M
mellotron
New member
I don't know if my action is too low. I'm not supposed to get a little fret buzz when playing the bottom three strings loudly, right? Would using higher gauge strings help?
daav
Flailing up a storm.
What kind of guitar? The answer can be different for acoustics than electrics.
Fret buzz is one of several things:
uneven frets
neck is not straight and flat (can be bowed or twisted)
action is set too low.
The action is the easiest to adust yourself, but not necessarily the right way.
First reccomendation is to get a pro to set up your guitar. It will probably cost $50-100 but your guitar will probabaly play a while lot better afterwards.
Also check here:
http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/Links/notes.cgi?basic_guitar_setup
In general check here:
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm
I would not reccomend experimenting with neck adjustments.
Daav
Fret buzz is one of several things:
uneven frets
neck is not straight and flat (can be bowed or twisted)
action is set too low.
The action is the easiest to adust yourself, but not necessarily the right way.
First reccomendation is to get a pro to set up your guitar. It will probably cost $50-100 but your guitar will probabaly play a while lot better afterwards.
Also check here:
http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/Links/notes.cgi?basic_guitar_setup
In general check here:
http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm
I would not reccomend experimenting with neck adjustments.
Daav
M
mellotron
New member
Thanks for the info.
I took a look at my fingerboard. It still looks straight to me.
Do you have to get a $500+ acoustic guitar to avoid fret buzz when flatpicking the lower three strings really loudly? I got my action lowered because I couldn't fret the F barre cleanly--but that was with medium gauge strings and when I was still six months into starting. I don't know what the lesser of the two evils is. Would raising the action to what it was before, but using extra light gauge be the answer? There shouldn't be a balancing act, right? I mean you should be able to fret it cleanly AND not have fret buzz?
I think I'll just take it to the shop where I got my guitar. They're the ones who lowered it in the first place, and they did it for free, though the guy told me that raising it wouldn't outweigh the benefit of being able to fret things cleanly.
I took a look at my fingerboard. It still looks straight to me.
Do you have to get a $500+ acoustic guitar to avoid fret buzz when flatpicking the lower three strings really loudly? I got my action lowered because I couldn't fret the F barre cleanly--but that was with medium gauge strings and when I was still six months into starting. I don't know what the lesser of the two evils is. Would raising the action to what it was before, but using extra light gauge be the answer? There shouldn't be a balancing act, right? I mean you should be able to fret it cleanly AND not have fret buzz?
I think I'll just take it to the shop where I got my guitar. They're the ones who lowered it in the first place, and they did it for free, though the guy told me that raising it wouldn't outweigh the benefit of being able to fret things cleanly.
daav
Flailing up a storm.
Buzzing on an acoustic will just sound bad over time. I would take it back, there might be a moderate adjustment they can make to the hight of the bridge that fixes the buzz, but makes it a bit easier than it used to be.
Give it time to cleanly finger chords and notes, i have been playing for about 20 years, and I still suck, but i am a lot better than i was even jsut 5 years ago. Hand strength will let you fret those notes more easily, and faster, you can also keep a light touch, it is about practice.
It is possible to dress the frets a bit in the areas where it is buzzing to keep the action where you have it. I would leave it up to a pro to reccomend, maybe Light or Muttley have a thought there. In general i would say that if the frets are even across the guitar, filing frets to avoid buzz so you can lower the strings because you haven't devloped techinique to fret the chords is not the way to go. Please don't read that as an insult, I have had and still have the same struggles. If however those three frets are a bit higher thant he others, it might make perfect sense to level them and kill the buzz.
One last thing, intonation for an acoustic is usually set for a specific gauge of string. If it is intonated properly now, and you change to a lighter string gauge you might not be intonated when you are done, without adjustment (moving the bridge basically). You might not be concerned about intonation around the 12th fret, but it is something to consider.
Good luck,
Daav
Give it time to cleanly finger chords and notes, i have been playing for about 20 years, and I still suck, but i am a lot better than i was even jsut 5 years ago. Hand strength will let you fret those notes more easily, and faster, you can also keep a light touch, it is about practice.
It is possible to dress the frets a bit in the areas where it is buzzing to keep the action where you have it. I would leave it up to a pro to reccomend, maybe Light or Muttley have a thought there. In general i would say that if the frets are even across the guitar, filing frets to avoid buzz so you can lower the strings because you haven't devloped techinique to fret the chords is not the way to go. Please don't read that as an insult, I have had and still have the same struggles. If however those three frets are a bit higher thant he others, it might make perfect sense to level them and kill the buzz.
One last thing, intonation for an acoustic is usually set for a specific gauge of string. If it is intonated properly now, and you change to a lighter string gauge you might not be intonated when you are done, without adjustment (moving the bridge basically). You might not be concerned about intonation around the 12th fret, but it is something to consider.
Good luck,
Daav
M
mellotron
New member
Yeah, I think sometime soon, I'll take it back to see what the guitar shop can do to fix the buzz. I don't mind having the frets being harder to press down; the buzz bothers me more. I've noticed that around the seventh fret, the intonation's a little out of whack, and I don't think it's because the fingerboard or neck is warped. It might be because my guitar's designed for medium gauge and I have extra light right now.
G
goldtopchas
New member
If you changed to lighter guage strings, the neck probably "back-bowed" a little from less string tension. If it's only buzzing on the first few frets, this is definitly the cause. Raising the action will only help a little. It needs to be re-adjusted. The truss rod just needs to be loosened a little. Have them tweak it for you. It will only take a minute to do. (And you should be able to keep your lighter strings.)