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I just bought this on Reverb. As you can hear, the G string frets out very badly, while the adjacent strings (A, D and B) don't. Really a head-scratcher. Any ideas?
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04-24-2025 07:15 PM
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The action is set too low all around or there's a backbow in the tension relief of the neck or a combo.
First, depress any string at the first fret, and at the other end at the 14th fret. Is the string against the fret or can you get a clean vibration on the string in between? If your string isn't clear of the frets, put some relief in the neck. If you can get a clean note, then we go to the string height and action. Take the action up a tiny bit at the bridge. Raise it until you can clean up your buzzing.
Try these things first, and then report back. I don't want to be writing a treatise on set up (yet) because after that, there are a lot of next steps.
Good luck.
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All good stuff. Appreciate you.
Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
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The saddle slot for the G string could be too deep, or if it's a TOM the string saddle could be collapsed. I can't see what type bridge is on the guitar, but that's where I would look first. If raising the action stops the buzz, then it's likely a saddle issue.
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Yea I'd loosen the truss rod a little bit. It's weird it doesn't buzz on the other strings.
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A fingerboard has a curve to it, a convex arc to the shape of the surface. The bridge has a curve to the bridge saddles which matches that shape but it's never going to be PERFECTLY matched. When the action is extremely low, one string will always be the lowest depending on the coincidence of the string heights. Normally a difference of hundreths of a mm is going to be impossible to tell but when you're at the edge of a really low action, one string will be the first to touch, in this case it is the G, especially because an unwound G is going to have a slightly different tension in relation to the other strings. If the fingerboard has a greater radius and the bridge saddle arc has and arc that's a greater radius (closer to a straight line) it's gonna be the inner strings that contact first, right? Originally Posted by Django Johnson
Whenever you're at the very edge of tolerances, there will always be the point at which the system fails first. First crack in the dam, first point in the ice to break, first link in the chain to break, first string to touch when you're taking the action down to ultra low.
That's why I had him check the easiest factours in the relationship between the saddle and the neck controlling consistent string height.
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Listen carefully to the video - the D string is also buzzing faintly. The cause(s) is (are) almost certainly among all those cited by the posts in this thread. But (as I've posted many times before), you need a diagnosis to deliver effective treatment. That starts with a comprehensive history and physical examination.
Start with the history. What make and moel is it, B2? Is it exactly as it arrived, or have you done anything to it already? I can't tell for sure, but the wound strings look black to me. Are they tape wound? If so, they may be the problem (especially if you or someone else put them on it but it had been set up for standard metal strings). FWIW, the G looks to me like it may be wound, Jimmy.
Before disassembling anything, inspect everything and measure the basics - neck relief, action on each string at each fret, string heights at the bottom of the nut slots, etc. Are the frets badly worn? Is one sticking up a bit more than the others? You may well have found the problem at this point. Check the neck angle. If everything looks fine and measures within normal limits, take off the strings. Check slots at nut and bridge for proper depth and radius. I've seen this in guitars that had a fret level / crown / polish only on some frets. I did this to myself once, when I failed to level the highest few frets enough on a guitar that had a lot of fret wear below the 12th but almost none above it.
If you can't find anything amiss, put the strings back on and make one change at a time to see if the buzzing goes away. Loosen the truss rod an 1/8 of a turn at a time, tune it, and see if the buzz gets better. If you go a full turn or more with no improvement, tighten it back up to where it was (after loosening the strings), retune, and start raising the bridge a little at a time. If that also has no effect, you're getting into trouble territory and probably need a luthier or tech to check it. The neck could have a hump or twist. The top may have settled. Someone may have put the wrong nut or bridge saddle on it.
Are those strings as black as they look?
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FWIW the guitar appears to be an Ibanez AFJ91 according to the YT title.
I also thought about the collapsed bridge but unlikely with floater.
S
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I believe the truss rod has nothing really to do with it that far up toward the nut. Actually, I did not think the buzz was all the much just not quite clean. If the neck has the proper relief, it could simply be the nut or the radius of the fret off a bit. Checking the nut is easy just fret the 3rd fret and look at the clearance behind over the 1st fret. A small bit of daylight just clearing the 1st fret. It could also be a high fret and easy to check that also. Just sizing this up based on the buzz tells me it is a minor tweaking problem. Generally, Truss rod adjustments have mostly to do with relief of the neck at the 7th fret or around after making the straightedge with the strings. Truss rods take the most over of the middle area in terms or movement. The truss rod movement up at the first 4 frets is pretty minimal. Another easy check it so try another string of a bigger gauge. If you have .30 then put a .32 string on it. Another check is to try a flatwound string if you have roundwounds on the guitar. This will tell you it is the nut causing the problem.
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Sorry, I didn’t even notice that. The laminated tops on those didn’t have much of an arch, and they’re pretty thick - so a collapsing top is very unlikely. Originally Posted by SOLR
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Ha ha, thank you'all for the detailed explanations. Honestly I was too tired when I first responded to go deep into the many divergent and possible lengthy explanations that are the realm of mere conjecture without the instrument in my hands. Picture worth a thousand words? The guitar in hand is 10 thousand keystrokes.
What happened when you took the action up, buduranus?
Diagnosing a buzzing problem via forum posts? It's like "Hey guys, I just got a letter from the guys on Apollo 13. It seems they have a problem."
(Off topic, but did anyone else see The Martian with Matt Damon and love it?)
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At the risk of suggesting something too simple, I'd suggest making sure the screws in the tuner buttons are screwed in appropriately. If the tuner is loose on the G string, it seems to me that this might be a symptom.
Easy, free, and takes a few seconds.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 04-25-2025 at 05:12 PM.
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I once traced a baffling rattle to a loose hexnut on the back of a tuner. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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One time I spent hours tracking down a buzz. It was a loose wrapping on the string. Only happened once in a while. Should've charged by the hour. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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Originally Posted by Django Johnson
Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
Originally Posted by SOLR
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
Thanks very much for your responses. I'm pleased to report significant progress. First I reversed the compensated wood bridge saddle to see if its radius was at all different from the fretboard. Not really. Next I loosened the truss rod about an eighth of a turn. Nothing. Then again, and again, and again in small increments. Finally I was able to get some relief in the neck, but, interestingly, not as much as I would have anticipated given the amount of adjustment. No matter. Lastly I fiddled with the bridge (one side higher, the other lower, then reverse and repeat a few iterations.) That seemed to get me into the "playable" zone. Action as of now is a tad high, but I'm going to let it settle in for the rest of the day and check it tomorrow. Again, many thanks to all the forum members who shared their expertise. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
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It could still be that the third string bridge saddle is cut too deep ....or, as simple as a bad 3rd...or a substitute bridge with the wrong radius, pictures of the guitar would help, perhaps. Originally Posted by buduranus2
S
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I would put money on the G saddle slot being too deep. If it's a wooden bridge, it's easy enough to deepen the rest to make them all even. The slots should follow the radius of the fretboard, whatever it is. 12" is common, but certainly there are others. A set of radius gauges can help with this, but not strictly necessary. ideally the entire saddle top would be re-radiused to match, but again not absolutely necessary, unless you're anal about having the slots as shallow as possible.
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A temporary fix, but sometimes a single buzzy string can be addressed by a torn corner of the local paper currency in the nut slot...
PK
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BTW, it's also possible to fill the saddle slot with cyanoacrylate or UV resin, then recut it. The slot doesn't have to be fully filled, just enough to raise the string enough to be even with the others.
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When I was a computer tech, if something took me hours longer than I felt I could charge the customer, I usually chalked it up to something I should have been able to solve in a shorter amount of time, and billed for that amount. Originally Posted by Jimmy blue note
Or else I chalked it up to experience, knowing the next time I saw that problem I'd know how to fix it, and billed for a shorter amount of time.
My partner used to say, when one of us solved a mysterious problem quickly, "Better to be lucky than smart."
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Back in the late '60s, Randall Smith had a small music shop in San Francisco called Prune Music where he repaired amplifiers. He was so good at it that he charged by the minute - and if it took him more than 10 minutes (IIRC.....it could have been slightly more or less) the repair was free. That was the birthplace of Mesa Engineering and the Boogie. Originally Posted by Ukena
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Wooden saddle? There's your problem. They can also cut into the wood over time and this kind of wear is not uniform. I simply raise the action up til the offending string(s) are clear and playing clean and strong, and take my nut files and lower the other strings by cutting their slots until the action is precisely where it should be.
I first saw this on Benedetto guitars where they get a precisely uniform action this way.
Have a luthier do this for you. It won't take long.
You can cut wood bridge saddles to the depth you need to match the fingerboard the way you can cut a nut depth.
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Now if divorce lawyers and mediators worked on this basis.,, Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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It's pretty common for wooden saddle slots to be very shallow, just deep enough to hold the strings in place. But that requires the saddle to be radiused perfectly, and most I've seen are too flat for many, if not most, fingerboards. Having the saddle too flat means the center strings will be lower than the outer strings, so when the saddle is set to a height that gives ideal action for the E strings, the D and G are too low and buzz. My solution has been to cut the saddle slots deeper on the outer strings, going a little at a time, until all the strings have a uniform action height. Then I may or may not remove the saddle and re-radius it to attain uniform sot depths. TBH, I usually do that only if the outer slots are very deep, and they can be if the saddle was very flat and there is a tight radius to the fingerboard. I do my own work, but having this done by a tech shouldn't be expensive.
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Something basic like this comes in handy when looking for high/low areas.
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