Hey all,
I've only been playing for 5-6 months, and, having just jumped into the world of power chords, noticed something about my guitar. When I'm just messing around, unplugged, hitting some power chords, I can hear a rattle or buzz - my finger position is perfect and I feel like I'm applying the correct amount of pressure (I don't have problems playing any open chords) - the sound goes away when I play through my amp. Is my action set too low or do you think I might have some other sort of problem? Thanks in advance!
A little bit of buzzing here and there is not bad as long as it is not all the time. It generally means your adjustments are close or just a little off. Especially if it is not coming through the amp.
If you want to go through the measurements you can try the "basic setup" stuff on my pages linked below.
buzzing all the time can indicate a couple of different things. The most common problem is someone tightened the neck a bit too much.
Push down on the low e-string at the first fret. Now with the other hand push down at the 12th fret. The string should be barely above the 7th fret (the neck should bow down ever so slightly (maybe a millimeter or two).
Very often you'll find guitars have been set up so that this slight bow isn't present, and that can be the cause of a lot of fret buzzing . . particularly if it isn't localized.
The other problem that you'll see on many older guitars is general fret issues where a large number of frets need to be redressed, but that usually takes quit a bit of playing/time to happen.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
Thanks all.
It's a new guitar (since December '04). The buzzing only occurs on the lowest (E and A) strings.
