Peculiar Fret Buzz

[lawson-stone]

Sorry - my bad - should have read your post more carefully....

No problem; I over-reacted. You were just trying to be helpful. That counts!

[grahambop]

I once had an annoying string buzz which made no sense and it went away when I put a new string on.

I think the old string had got a bit tarnished and maybe a bit worn where it went over certain frets, so it was uneven and vibrated 'out of kilter' if that makes sense, just enough to buzz on a fret somewhere.

The new string vibrated 'true' and didn't buzz.

[TOMMO]

No problem; I over-reacted. You were just trying to be helpful. That counts!

You didn't over-react - no worries...

[sgosnell]

Buzzes can happen if the windings get loose, and the core vibrates inside the windings slightly differently. This is one of the main reasons for using hex cores, it helps prevent the windings from loosening. But since they aren't 'traditional' some people avoid them, so some manufacturers still offer round cores. I tend to avoid those. YMMV.

[lawson-stone]

So friends, the truss-rod tweak solved it. About 1/8 or a hair more and all's well. I can't feel any difference in the action or playability, notched rule still shows the fretboard dead-straight, so this must have been a matter of a couple thousandths of an inch.

Thanks for all the kind advice!

[sgosnell]

IME it doesn't take much if you already have a good setup. I've had to tweak a couple of my truss rods in the past few days. The humidity has been so high that some doors are swelling and becoming tight. Guitar necks can only absorb moisture from one side, if finished normally, since the finish won't let moisture through but the fretboard will. Thus they tend to bow backwards as the moisture gets into the fretboard. If you have your action very low, and I keep it as low as I can without buzzing, then you will need to adjust the trussrod every now and then as the weather changes. I've had to adjust a Benedetto, a tele clone, and the Wu lately. None of them required much more than an eighth of a turn, but that small adjustment certainly made a difference.

[Ray175]

One small step at a time is a good way to solve problems like this. Glad it's OK now!

[lawson-stone]

IME it doesn't take much if you already have a good setup. I've had to tweak a couple of my truss rods in the past few days. The humidity has been so high that some doors are swelling and becoming tight. Guitar necks can only absorb moisture from one side, if finished normally, since the finish won't let moisture through but the fretboard will. Thus they tend to bow backwards as the moisture gets into the fretboard. If you have your action very low, and I keep it as low as I can without buzzing, then you will need to adjust the trussrod every now and then as the weather changes. I've had to adjust a Benedetto, a tele clone, and the Wu lately. None of them required much more than an eighth of a turn, but that small adjustment certainly made a difference.

I should have known-I had the identical issue with my Epiphone Elitist Broadway a few months back when we got the late summer/fall rains and high humidity: first and second frets started clanking.

[rolijen]

I love it when a plan comes together!

[john_a]

If you're setting the neck to near zero relief (your notched rule showing the fretboard dead-straight) it becomes more difficult to notice when the neck goes back bent, and a little bit of that can be the root cause of your original complaint.

Can you live with very slight relief? It generally works very well and allows for string excursion without buzz (assuming frets are OK.)
AND the key thing is with a little relief, it becomes simple to just depress a string at fret 1 and (perhaps) the body joint fret so you can verify the relief has not changed. As opposed to the zero relief scenario, where the string would be touching the frets whether it was zero or went back bent. I know you had the rule tool, but with a little relief set you'd be able to check it on the fly, without fussing with tools.

If there was a fret issue, and you can localize it, the "fret rocker" technique is OK for confirming location of high spots
.
But I hate those cheap sheet steel gizmos the guitar parts places sell, I've taken to using a set of stainless precision dowel pins. These pins are accurate, and make a very solid clack with the smallest amount of uneveness that permits the rocking.
Bought a few different lengths of the 3/8" diameter pins from Mcmaster for around $3 ea, and they work very well to help chase high spots that need attention. Reset your neck to zero relief with strings off for the fret work.

Glad it was an easy fix this time, and no frets were shortened as a result!
John