acceptable amount of string buzz?

Zombiemetl

Zombiemetl

New member
is there such thing? it annoys me beyond belief and I try to eliminate it all together with about 95% success, but sometimes I see youtube and or demo videos of professional dudes playing high end stuff and I can hear the buzz! although you can't hear it coming out of the amp....am I doing the typical guitarist thing and overthinking it?
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

It's a personal thing really. Most people are fine as long as you can't hear it through the speaker. Then again it could be a technique issue and a player isn't fretting properly. One way to eliminate it is to set your action high enough where you get no buzz.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

exactly! I know some people are ok with a lil bit, but I get real ocd about it haha, luckily this has led me to get pretty good at set ups! (truss rod, bridge adjustment, intonation)
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

It is really a personal thing. Using a shred stick with the action slammed to the fret board and high gain amp a bit of buzz wont make a huge difference at the end of the day. Like all things it is give and take, how low do you want your action? I play with a low action and as things shift I may hear a bit of buzz hear and there. I make my truss or bridge tweaks and move on. As Blueman said it is something you want to avoid but with some setups you will run into fret buzz more than others.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

I tend to raise action until it's not there any more. It becomes a big deal when playing clean often.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

Zombiemetl said:
exactly! I know some people are ok with a lil bit, but I get real ocd about it haha, luckily this has led me to get pretty good at set ups! (truss rod, bridge adjustment, intonation)
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+1. A good set up eliminates string buzz. Pretty easy to do If you have to have your strings laying on the frets, you're going to have a certain amount of string buzz, but that can be covered up with a lot of distortion. Personally, I'd rather raise the strings, so they have plenty of clearance and can ring out, which also allows for better bending. I like to be able to clean up my tone and have a nice, rich tone. It took me a little while to be able to play high notes fast with a high action, but once you build up the finger strength and muscle memory, it's not an issue.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

that's what I typically do....ill raise it up semi high, lower a little just until it buzzes a tiny bit, then raise it a hair from there. I like my action medium low as I have big hands and too low action feels too slinky/wimpy. I use 11-50 standard tuned
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

Some guitars can be built where you can get a pretty low action without any buzz. PRS comes to mind.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

Try it on bass. Now you can hear it through the amp, although you could put a LPF on it.

It's quite an issue. I can make a guitar play well with a normal setup but if I want literally no buzz then a fret level is usually required.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

For me, acoustics have to ring clear, then electrics are setup with varying degrees of buzz, from none to a little, depending on what genre I usually play on it. My Two main Strats are setup with one being buzz-free and the other having a slight bit (but pretty low action)
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

any guitar should be able to be setup with very low action, if not there is a nut/bridge/fret/neck issue. that being said I cant stand buzz. higher action leads to cleaner notes. it may be harder to play and take more practice to play fast but it sounds better. youd be surprised how high some "shredders" action is
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

jeremy said:
any guitar should be able to be setup with very low action, if not there is a nut/bridge/fret/neck issue. that being said I cant stand buzz. higher action leads to cleaner notes. it may be harder to play and take more practice to play fast but it sounds better. youd be surprised how high some "shredders" action is
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Some are definitely liars, though *cough*Yngwie*cough*
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

Well Yngwie also uses very thin strings. So even if his action is/would be high that is a different situation.

In general I think strings are a bit underated as a method of controlling unwanted buzz, in bass, and a lot underrated in guitar. Thinner things and putting them higher can give you clearer ringing notes without making the guitar all that hard to play.

In the bass world you also have hex core versus round core strings. The latter have less tension for the same frequency, so you have to put them a bit higher, but since they have less tension that doesn't make them harder to play in all situations.

Some basses have pickups that have practically no low pass filter after a resonance peak, if they are exclusively intended for use with a sound-shaping preamp. That's nice but that can let a lot of unwanted mechanical high-frequency noises through that a regular pickup filters. Yes I'm looking at you music man.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

uOpt said:
Well Yngwie also uses very thin strings. So even if his action is/would be high that is a different situation.

In general I think strings are a bit underated as a method of controlling unwanted buzz, in bass, and a lot underrated in guitar. Thinner things and putting them higher can give you clearer ringing notes without making the guitar all that hard to play.

In the bass world you also have hex core versus round core strings. The latter have less tension for the same frequency, so you have to put them a bit higher, but since they have less tension that doesn't make them harder to play in all situations.

Some basses have pickups that have practically no low pass filter after a resonance peak, if they are exclusively intended for use with a sound-shaping preamp. That's nice but that can let a lot of unwanted mechanical high-frequency noises through that a regular pickup filters. Yes I'm looking at you music man.
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Yes, but when he touts that his guitars are set up 5-7mm from top of fret to bottom of string, it sounds incredible no matter where you measure it. And I didn't mean that it's amazing or unexpected; I meant incredible as in "not credible". Keep in mind that he uses 11s wound strings and does runs on the bass strings quite a lot.

There are also quite a number of musicians who has played his guitar, and while they do claim that his action is high there can be found videos of them playing the guitars as they would play theirs.

Back on topic: You can try what uOpt said but in a different way. Some people adjust action only at the bridge, while some do it only with the truss rod. They're insane. Do both, and you'll get a full-sounding guitar that's very easy to play. My setup (10s, 2.5mm/2.3mm 12th fret) feels like butter with 0.5mm relief (1st and last frets fretted), and I get no buzz.
 
Re: acceptable amount of string buzz?

My first "real" guitar was an lp with a bad neck angle. Buzzed all over until I cranked up the string height. I hate acoustic buzzing and I hear it through the amp, even with gain. I've never understood how people live with the buzzing in exchange for low action. I thought I was alone on this topic until I saw Paul reed smith give a workshop. We may not have much in common artistically, but we sure hear things the same way.
 
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