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Hello everyone ,
I’m in love with my new GB10 - playing it 24/7 at the moment.
But, the high e-string buzzes on the 8th fret.
Strangely, when I replace the string with a new one, the buzzing stops.
After a few days of playing the guitar, it then comes back.
I’ve played with the truss rod, changed the actions, and twisted the weird tailend knobs, but nothing gets rid of it except a new string.
It’s not terrible. It’s only if I hit the string relatively hard.
A luthier said I should get a fret dress just for the part of that fret the string hits and the other frets that would be affected by the changed height.
What do you with experience think I should do?
- Listen to the luthier and reshape the guitar? Or play through the pain, support an expensive e-string habit, and see if somehow it goes away one day?
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08-22-2022 12:46 PM
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If the 8th fret buzz when fretting on the 6th/7th. Set the neck straight, no relief, and set a high action. Lower the action until right before the buzz returns. If you cant live with the action then take to the luthier.
Originally Posted by Llamadave
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Take to the luthier for sure. Why would you stress yourself over this?
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Yes!
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Guitars that are played much, need to get fret dressed every now and then, and after a few fret dresses they need to be refretted.
If you don't want to have fret work done on a guitar, you should perhaps not play it much.
Even new guitars from the factory can benefit from some fret work by a skilled tech (it's not obvous whether "my new GB10" means pre-owned and new to you or new from the factory), however I would not expect that from an Ibanez in that price range?
All the techs/luthiers I've dealt with to seem to be honest and trustworthy, so have generally accepted all maintenance jobs they recommend.
If you doubt their trustworthiness or judgement you could see a different tech and get their opinion, but otherwise I'd just go for it.
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I had a similar problem in my GB10 with th high E-string buzzing on the 13th fret. I took it to a tech that solved the problem in a few minutes. I suggest you should do the same.
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This is a great answer. Originally Posted by orri
i was just worried in case the luthier was wrong because it is a new expensive instrument.
ill take it to a new luthier and see if they say the same thing.
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Though does anyone know why the string only buzzes after being played a while? Why wouldn’t it buzz as soon as I add in a new string?
Do they loosen up? Doesn’t make sense to me.
i use thomastik 12s flatwound
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Strings get a bit of wear where they touch the frets. If you slide your finger along the "fret side" of a much used string, you can feel where it touched the frets.
I haven't noticed or heard of that it can cause fret buzz, but it can affect the intonation on especially the high E since it is thinnest so the wear is a larger proportion of its thickness and weight, and the string thickness or weight distribution becomes uneven.
To some degree it can make sense to me that a string would buzz more when it is worn and the weight/thickness becomes less evenly distributed.
I often change only the highest two strings to get better intonation, and more play time out of the flat wound strings which intonate fine for longer. I buy a bunch of single strings.
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(I edited this post because it was a rant of mine... To sum up my rant: guitar need to be made right).
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Unfortunately, it’s is a brand new made in Japan GB10 model; not one of the student editions.
Didn’t seem to have the issue straight away. Got it back in March. Play about average 2-3 hours per day. Problem arose around June after first set up for a thicker string gauge. And now after another string set it keeps happening after the new e-string has been play a bit.
And it is just one fret, so it’s very odd. I’ll definitley come back to this thread once I’ve got a second opinion from another luthier in a few weeks.
Thanks everyone, this is my first post, but I’m already loving all the insight.Last edited by Llamadave; 08-23-2022 at 11:18 AM.
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That is a nice guitar. Just one fret... that is strange. That would probably not be from paying.... please let me know what happens.
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There are very few guitars that wouldn't benefit from a modest fret dress even right out of the factory. It doesn't have to be a lose half your frets proposition. Done with sandpaper and a straight edge, very little material loss and a must have for those that desire low action. The neck can shift torsionally with different strings and gauges and a fret that was off just a bit can show up.
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Maybe get yourself a fret rocker. Really easy to evaluate fret level quickly and easily. Just a few quid.
Rockcare Fret Rocker Fret Levelling – Thomann UK
The way it works is that you put it against a set of 3 frets at a time and gently push it against one of the outer frets in turn. If it makes a click the frets are not on a plane. Detects even the smallest deviation.
This will help you confirm or deny whether it is a fret or something else, both with the fresh set of strings and later on.
All my guitars have a few uneven frets, to a different extent. This tool allows me to assess them before the purchase, check for wear, detect fret seating issues and validate luthiers levelling work.
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well, this might piss someone off but anyway. All guitars have uneven frets, even pleked ones. The only question is how low action you require. So, set the action to where it doesnt buzz and ask yourself if you can live with it.
If not, take it to a tech
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Oh amazing! I’ve seen these before, and it’s what the luthier used, but never thought of buying it myself. Originally Posted by burchyk
£7 isn’t much to check the work and see the issue first hand.
Never would have worried about these issues before, but when you spend a little more on a guitar, and play a bit more seriously, it all becomes very noticeable!
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This is perfect example of the high fret, low fret problem. In both cases they produce the same problem so determining if you have a high fret or a low one is most important. A high fret is easy to spot file and get the guitar playing good. However a low fret implies that anything after it will be possible a problem. If this came to my shop, I would want to carefully make sure what was going on as dressing all the frets is something to avoid if all else it good. That said a very minor dressing of the frets with the least amount of metal being removed is the goal. This is a new guitar you don't want to be removing more metal than need. That ideally is they way to do all fret dressings but in the real world when fingerboards/frets come in that are well worn and dented you know metal has to be removed. Originally Posted by Llamadave
Also StewMac has a really cool fret file they call a Fret-Kisser and it looks nice but for $132 I will pass on it and I have a huge selection of small files that can Kiss-off excess fret height. Another solution try is to move up a gauge in string. If the high E is .12 go to a .13, or up one notch and I personally bet that will take care of the issue as bigger strings allow a bit lower action. That said my OCD would want me using the gauge I wanted not what the guitar wants.
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Fret dressing is part of a regular service on a regular (hopefully often!) played guitar. It‘s part of the game.
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that’s good to know, thank you! Originally Posted by Stefan Eff
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If you bought this new from a store take it back there and have them look at it. They should fix it for free. I bought a Taylor acoustic that started buzzing and the store fixed it without charging me.
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Temperature and/or humidity fluctuations 'might' cause the fretboard to change slightly and the fret could increase it's altitude.
I had two very narrow, specific spots that were buzzing on two different guitars, just enough to buzz if I leaned on those notes.
Generally low humidity around this region, btw.
.013 FW's on both guitars.
One had a complete fret dress done recently and was just off by a few thousandth's at C# on the third string.
Literally the width of the vibrating string, as it turned out.
The other guitar was buzzing at the 13th fret on the 6th string.
I bought one of the following kits for $19.99 and it did the trick for me. Could be worth considering.
(Notaffiliated with the seller in any manner). YMMV.
Buzz-Off Fret Leveling Kit - Fix Fret Buzz - J.S. Bogdanovich Guitars
Good luck!
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Sounds like a high fret. GB10 is built at Fujigen. Some of the most exacting standards in the mass market. I used to QC their guitars including the very guitars sent to George Benson himself. I'll tell you I have never encountered a guitar I would unconditionally guarantee against fret shifting. It's metal set into wood under tension in a situation where both materials have a different expansion coefficient.
It's easy enough. It's easy enough that anytime I do a pro setup for a client, I check for any fret inconsistencies no matter if they're experiencing buzzing or not. It's good to know a string can be taken down to the deck cleanly and then brought up to what they play. Just in case.
A good luthier will have a fret tool that addresses individual high frets. Life saver and it allows me to level a high fret in seconds. To the degree that I won't even charge for the time it takes me.
It's not uncommon for a buzz to occur at the 13-14 fret area by the way. This is the point at which the adjustability of the neck vs truss rod begins and any neck orientation shift will happen when the fingerboard/neck is free of the body (it's the part of the diving board that ISN'T fixed in one place.)
Take it to a luthier if you love the guitar. Take care of it if you love it. Be mindful of its normal needs if you love it. If you don't love it, ...heh, use this as an excuse to return it and get what you want, and then start at step one with that one.
Good luck.
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If you didn't know what the problem was, you shouldn't have done anything! That's like turning on the TV and seeing that there's a problem so you start pressing random buttons on the remote until it's really screwed up.
Originally Posted by Llamadave
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Just an update on this.
I did get the frets dressed. I went to a very good luthier and said it needed a fair bit done. Now it plays better than ever. Wish I did it earlier!
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