buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

[astrozombie]

setting up my guitars and realized the truss rods need to be adjusted.

buzzing from 1-12 is a truss rod adjustment, and from 12-24 would be at the bridge correct?

how long should i wait between truss rod adjustments?

 

[dominus]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

 

[jeremy]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

not quite that simple.

to check relief of the neck (this is what the truss rod adjusts) push the string down at the first and last fret. check the distance between the fret and the string around the middle of the neck. you want a little space but not much. if the string is touching the fret you want to loosen the trussrod just a touch. if there is a big gap then tighten it. you want to go a little at a time then let it settle. i will only go about a half turn a day in three or four seperate adjustments

once the relief is set then look at the bridge. once you think everything is dialed in, double check the relief

 

[DazH]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

buzzing above the 12th is either too much relief, or too low an action altogether - if the nut is too high on the opposite end however, this will make the action look high, even when it is infact low (compared when capo'd at the 1st)

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

buzzing from 1-12 is a truss rod adjustment.

Sort of. The truss rod generally only affects the area from the 1 - 12th frets. But you might have to raise your bridge too.

...from 12-24 would be at the bridge correct?

The bridge ht. affects the whole fretboard - not just from the 12 - 24th fret.

Also, it's very common to have a high fret or two right at the 12th fret or in the area that the neck is attached to the guitar. If that's the case you'll have to have that area of the fretboard leveled, recrowned and polished. Usually this affects the high E string and maybe B string. In a Fender it's from the stress to the wood caused by the tightening of the four crews that hold the neck on and it's called the Fender Hump. But I see it all the time in Gibsons, Martins and Taylors, too.

how long should i wait between truss rod adjustments?

I do it when I notice that it's time to - generally, with the change of the seasons or when I start turning the heat on for the winter or when moving to another climate or after switching to a different gauge of strings.

I find that I can get the lowest buzz-free action when I allow just a little relief in the neck - I don't like it to be perfectly straight. I don't measure any more - I know what I'm looking for.

But you might try holding the strings down at the nut and at the highest fret and adjusting the truss rod so that at the 5th to 7th fret you can just barely slide a Fender medium pick in there between the fret top and underside of the string on the bass side. Any more than that will make it feel like the action is to high in the middle frets and like the neck needs to be straightened some.

But I don't ever adjust my necks to be totally straight. Almost straight - but not quite.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

Sort of. The truss rod generally only affects the area from the 1 - 12th frets. But you might have to raise your bridge too.

The bridge ht. affects the whole fretboard - not just from the 12 - 24th fret.

Also, it's very common to have a high fret or two right at the 12th fret or in the area that the neck is attached to the guitar. If that's the case you'll have to have that area of the fretboard leveled, recrowned and polished. Usually this affects the high E string and maybe B string. In a Fender it's from the stress to the wood caused by the tightening of the four crews that hold the neck on and it's called the Fender Hump. But I see it all the time in Gibsons, Martins and Taylors, too.

I do it when I notice that it's time to - generally, with the change of the seasons or when I start turning the heat on for the winter or when moving to another climate or after switching to a different gauge of strings.

I find that I can get the lowest buzz-free action when I allow just a little relief in the neck - I don't like it to be perfectly straight. I don't measure any more - I know what I'm looking for.

But you might try holding the strings down at the nut and at the highest fret and adjusting the truss rod so that at the 5th to 7th fret you can just barely slide a Fender medium pick in there between the fret top and underside of the string on the bass side. Any more than that will make it feel like the action is to high in the middle frets and like the neck needs to be straightened some.

But I don't ever adjust my necks to be totally straight. Almost straight - but not quite.

That's all good info. I've always adjusted by sight, feel, and intuition. Never gotten that scientific. But I, for one, will definitely try this and see how close my way comes to the more accurate way you have described.

 

[DMR]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

This info will be useful to me as well. Thanks guys.

 

[DLT]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I do what Jeremy said. If you get buzz or fretting out after that, then you have an unlevel fret issue. Time to take it to the luthier!

 

[DLT]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

Sort of. The truss rod generally only affects the area from the 1 - 12th frets. But you might have to raise your bridge too.

The bridge ht. affects the whole fretboard - not just from the 12 - 24th fret.

Also, it's very common to have a high fret or two right at the 12th fret or in the area that the neck is attached to the guitar. If that's the case you'll have to have that area of the fretboard leveled, recrowned and polished. Usually this affects the high E string and maybe B string. In a Fender it's from the stress to the wood caused by the tightening of the four crews that hold the neck on and it's called the Fender Hump. But I see it all the time in Gibsons, Martins and Taylors, too.

I do it when I notice that it's time to - generally, with the change of the seasons or when I start turning the heat on for the winter or when moving to another climate or after switching to a different gauge of strings.

I find that I can get the lowest buzz-free action when I allow just a little relief in the neck - I don't like it to be perfectly straight. I don't measure any more - I know what I'm looking for.

But you might try holding the strings down at the nut and at the highest fret and adjusting the truss rod so that at the 5th to 7th fret you can just barely slide a Fender medium pick in there between the fret top and underside of the string on the bass side. Any more than that will make it feel like the action is to high in the middle frets and like the neck needs to be straightened some.

But I don't ever adjust my necks to be totally straight. Almost straight - but not quite.

Lew,
That is right on bro! My Robert Cray Strat that I bought from a gentleman came set up with overly high action. When I went to adjust the truss rod, it started digging into the neck and I could not get the neck to the correct position I desired. I took it to Elderly Instruments and the luthier fixed it with no probem. There was talk about that hump you described.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I thought about it and realized maybe the the truss rods are too tight. I loosened them completely and I'll start adjustments later tonite.

I know what I'm doing, but decided I'd ignore my habits and ask here. Maybe I was missing something.

 

[DLT]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I thought about it and realized maybe the the truss rods are too tight. I loosened them completely and I'll start adjustments later tonite.

I know what I'm doing, but decided I'd ignore my habits and ask here. Maybe I was missing something.

I understand. I do that too bro.

 

[DMR]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I'm having an issue where i get buzz on E, A, and D strings but at the 21st fret only on my 24 fret LTD EC1000. I don't want to raise my action on the bass side if I don't have to because i'm not getting buzz at any other frets. Ideas?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I'm having an issue where i get buzz on E, A, and D strings but at the 21st fret only on my 24 fret LTD EC1000. I don't want to raise my action on the bass side if I don't have to because i'm not getting buzz at any other frets. Ideas?

Sounds like a little fret adjusting is necessary on the bass side (E, A, D strings) of the 22nd fret. Not difficult to do yourself if you're careful and go slow.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

Lew,
That is right on bro! My Robert Cray Strat that I bought from a gentleman came set up with overly high action. When I went to adjust the truss rod, it started digging into the neck and I could not get the neck to the correct position I desired. I took it to Elderly Instruments and the luthier fixed it with no probem. There was talk about that hump you described.

Did he say what he did to correct the problem? I might have that going on with my Telecaster, I'm not sure. I've got the truss rod adjusted just fine and I've certainly had the action lower on this very guitar without buzzing in the past. I now have issues with buzzing above the 12th fret.

 

[DMR]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

Sounds like a little fret adjusting is necessary on the bass side (E, A, D strings) of the 22nd fret. Not difficult to do yourself if you're careful and go slow.

Yeah, any particular files you'd recommend? I'm looking at a couple of double-edge fret files at Stewmac.com. I am attempting to level and re-crown an extra jumbo fret.....so I'm assuming I need the "medium/wide" rather than the "narrow/medium"?

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/item/4491

Eventually i'll have to pick up the "essential fretwork toolkit" that comes with Dan Erlewine's fretwork book but I can't afford to drop $170 right now.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

If this problem is on a guitar with a screwed-on neck and the neck relief is correct (see Jeremy's posting #3), the neck pitch angle may need adjusting.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

I recommend the removal of the neck, to make sure theres nothing in there (that you dont want to be in there..).

On my squier basses there was what resembled a piece of paper in the pocket.

why? i dont know.

I removed it and got much better action.


also, you shouldnt tighten the neck on bolt on guitars too much, it should be just enough for the screws to be snug. if not, youre creating excess tension, youre compressing the wood. all this adds up to the "bump" found near that joint.

i did this on my fenders and now the bump seems minimized.

 

[DMR]

Re: buzzing above the 12th fret means i need a little relief right?

It's an LTD EC1000 with a set neck. I went ahead and ordered the "medium/wide" double-edge file and Dan Erlewine's repair book. I figure that if nothing else, the file is something useful to have in my guitar tool kit and the book is a useful thing to have to go along with it.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.