Trying to get guitar to play better

Napthol

New member
I am experiencing good ole fret buzz. On my Les Paul. I measure neck relief to be about .009 or .010 so it seems to me that should be spot on. But I have fret buzz mostly in the higher registers of the treble strings like the B and E. From 12th fret and going higher.

I have put more relief in the neck but have not gotten rid of the buzz. I have taken relief out of the neck and that did not work either. I believe my previous guitar technician did level the frets. I can't bring my guitar back to him because he passed away recently. Man does that suck.

I will be using a different guitar tech that I have used before, but before I bring it to him do you guys have any suggestions on what I could try on my own?
 
image of your bridge from the side so we can tell how high that is
and image of the strings at the 12th fret from the side so we can see the string height

are you using straight edge along the fretboard , on top of the frets as discussed in the earlier thread?
an image of that sitting on the frets along the 12th fret and where the the fretboard end near the neck pickup

it is supposed to fall off just a bit after the 14th fret to keep that from buzzing

is it open cords buzzing
that would indicate the nut

my daughters LP buzzed only on the low E string
it was the bridge being cheap

replaced the bridge and it stopped
 
I have put more relief in the neck but have not gotten rid of the buzz. I have taken relief out of the neck and that did not work either.

How did you adjust the relief...by adjusting the truss rod?

If the buzzing is happening only on the E and B strings above the 12th fret you need to adjust your bridge higher on that side.
 
Yeah I used my straight edge and measured neck relief with a feeler guage and plus I eye-balled it. To me it looks good. No buzzing near the nut. No chord problems. Yes I adjusted the truss rod.

This is the only thing I dislike about playing guitar. The fact of buzzing frets that rears it's ugly head from time to time.
 
Here are a few. I cannot take a photo of the straight edge on the neck. I would need someone here to hold the thing on the neck while I snap a photo.
 

Attachments

  • Guitar #3.jpg
    Guitar #3.jpg
    38 KB · Views: 0
  • Guitar #2.jpg
    Guitar #2.jpg
    43.1 KB · Views: 0
  • Guitar #1.jpg
    Guitar #1.jpg
    44.2 KB · Views: 0
  • Best Cat.jpg
    Best Cat.jpg
    56.5 KB · Views: 0
  • Guitar #4.jpg
    Guitar #4.jpg
    54.9 KB · Views: 0
  • Guitar #5.jpg
    Guitar #5.jpg
    47.3 KB · Views: 0
  • image_110028.jpg
    image_110028.jpg
    56.5 KB · Views: 0
My other guitar tech is going to give me a call in a few days and he will pick up my guitar and begin working on it.
 
The only time you should adjust the relief on your neck for account of fret buzz is when the buzz is only in the middle of the neck
 
Yeah what they said

Lets start from the beginning

I would take the strings off
Get the neck dead straight
Then put strings back in and raise to pitch
Buzz?
Loosen strings and raise bridge
Tune to pitch
Still buzz repeat last step

ask cat to be silent the purr will affect your perception
 
Your pictures don't give us much to go by, unfortunately.
They actually look kind of high to me.
My question - is this string buzz coming through the amp, or are you trying to eliminate string buzz you hear when it's unplugged?
Next question - has the bridge collapsed in the middle?
 
Okay I have straightened the neck quite a bit. Probably about .004 neck relief. Then I raised the bridge on the treble side plus the bass side. Still getting some fret buzz on the high strings like on frets 12 through 22.

My technician will probably pick both of my guitars up next weekend as he heads back home from the lake.

No the bridge has not collapsed.

If there is any more tweaking I could try just let me know.
 
The relief would take care of buzz in the middle of the guitar. Being that it is on the higher frets might mean you need the higher frets leveled.
 
I concur...if you've raised the bridge and you're still getting the buzz, you may need fret leveling.
You said your previous tech leveled the frets. How long ago was that?
How old is the guitar? Could it be that some of your higher frets have popped up (since they were leveled)?
 
The guitar is less than a year old. He leveled the frets (at least I think he did) when I got it. Sadly, he passed away in May. I miss him a lot. I'm thinking also that I probably need a leveling.
 
Wait a minute...the guitar is less than a year old and it needed a fret level when you got it, and now it needs another fret level?! There is something sadly wrong with this whole scenario which doesn't make sense. Is there something you're not telling us?
 
Back
Top