Buzzing E and A strings

innisfree

Hi,

Just got in a guitar from Thomann. I'm delighted with it, except that there's a bit of buzzing from the E string in open and most fretting positions. There's also a very slight buzz from the A string on one or two frets.

I'm a bit clueless in this area so forgive any naive comments, but should I consider returning it? I'm aware of truss rod adjustments and the screw adjustments on the bridge but I'd thought in doing this I'd be raising the action higher and don't want it much higher (not that it's very high, I just find the current height perfect, comfort wise). Therefore am I right in thinking I had a bit of bad luck in the guitar that was shipped to me, that's it's slightly less well put together. Or am I being an idiot and should get the guitar serviced by a local pro immediately and stop being dramatic, as it's perfectly normal?

Parsley

It's quite easy to check the relief of the neck yourself - that's most likely the source of the problem. adjusting the truss rod will raise the action a tad to alleviate the problem, but once you have the relief correct you can just lower the bridge saddles to lower the action again, buzz free.

Dord

If the E is buzzing all along the board the most likely problem is that its too low. You should raise this up at the bridge. With the A string, do you know what frets its buzzing at?

Johnny Storm

This is a good place to start:-

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/trussrods.htm



EDIT: fret a string at the first and last fret then look how much of a gap there is between the string and the top of the 7th fret. That gap is the relief

If you haven't got any feeler gauges :rolleyes: just compare the relief to the width of the first (thinnest) string (usually .009 or .010 of an inch)

I suggest you adjust the relief, action etc and if you're still not happy with it, then you can still think about returning it or maybe taking it to a professional.

innisfree

Joe Robot wrote: »

If the E is buzzing all along the board the most likely problem is that its too low. You should raise this up at the bridge. With the A string, do you know what frets its buzzing at?

Yep, it pretty much is. The A string buzzes most of the way up the board too, but a lot less noticeably than the E. I have to be hitting it fairly damn hard to hear it.
Most people are pointing out how to repair it, but what I'm more worried about is that by getting it to the point of not buzzing, will the action be noticeably higher? Or, in your own experiences, did you notice much difference in playing after raising a string that was previously buzzing. I know this is all relative to how low the string was previously, but I'd like to hear your own experiences and opinions nonetheless. If Parsley's advice is true, then I'll keep it. I love everything else about it and I'd hate to have to part with it.

Basically, if raising these strings to the point that they'll no longer buzz involves significantly altering how easy they are to fret a note I'll be returning it. I don't want an electric that feels like playing an acoustic.

I'm useless at anything like this, I think I'll leave it to a pro. I can just imagine snapping my guitar in two. Any recommendations on who's the best at this and what sort of cost we're looking at? I'll do a search now, I vaguely remember some guys name being repeated in the past.

Dord

innisfree wrote: »

Yep, it pretty much is. The A string buzzes most of the way up the board too, but a lot less noticeably than the E. I have to be hitting it fairly damn hard to hear it.
Most people are pointing out how to repair it, but what I'm more worried about is that by getting it to the point of not buzzing, will the action be noticeably higher? Or, in your own experiences, did you notice much difference in playing after raising a string that was previously buzzing. I know this is all relative to how low the string was previously, but I'd like to hear your own experiences and opinions nonetheless. If Parsley's advice is true, then I'll keep it. I love everything else about it and I'd hate to have to part with it.

Basically, if raising these strings to the point that they'll no longer buzz involves significantly altering how easy they are to fret a note I'll be returning it. I don't want an electric that feels like playing an acoustic.

I'm useless at anything like this, I think I'll leave it to a pro. I can just imagine snapping my guitar in two. Any recommendations on who's the best at this and what sort of cost we're looking at? I'll do a search now, I vaguely remember some guys name being repeated in the past.

You might not have to raise the string much to alleviate the buzzing, it depends. Personally I'd try to sort the problem by adjusting the string height at the saddles, depending on your guitar there should be 1 or 2 small allen screws on each saddle, you adjust these to raise and lower the string. The allen key for this should be included with your guitar, most guitars come with them. If you can't solve the issue by this method you could go to a pro to setup the guitar.

If you're in Dublin, Derrick Nelson is your man. He's on the higher side pricewise but he knows his stuff. His details are in the sticky at the top of the forum.

unclebill98

Does it buzz when played trough an amp or just unplugged?

innisfree

Joe Robot wrote: »

You might not have to raise the string much to alleviate the buzzing, it depends. Personally I'd try to sort the problem by adjusting the string height at the saddles, depending on your guitar there should be 1 or 2 small allen screws on each saddle, you adjust these to raise and lower the string. The allen key for this should be included with your guitar, most guitars come with them. If you can't solve the issue by this method you could go to a pro to setup the guitar.

If you're in Dublin, Derrick Nelson is your man. He's on the higher side pricewise but he knows his stuff. His details are in the sticky at the top of the forum.

Hmmm...had a quick go at adjusting the saddle on the E string. I had no luck as the alan bolt's seems to just turn freely, as if they're holding nothing down. This is a bit confusing. I've bad luck with wearing away the contours of alan bolts and leaving them gripless, so I'm not too keen on trying it much further.

Does it buzz when played trough an amp or just unplugged?

Both, moreso unplugged. But, to be honest, that could just be me hearing it wrong. It's probably equal.

Johnny Storm

innisfree wrote: »

...., but what I'm more worried about is that by getting it to the point of not buzzing, will the action be noticeably higher? ....

There's no real answer to that question. You'd have to do it and see.

Voodu Child

innisfree wrote: »

Hmmm...had a quick go at adjusting the saddle on the E string. I had no luck as the alan bolt's seems to just turn freely, as if they're holding nothing down. This is a bit confusing. I've bad luck with wearing away the contours of alan bolts and leaving them gripless, so I'm not too keen on trying it much further.

If its turning freely you're in no danger of wearing anything.

Depending on your guitar, there shouldnt be much resistance to turning the allen bolt anyway.

Stretch your strings properly before adjusting anything - new and unstretched strings have way too much flop in them, and will buzz all over the place in even a properly set-up guitar.

innisfree

I was thinking of the bolts in the wrong way. I assumed the saddles were already being held down by the bolts and that you had to loosen them to raise them up. That's why I was confused as to why the bolts felt loose already. I've figured out that the bolts were loose because they don't hold the saddles down, they're only used to raise it. So I've raised the E string and got rid of about 75% of the problem. However, the alan key won't grip into either of the bolts on the A string. So much for me worrying about doing that.

I'm at a bit of a loss now, I'm wondering if I should just return it to Thomann at this stage and ask for a new one. I don't want to have paid for a guitar only to have to pay another hundred or so just to get it in working order.

Mr. CooL ICE

Also - never adjust the truss rod unless you are 100% sure about what you are doing. Very easy to make a balls out of it with little hope of turning back

unclebill98

Tbh, just bring it into your local guitar shop and ask them to just do a quick set up..Should take no more than 10 mins if they know what there doing. You do not wanna get into the hassle of sending something back. If there is nothing wrong with the they'll simple charge you 40euro to organise its return. Just get it setup here.

Voodu Child

innisfree wrote: »

I was thinking of the bolts in the wrong way. I assumed the saddles were already being held down by the bolts and that you had to loosen them to raise them up. That's why I was confused as to why the bolts felt loose already. I've figured out that the bolts were loose because they don't hold the saddles down, they're only used to raise it. So I've raised the E string and got rid of about 75% of the problem. However, the alan key won't grip into either of the bolts on the A string. So much for me worrying about doing that.

I'm at a bit of a loss now, I'm wondering if I should just return it to Thomann at this stage and ask for a new one. I don't want to have paid for a guitar only to have to pay another hundred or so just to get it in working order.

I can't tell you whether to send it back or not. It's usual for a brand-new guitar to need some setup work, that's why 90% of guitarists learn how to do it themselves. I've never bought a guitar (new or 2nd hand) that I didn't start tweaking myself straight away.

If you think there's Allen bolts on the guitar that are stripped and un-useable, by all means, get on to thomann about it.

But like i said, if it's just a simple setup issue, there's no guarantee the replacement won't be the same. That's just the way it is buying from places like thomann - they ship you the guitar untouched, in the same packing case it left the factory in Korea or wherever.