Quick question. My A string seems to be buzzing when I fret it anywhere from the first fret to the twelfth fret and pluck it more than lightly. It's a classical guitar, a nylon-string acoustic. I checked the bridge for wear that might have caused the string to 'sink' into it, but I can't seem to find any visible cause. Frets seem fine, but my eyes might be missing something. New strings, as well.
It only started doing this recently, but as it's my favourite guitar (even though It's a cheapie I picked up while in NYC) any advice would be appreciated. Thought I'd check here first because of the many, many good bits of advice I've read here. Kudos on that, by the way.
Loose brace? -- this is the problem with my cheapie classical. In mine it's manifest mostly as a buzz by one of the strings, but also occurs when I tap the top in various places.
If it's an electro-acoustic, could be an errant wire vibrating against something inside the body -- for that matter, as you've just replaced the strings, it could be the end of a string (tied end maybe) just barely touching the top.
good luck -- hope it'snot a brace
-=tension & release=-
Thanks for your insights, grease. I tried tapping the top as you did (both the headstock and the body itself -- but no buzz there. Just the A. So it could be a brace -- I hope not as well, as that's just icky (Probably not worth the repair cost if so? I'm no Luthier, just an enthusiast.) It's definitely not the strings at the headstock, they've been trimmed at the top. That was my very first course of action, check the headstock. I also thought maybe a loose fret, but they're in there pretty good as well. So continues the saga.
Much appreciated.
you could do it your self (or i could do it for free, you ship it to me. I dont know how but id figure it out :P). Guitar repair is fun. I love it.
aka Izabella
Oh No, not the guy who tares his guitar apart for fun!! ;D
It sounds to me like a truss rod adjustment. take it to your local guitar shoppe and have a tech look at it and see if it needs adjusting. DON'T attempt to adjust it yourself.
I've adjusted the truss rod on my Telecaster before, wasn't that hard nor dangerous -- as long as you're very careful, anyways. Being that I don't have any acoustic repair experience, I think I might just play the A string lightly from now on. The buzz is far less apparent the lighter you pluck it, so I will just have to find a balance of volume. At some point I will have it checked out. As it stands, you guys (and gals?) have given me some good pointers on what it could be. I think I'll just deal with the buzz for practicing, and leave stuff where quality is a concern to my steel-string acoustic. :)
Most classical guitars don't have truss rods. The thicker neck and lower string tension don't necessitate one.
If you do find a loose brace or similar and wish to try a self repair, clean all surfaces well and use Titebond Original (not Titebond II) to re-glue. I only suggest a self repair of this sort since you say it's a cheapie.
One last thought: You could simply have an irregular string that is vibrating in an some strange mode - more common with nylon wounds than most other strings, though not usually the new ones.
-=tension & release=-
gnease -- I was fairly sure nylon-string guitars didn't need a truss rod, thanks for confirming that. (As a side note, I realized I spellled your nick as 'grease' before, that's embarassing. :)
I do have access to a small camera that could easily be illuminated and placed inside the sound hole to get a look at stuff, perhaps I will give it a shot. No better way to learn than by experimentation. And yeah, it's cheap and holds semi-sentimental value, but that value isn't so great that I wouldn't attempt to fix it myself. I will try some Titebond if it is indeed a loose brace.
Thanks again.
no problem -- happens so often, I didn't even notice
-=tension & release=-
