Hi, I own a pretty beat up mitchell acoustic guitar that I bought at a guitar center in my area for around 200 dollars. It's nothin hi tech, but its a decent little begginer guitar that I could take to college with me. It made it through one year in the dorm without an substantial damage. A few days ago though, I noticed a nasty buzz coming from the 13th fret A string. Also curious with this buzz was that if I were to fret the 13 fret A, but not play it, and strike an open D string the buzz would sound almost as if I was playing the 13th fret A. I checked my neck and saw that it was pretty straight so I figured that had something to do with it. I added some relief to the neck, and that did solve the fret buzz that was occuring when I would strike the note. However the higher frets now seem to buzz when you fret them, the notes themselves after fretting ring out clearly(with the exception of the 20th fret, that still buzzes on attack, its a 20 fret acoustic so thats the last fret), but the act of fretting the note prior to plucking it would produce a pretty audible buzz.Ive ruled out relief because some of these frets that are buzzing are on the higher end of the neck were truss rod doesnt even effect the neck anymore. So I;m thinking it may be a low nut or saddle. On a side note the plastic bridge is cracked, but it doesnt seem to be affecting how the strings sit, but I figured Id include every detail. Now I know the 13-20 frets are getting pretty close to running outta "realestate" on acoustic guitar neck(at least mine) so I dont know if its a normal thing to have those high frets buzz like that when you fret them. In all honesty I dont venture that high alot on my acoustic but I am a guitar geek, and I want my equipment to play at is optimal ability, and sound as good as possible. Plus I come from playing electric so it is fun to play those higer frets sometimes. I wanna take it to a tech, but I dont really now were a local guitar shop is in my area. So if anyone could shine some light on my situation or give a quick fix I would greatly appreciate it. Oh an I apologize for this short novel I have written here.
Nut might be a possibility but these kind of things really need to be seen to say for sure. Sorry I'm not more help, someone else might be though.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I appreciate any advice I can get. I really would like to take it to a tech, but like I said I don't know to many in the area, so I'm kinda stuck for now.
Yes, that was an interesting novel. :D
We can not say that the saddle has sunk or is overly- grooved, yet can not rule out your plastic cracked bridge or saddle, whichever you are referring to?
I've seen acoustics get this fret buzz when there is a hump just above the heel (at the tenon), or where the neck joins the body at the 14th fret. The neck might look okay, and be bowed correctly, but check that possible rise or hump, at least before I say more. :shock: :lol:
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
As far as the brdige goes, while I'm probably due for another bridge soon. It definitely sounds like the cause of the problem is the string making contact with the fret below it(descending the neck) Now like I said the note itself seems to ring out pretty cleanly once plucked but the act of pushing the string to the fret causes the buzz. Blue Jay I just sighted down my neck and indeed near the heel there is what seems to be a raised portion of the neck that appears to hump up where the neck is connected to the body, and then descend into the portion of the neck that is controlled by the truss rod. I've noticed this on other guitar I've picked up as well(again they were on the lower end of the acoustic spectrum). From the nut down I can see a slight curvature to the neck, but as soon as it reached the portion were the neck meets the body the neck humps up. Its not to a great degree but I can definitely see it.
As far as the brdige goes, while I'm probably due for another bridge soon. It definitely sounds like the cause of the problem is the string making contact with the fret below it(descending the neck) Now like I said the note itself seems to ring out pretty cleanly once plucked but the act of pushing the string to the fret causes the buzz. Blue Jay I just sighted down my neck and indeed near the heel there is what seems to be a raised portion of the neck that appears to hump up where the neck is connected to the body, and then descend into the portion of the neck that is controlled by the truss rod. I've noticed this on other guitar I've picked up as well(again they were on the lower end of the acoustic spectrum). From the nut down I can see a slight curvature to the neck, but as soon as it reached the portion were the neck meets the body the neck humps up. Its not to a great degree but I can definitely see it.
Well, I'm sorry then, but I think that's it.
I certainly don't want to close the discussion. :shock:
But that's what I found to be the problem in these cases.
One may raise the action now, or try to dress some frets up there.
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Is there anyway I can fix this without having to take it to a tech. I looked at fretnotguitarrepair.com and it sounds like an issue with your guitar becoming dry, and I do have a sponge humidifier. Would that fix anything my placing that in there, or is it probably gonna come down to dressing the frets?(like fretnotguitarrepair, also mentioned) Becasue I know dressing frets in not cheap, and Im by no means made of money. I assume it my own fault for not taking better care of the guitar, but I could have sworn I bought it with a hump like that. If I remember correctly my friends neck had a hump on his, but that that guitar ended up having a twisted neck :? so I guess thats not a great example. But as I said, I've sighted down some necks and have seem similar humps. I guess it may be time to save up for a new acoustic, it was about that time anyway I might look for a nice electric acoustic...but for future reference, I do not wanna screw up another guitar. How often should I use that sponge humidifier in any future guitar I may buy? Is it just after playing? Or is this a daily thing?
Best of luck and hope it all works out for you Snuf.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Thanks TR, I appreciate it. I actually found a guitar shop today that does repairs, however they also sell some pretty nice acoustic guitars, which I noticed also had what looked like to be a hump on the portion of the neck that is on the body of the acoustic, and in fact some of them did have a similar buzz at the high frets when you would fret them. Again the note wrang out, but pushing the string to the fret caused a buzz(I know you all probably get by now :P), although some werent as bad, but still a buzz. So Im thinking I may be a nuts case. Unless alot of the guitars in the store had a similar problem.
One comment -- from your description, you were experiencing a problem with one fret on one string -- but you changed your neck's relief. So you made a change that would affect all 6 strings to solve a problem with, potentially, just one. So if nothing else, I might suggest going back to less relief if, overall, the guitar was more playable that way.
Next, buzz can be a function of how hard you pluck the strings. If you wail away at them, you'll probably get buzz no matter what. If you strum heavily, then low action might not be for you. If you're a finger style player, and get buzz, raising the action might not be an acceptable solution. So factor that in to your investigation.
so, if you hear buzz when fretting the A-13, i'd ask if you also get buzz when you fret A-14 or A-12. If fretting A-14 makes the buzz go away, I'd suspect there's something wrong with the 13th fret.
Most of the time, even cheap guitars can be set up to play great, so don't necessarily dive into a new guitar because of this buzz issue -- as you found out, no guitars are perfect, and you might shell out a ton of dough only to find out that your first beater could have been just fine as a player!
Oh, and weird buzzing can sometimes be an issue of loose hardware -- it seems silly, but give your tuners a once over just to make sure you're not hearing a tuner rattling and mistaking it for fret buzz.
Can you take some measurements and post them? string height at the first fret, neck relief, action at the 12th fret (all 6 strings)?
Cheers!
ltt
