 + FBV-Express, Pandora PX5D GMC wants YOU to take part in our Guitar-Wikipedia! Have a good time reading great articles and writing your own with us in our GUITAR WIKI! Share your playing and get Pro-advice from our Instructors: Join REC |
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Mar 29 2008, 08:27 AM |
What I would highly recommend is to get what they call a "Pro setup". A guitar luthier would adjust and clean up any issues such as fret leveling, cutting the nut and bridge saddles to the correct heights, set your action, relief of truss and all.... Then you can just maintain it with seasonal changes etc. from that point forward...until you wear it out again. I have a guitar in for a refret as we speak so I know this all too well. Yup, the most jumbo frets are going on it. Absolutely agreed. If you want the best playability - low action, good sustain with "near-zero" buzzing - a luthier is often required. I found a lot of expensive guitars in music stores that came from the factory with a bad set-up. The best thing would be to have a cheap guitar to experiment with. So, you can really understand how bridges, truss-rods, etc. work. On the other side, every guitar is a kind of "unique" piece and you must be careful to avoid serious damages. -------------------- ::: Main Gear ::: Guitars: Washburn N4 Vintage | Washburn N2 | Washburn WI67Pro | Washburn WG-587 | Washburn EA20B Amps: Laney GH50L (head) | Laney GS410 & GS212IE (cabinets) | Rocktron PROGAP Ultra (rack preamp) | Rocktron Velocity 150 (power amp) | Marshall VS230 (combo) FXs: Rocktron Intellifex + custom pedalboard (check my video demo) Other: Shredneck | Intellitouch PT10 tuner Picks: Esseti Picks Software & Recording Gear: Cubase 4 | Overloud TH1 | Mackie Onyx 400F | EZdrummer | Korg Pandora PX4D ------------------------------------------------------- myspace.com/jerryarcidiacono Check out my video lessons and instructor board! |
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Mar 29 2008, 11:25 AM |
And I guess that Gibsons are properly set from factory. At least they should, with that price tag. On the opposite I think Gibsons are not properly setup from the factory and if they did, there is a big chance that in transport they get the buzzing. It is normal for new guitars to have some buzz until they are properly played in. -------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
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