Telecaster low E buzz

[snootles]

I have my American Standard Telecaster 2012 setup as follows;

Relief .010 at 8th fret
Action is 2mm (5/64) across all strings at the 12th fret.
All frets are perfectly level with no wear.

I still get string buzz on the low e around fret 10 onwards.

There is no open string buzz. I know this doesn't effect fretted notes but I know it's not a nut issue.

Any ideas? It's driving me mad!

[Chickenwings]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

raise the action until it goes away on the high frets.
Set the truss rod to match.

[snootles]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

raise the action until it goes away on the high frets.
Set the truss rod to match.

2mm at the 12th fret is already fairly high. It should be able to sit there with no buzz I would have thought?

[PierceOkken]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

Have you checked your frets for level? That may be your problem

[Clint 55]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

During fret levels, I put fallaway in the upper frets and that halps a lot.

[MetalManiac]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

Use some baking soda and Ubergloo on the nut on the fret in question..should raise the string enuf to eliminate your buzzing. I know you said it's not a nut issue, so the only other thing I can think of is your neck is slightly twisted..that occurs a lot, but at least the board , if it is, is twisted on the better side.I think.As someone has mentioned, it could be a dead fret? raising the action is not an option for a neck that already has the best action you prefer for your other strings.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Telecaster low E buzz

2mm at the 12th fret is already fairly high. It should be able to sit there with no buzz I would have thought?

If its buzzing, then It's not high enough.
Your ears are a better measure than anything else. Let them guide you, but dont worry too much about fret 12 to start with. Dont worry about how high they are before you fret them because there is another super important part of the equation (the truss rod) which we will sort out later.
Set the action so the upper frets (like 15 and up) are noise free under your regular pick attack when you fret them(some players play harder than others). Especially the frets from the body join up. Do this for every string because they all form different size ellipses when played at their pitch. You will find that the Low e needs a lot more room than the high E and the one sin the middle all need to work their way around the curvature of the neck. You may need to have the action a little higher if you find that bend notes on the high frets start to "fret out". YOur ears will let you know when it gets too low.
Once those are done, tighten the truss rod until the guitar plays evenly across the entire neck.
You may find that you can get your action lower than it is currently and be rattle free.
This is all assuming thats the frets are all dead level and dont need a fret dressing (which you said is the case).

Last thing...make sure you use a proper fender shaped truss rod tool because they truss rod adjustment nut is easy to strip. You can find them on ebay etc. Also make sure that there is no string tension on the neck when you tighten the truss rod. Never adjust more than half a turn and then let it settle one in tune for at least half an hour. Right is tight, left is loose.