how much fret buzz is accepatable?

J

jackson111

New member
OK my guitar teacher look my guitar over the other day and told me I had way to much neck relief. and that my neck was still not in line with my bridge. so I shimmed the back of the heel to pitch the neck down, changed the neck relief from .015 to .004 and the guitar almost plays itself. I was also able to get my string height down to 4/64 on bass and 3/64 on treble. where i used to have my string height set at 6/64 bass and 5/64 on treble (all height measurements taken at the 12th fret).

my only concern is that I have a very brief and slight fret buzz on all my strings until I get to the 4th or 5th fret. it doesn't come through the amp and it doesn't rob any sustain. like I said the guitar has never played this good before. is this slight buzz acceptable? if not how can I get rid of it easily?
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

It depends on how much fret buzz you can stand really. I like it to be as minimal as possible on my guitars but ideally none as I have on my main two guitars. Without having your guitar here to look at I can really only give you possible causes:

(In no particular order)

1. String height at the bridge is too low
2. The neck now has some back bow going on from giving it too much relief.
3. String height at the nut is too low (if it is buzzing on open notes, if it is not then disregard this)

Those would be the first things I would check. Make sure you are doing all these adjustments and tests with a fresh set of strings on too.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

no open strings don't have any buzz at all. the only place I have any buzz at all is when I am fretting notes on the first through 4th frets, I have no buzz at all from the 5th to 22nd. I was wondering if I needed to increase the neck relief a little more to allow for string rotation. I have identified that it looks like its bussing against the the fret between 8th through 10th. just sucks adjusting neck relief since I have to pull the neck to adjust, since the truss rod adjustment is in the heel.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

personal preference. but it can't hurt for you to relax the neck tension by a quarter turn and see what happens
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

I setup my Strat similarly to your guitar about a year and a half ago. Same deal, I get a little fret buzz unplugged and bends are a little tougher to "grab", but wow... This thing feels like it plays itself!
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

yeah right, I love this setup. my teacher actually runs all of his necks dead flat and has pretty low action to boot, but I hear no buzz but he has a very light touch. I don't see how he does it, but for him it works. and like you said the slight buzz is really only noticeable when unplugged. it seems like my charvel has better sustain with the straighter neck as well. if this works for me I will set all of my guitars this way. I also like that when I bend I don't have strings going over my fingers.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

It all depends on the playing style too. If you are very controlled in how you play and consistent, then you will want to set it up with minimal to no buzz depending on your action. If your playing is very dynamic/aggressive and you like the action on the lower side then some buzz (especially if it doesn't come through the amp) is almost inevitable.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

"it doesn't come through the amp and it doesn't rob any sustain."
Congratulations, you won. Fret buzz doesn't matter if you can't hear it when you are using your guitar practically. If it doesn't come through the amp then consider it nonexistent because no audience or sound engineer in the world is going to care how your guitar sounds when it is unplugged. And if you don't notice any sustain loss then there isn't even a trade off to having it set up like this.

It's more than acceptable, it's ideal, especially since it feels so much better to you. If it really REALLY bothers you for some reason then sure, tweak til it goes away, but it seems pointless on my end.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

One thing I found is that I never got action as low as I wanted on various guitars, and I discovered it was because the nut was too high. If you put a capo on the first fret, you can get an idea of how low the nut could potentially be and how that affects the action. Once the the nut is optimally low, you can raise the saddles and reduce overall string buzz but still maintain the same sense of low action that you had before.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

Falloffthebonetone said:
"it doesn't come through the amp and it doesn't rob any sustain."
Congratulations, you won. Fret buzz doesn't matter if you can't hear it when you are using your guitar practically. If it doesn't come through the amp then consider it nonexistent because no audience or sound engineer in the world is going to care how your guitar sounds when it is unplugged. And if you don't notice any sustain loss then there isn't even a trade off to having it set up like this.

It's more than acceptable, it's ideal, especially since it feels so much better to you. If it really REALLY bothers you for some reason then sure, tweak til it goes away, but it seems pointless on my end.
Click to expand...

I find that any buzzing I can hear unplugged Is also audible when playing clean. If you never play clean this may not be an issue . . . But no fret buzz is tolerable for me.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

DreX said:
One thing I found is that I never got action as low as I wanted on various guitars, and I discovered it was because the nut was too high. If you put a capo on the first fret, you can get an idea of how low the nut could potentially be and how that affects the action. Once the the nut is optimally low, you can raise the saddles and reduce overall string buzz but still maintain the same sense of low action that you had before.
Click to expand...

Correct, but i'd advise setting up the nut as the last step. One would want first to setup bridge and neck, and then retain the same clearance between first fret and strings as the clearance between the 2nd fret and strings with the 1st fret fretted. I am saying this, because neck and bridge set up is reversible, nut not so much. Once you put the file on the nut shelf you cant get the wood back, and shimming afterwards sucks so much.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

blueman335 said:
If fret buzz is there unplugged, it's also there when the guitar's amplified, and affecting the tone and sustain.
Click to expand...

I have found that to be true. However there are some types of buzz that do not kill the sound completely as other types.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

Lazarus1140 said:
I don't understand how there can be fret buzz without effecting sustain.
Click to expand...

He probably just means it's not overly detrimental. Sometimes they will make a sitar like sound but still seem to ring out for a long time.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

DreX said:
He probably just means it's not overly detrimental. Sometimes they will make a sitar like sound but still seem to ring out for a long time.
Click to expand...

Indeed, the sustain has to be totally extreme in order to affect sustain. Usually the woods make a much better job at killing sustain at specific notes, before buzz becomes a factor.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

ok maybe what I am describing as fret buzz is misleading. if I just strum a chord its there is no buzz, but if I hit an accent note (with a heavier pick attack) then there is a slight split second buzz. the buzz does not ring out it just happens right after the initial heavy pick attack.
 
Re: how much fret buzz is accepatable?

jackson111 said:
ok maybe what I am describing as fret buzz is misleading. if I just strum a chord its there is no buzz, but if I hit an accent note (with a heavier pick attack) then there is a slight split second buzz. the buzz does not ring out it just happens right after the initial heavy pick attack.
Click to expand...

If you try to produce buzz, then its not buzz.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top