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Probably time to figure these micro adjustments out on my own, rather than waiting for (and paying) the luthier. I have a fingers tuning setup on a LeGrand, set up very well, with the exception of this single area. Is this a truss rod adjustment issue? Thank you for any advice.
Tom
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08-22-2023 09:18 AM
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Buzzing at one position on one string with no visible fret wear is usually a high fret IME. A very slight elevation (like an eighth to a quarter turn counterclockwise from above) of the bridge height nut on the bass end may solve it with no perceptible change in playability. If there’s visible fret wear, which would be odd at that location on that string, the offending fret may be grooved under that string. The obvious first choice for fret-based buzzing is a fret leveling / crown / polish.
Originally Posted by tomvwash
If that doesn’t do it, either the aberrant fret is way too high (which isn’t likely and would be buzzing when fretting at at multiple positions) or there’s another problem. It could be a resonance from a loose or broken joint or part, an odd crack or size issue at the nut slot, or even a loose spot in the string winding.
Especially for a guitar that good (but equally true for any instrument), a luthier’s fees are just part of the total cost of ownership. I think it’s false economy to try to save such a small amount and allow your guitar to be less than its best.
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Most likely either the 13th fret is too low, or the 14th is too high. The latter is more likely. The easiest way around this is to ignore it and not play up there, the next is to raise the action. The best is to level the frets, but it's not nearly as easy. A tech can do it easily, though, and it shouldn't be expensive, especially if only one fret needs leveling. For the lowest possible action, perfectly level frets are essential.
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The truss rod adjusts relief in the middle of the neck. If it's far off some problems can show on the lower frets and higher frets, but I would doubt yours to be that far off. To check it, press the low E string down at the first fret and 12th fret at the same time. There should be a very tiny space between the e string, and the 6th fret. How much of a space is a player preference. For my tastes very little meaning the neck is very nearly straight. You more than likely have a low or high fret in that area your talking about. Most guitars even brand new, can benefit from a fret leveling in my opinion.
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The neck to body joint is a common place for a hump to develop, its the end of the functioning part of the truss rod and often the f/b extension doesn't follow the rest of the neck - the so called "ski jump' on acoustic guitar.
Running as little relief as possible help as does slightly higher action and dressing the fret causing the problem. I try to eliminate it when I level the board before fretting/
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You can get a cheap Fret Rocker on ebay and check it out. You can determine with this what fret is off, being either high or low. I don't think the truss rod has anything to do with it at this point on the neck. Since it is the low E (bass E) to me that is probablya better situation than the high E.
First check the relief in the neck with a perfect straight edge or use the string from fret 14 to fret one. Check the relief in the middle of the neck but also check relief on the outer edges toward the E strings. A little more relief on the bass end is ideal. The best-case scenario is the relief is all uniform in a sense and no twisting or odd humps. I would doubt this on a Legrand. Your action also needs to be looked at and this is personal. If the action seems correct now then you might have a bit of work to do but not much really. If the action is low, then the easiest solution is raising the action on the bass side just bit. In fact, you can experiment by raising the action till the buzz disappears.
In the end I would take it to someone who knows what they are doing and has the tools, unless you have the skill set and tools. The issue usually is while many things a guitarist can do themselves the tools cost money. Spot leveling is pretty easy usually but can be a challenge at times. It would take me a matter of minutes to diagnose the problem, fixing it is the unknown time but the diagnosis will discern the approximate time involved.
One other thing is to change the E string gauge to bigger or simply try a new string as sometimes strings can be an issue for small buzzes.
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