My guitar has low string action which makes it easy to play and I like it a lot. But I just discovered my first problem. The top two strings (low e and a) buzz slightly if played very hard. Can I fix this by adjusting the bow of the neck slgihtly? How can I fix it? They just barely do it.
It doesn't butzz when I play opens strings and the buzz basically goes away when I get down to fret 7.
I'm not an expert in this area at all, but if you googled a search on how to adjust the action, you might be able to find what you're looking for.
On my guitar, I can also raise the bridge on the left or right side induvidually. You might try raising the side that the strings that are causing problems rest on slightly higher.
I hate fretbuzz, man. I have to raise my guitar's bridge so high to eliminate it that playing anything below the 12 fret becomes incredible difficult as the strings are so high. The neck of my guitar is also a bolt on, so there's not much else I can do about it.
Pilot7,
This may sound like a joke, but, seriously, if it only buzzes when you strum very hard, then don't strum so hard. Electric guitars have a lot of amplification and you can actually get some better sounds with a little subtlety with the picking hand.
Any guitar with low action can be made to buzz if you hit the strings hard enough or at the wrong angle, it's simple physics. This is aggrevated on the E and A strings because they take the brunt of the attack.
If it is happening too much for you to bear, or doesn't fit your playing style, it can be adjusted. From your description of where it's buzzing, it sounds like it would be reduced by increasing the neck relief. This would increase the curve of the neck slightly and give the strings a bit more room to vibrate around the 7th fret. It's also possible you have a slight backwards curve.
It's also possible you have a slightly high 7th fret. Check it with a straight edge and have it levelled by a luthier if it needs lowering.
Adjusting the relief could throw your intonation off, so if you make this adjustment, be prepared to adjust the intonation, if required.
First, I would approach this as a technique issue. Play around a bit with a lighter strumming hand, then make the adjustments if neccessary.
Sagacious one,
There is something out of whack if you have to raise your strings so uncomfortably high.
You may need more relief in the neck to give the strings room to vibrate with lower action.
You may have some high frets. They can be leveled by a luthier for reasonable cost.
A bolt on neck actually gives you other options. many people place thin shims under the heel of the neck to adjust the neck tilt. This may help you if you choose the location of the shim so that the heel of the neck is raised relative to the headstock. This may allow you to keep the string height high enough but raise those hard to play frets down below the 12th.
edit: I mean "...above the 12th".
Is it an electric or an acoustic? Check FRETS.COM's Buzz Diagnosis page. It's aimed primarily at acoustics, but some of the advice is applicable to electric too.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
it's an acoustic, I took it to the guitar shop and they adjusted the neck relief and it fixed 99% of the buzz. However, my A string will still buzz on the 6th fret, but nowhere else. Is it normal to have one fret buzz slightly on a $180.00 guitar? The guy who sold it to me insists that it is normal, and that even a 6,000 dollar guitar will buzz sometimes, is he lieing to me or is this true? He took down one of the 1300 dollar guitars and made it buss, but he had to try to get it to do it.
On my guitar there is no buzz anywhere now except for the A string 6th fret, if I play it with any force.
