I just put new strings (same gauge, different brand) on my squire standard strat and noticed a lot of buzzing on the fret particulary with the first three strings. I had it setup professionally when I put the last set of strings on and everything seemed pretty good. I raised the strings at the bridge to correct for the buzzing but I had to raise them so high that the action on the strings is way to high now. I checked the neck by putting a staight edge on top of the frets and it seemed to be pretty much flat. I tightened the truss rod a little to make it more concave but then I had to raise the strings even more to eleviate the buzz. Could this be a problem with the nut perhaps? I have good mechanical inclination but I am still pretty new to the guitar and don't want to do any damage. Thank you for your help.
Probably not. The action at the nut only affects open strings. Fretted notes will be just the same, except for the fact that they will go sharp if the action at the nut is too high. It sounds like your neck is too straight, and the truss rod needs to be loosened a tiny bit. After that, you'll need to set the action again.
I assume you meant loosen the truss rod to make the the neck more concave.
You should check and set the relief of the neck first (about the thickness of a high E string or a playing card, maybe the thickness of a dime if you are an aggressive strummer), then go back and set the string height.
You should be able to localize the buzzing by holding the neck up to your ear as you play.
Is it only on open strings? Can you make it go away by fretting certain frets and not others? Is it only above th 8th or 9th fret? Or only below the 7th? Is it actually a fret or is it a buzzing at the bridge or nut?
The buzzing is only when the string is fretted and it occurs at every fret. I am a little confused about the truss rod thing. I was thinking that concave meant that it was bowed forward when looking at the guitar from the top; is it the other way around? I assumed that the neck needs to curve away from the stings slightly, thereby counteracting their pull; is that correct? I find the talk of concave/ convex confusing because I'm not sure which way to look at the guitar. I tightened the truss rod by turning it clockwise and the neck went from being straight to slightly bowed away from the strings; is that correct? Is there a book called "Guitar Repair for Idiots?" because I think I could use it right now. Thank you for your patience.
The neck should curve so that, if you fret the first and last frets, there is a space between the strings and the neck that is greatest around the 7th fret. If the neck bows back, away from the face of the guitar, or convex, it will buzz like crazy. If it doesn't bow at all, or only slightly concave, it will buzz if you hit the strings with any force. Electric guitars are usually strummed more gently than an accoustic, allowing for less bow and easier fretting.
MrGearhead is a good place to start. There are a number of other sites as well.
Dan Erlewine's books, like this one, are pretty good, though his storytelling technique can be a bit covoluted to getting the technical info across. That one covers a Strat setup, in particular, I believe.
Thanks for the help. I downloaded the manual for my squire off of the manufacturers website and used that to set up my guitar. It was confusing that the manufacturers manual says to turn the truss rod clockwise if the neck is straight or too convex and the instructions on the Mr Gear website say exactly the opposite. I guess they were each looking at the truss nut from opposite directions. Since the neck was too convex, I went with what ever direction made the string tuning more flat. I've got the neck set to the manufacturer specs and the string height slightly higher than specks. I still get some buzzing but I think I may need to adjust my technique some. I also play the accoustic and I may need to adapt my strum on the electric to make it a little lighter.
