Strat and string buzz.

So, this Strat has a floating trem? With standard Strat trems flat is the only way they work unless your strings have too much tension or the springs too little. I would try getting a nice thick piece of foam or even a soft cloth, fold it(not the foam. the cloth) and put it in the tremolo spring chamber and replace the cover. My guess is that it's the tremolo springs resonating with those two strings.

Actually, I believe that a standard strat trem system is called a floating trem. (different from the wood non-attached
bridge on some hollow body electrics, called a floating 'bridge')

The reason being that to set the trem system properly, it should be OFF of the body, so that you can push/pull it.
If it's set with 5 springs and the screws adjusted so that it's flat against the body, you can only push down on the
trem bar against the spring tension, and although you can 'ride' the tension, letting go results in a slapback,
and sometime, lots of unwanted noise, not to mention dents in the body, chipped paint, etc...
I personally these days have removed the trem bar and have the trem flush against the body.

Anyway, about the G/B string buzz.
That really seems to be an inherent strat thing.
My 88 mia strat does the same thing - when those strings are picked hard.
I never bothered to 'fix' mine because it sorta gives the guitar's sound more character in my opinion,
making it a bit "more twangy" than usual.

I wouldn't say it had anything to do with how you had it in repose :) .
Fenders are the toughest guitars out there.

Ken

EDIT - actually I like to lay my Fenders flat on their backs, while my Gibsons I laid flat on their face to keep the
pressure off of the headstock and to prevent any accidental breakage if pressure was applied to the neck.

Have you sighted the neck warpage????
You could have the strings vibrating and buzzing off of the frets because the neck warp needs a slight adjustment.
I would look up what you can on this before you do it. Just so you understand what's going on.
There are measurements with feeler gauges and stuff.
In my opinion there's nothing to be afraid of, I've done it to all of my guitars.
Some guys think that you gotta have a certified tech do it.
Just do it an 1/8 to a 1/4 turn at a time. You should be okay.
Or you can wait to see who replies to this answer.
I'm sure someone will have a better explination as to how to adjust the neck.

Ken

I don't know if it's a floating trem or not, it's a vintage trem I think, the one with the 6 screws. It's set to about what the manual says it should be around (around 1/8" off the body).

This was more than I would consider "inherent" it was really quite severe, and I didn't have to pick that hard after it started buzzing. When I switched to 10's I went with Ernie Ball Slinky's, that have the ball end, not the fender bullet end, and they both buzzed. I read something about maybe the balls vibrating, so I wrapped them in masking tape, and it seems to have shut the buzz up for now. But it's been intermittent, so it may still come back. If it does solve it, does that mean that something is messed up with my inertia block? Would that be covered under warranty?

I'm not sure it's the trem springs because the buzzing stops when I mute the strings, any sound coming from the trem springs seems to continue if I mute the strings. Still doesn't seem like that bad of an idea to keep them from making sound though.

CitiZen, are you talking about neck curvature? I don't think thats the case, as it will still buzz even when fretted at the 21st fret.

http://www.athensmusician.net/archive/2001-05-01_geneimbody1.shtml

I guess I'll answer myself :)

Here's a link about truss rod adjustment.
In this one, he says that you should not consider adjusting the truss rod as adjusting the action.
I kinda agree with that. To me that means string height by adjusting the bridge.
Although - a lot of times, setting the action requires that you put on the string gauge of choice, set the bridge height,
and adjust the truss rod to accomodate.
It's sorta like landing a plane - you gotta maintain a certain pitch, air speed, and rate of decent.
Keep all of those where they should be and your golden.
If one is off - well I guess any landing you walk away from..... :D

Like I said, doing this yourself will not make your guitar explode or make the neck snap.
Small increments.
And remember to give it a little time to make the move. That is - you can adjust the rod, the neck has to catch up a bit.

I find that making a small neck adjustment can make the neck - Faster, or easier to play. So pay attention to it on every adjustment. Play it and see if not only the string buzz lessens, that it gets easier to play.

I found another link that gives the feeler gauge measurements.
Start there.
You might find that from the factory - there's no tension on the truss rod. It will be very loose.
I've seen that quite a bit.

Good luck :wink:

Ken

Hmmmm....
I would at least check the strings with the feeler gauge. Just to really rule that out.

I thought I remembered something about properly dressing the inertia block - I think that had something more to do with
the common tendency for stock strat trems to break strings when the trem is used ( I don't use mine, no problem :D )
At any rate, I couldn't find it.

I really can't think that that would be the buzz at all. As far as I know - the strings vibrate between two points;
The pinch point on the bridge saddle, and the one on the nut. I could be wrong.
Though it just doesn't make any sense for anything else to be buzzing unless something is loose.
And that could be anything: the bridge, the frets, the nut.
You said you had the pickgaurd off, so it's none of the pots or pups.

Still, you said it was THE G&B strings. Which leads me to believe that it has to have something to do with those between
the nut and the saddles. :?

Keep us posted. :)

Ken

Or hey,
Just take it back to good ol' GC and get a good one. (before you do anything to it to void the warranty)

Ken

Floating trems are the Floyd Rose type which "float" instead of remain flat on the guitar body. The defacto standard tremolo for a Fender Stratocaster does not float.

Do NOT adjust the truss rod unless you absolutely know what you are doing. Yes this MAY be the solution but it can also severely mess up your guitar if you screw up. If it is not spring noise then I would look to see if you have frets which have raised from the fretboard. The dealer that sold you the guitar should fix this for free. Otherwise you can try raising the action on the two strings.

Well, I don't want this to turn into a boxing match.... :)

Standard Strat Trem systems ARE NOT suppose to be flat.
They ARE floating systems that should be off of the body so that the travel is like that of a Bigsby - both ways.
That trem system was designed in the 50's - NOT for metal heads to push on it in a 5 inch divebomb effect. :D
It was made to 'warble' - having float above the body allows you to 'gently' push the trem bar and have it move back
with out slapping the body. You can also pull it gently creating a slightly different sound - kinda like all the slide vibrato
talk of going sharp or staying flat.
You wouldn't have that option or the ease of movement with the trem flat against the body.

Mine is flat because I do not use a trem.

I knew that as soon as I put that out there, someone would FREAK about it. :D

I learned how to adjust neck warp on my vintage 63 gibson SG.
It was counter bowed so bad when I got it - you would not believe how much I had to turn that truss rod to get it back
to normal.
I don't know what you know about 60's slim tapered SG neck's - they are probably the WEAKEST necks for an electric
you'll ever come across.
Guess what???? - It didn't break or screw up my guitar. No more boogie man. :twisted:
Now I make slight adjustments on all my guitars.

Although , I do agree that there could be a fret problem, or the strings may need adjustment at the saddle height - which
I believe I did hint at.

Ken

Sounds like you should match the string radius to the neck radius, measure from the bottom of the strings to the top of the frets. Check your relief and adjust your neck.

If it sounds like the buzz is coming from the bridge, check for loose parts and tighten them if you can. Block up your inertia block to see and eliminate rattle of the trem, muffle the springs, and check your bridge string grooves.

The trem is not a true "full floater" it just gives you an effect. I like to set them up so that they are lifted from the body at about 1/8" from the face at the rear. This preloads the trem springs and makes sure that they have some tension on them. Use the wood screws at the claw end of the springs to set this, take your time, tune up almost to pitch with the string guage you normally use and tighten the claw screws evenly, use the trem to shake everything up a little and rinse and repeat! Don't worry about setting your action until you get the trem set up and then raise and lower the saddles to the proper height. It will drive you nuts because it takes a few tries to get it set up. I've noticed that when I do this, the guitar also stays in tune better after using the trem.

Strat setups are touchy to do but when they are done right they seem to last forever.

Racetruck -
You're my idol man :D

Ken

The Standard or Vintage Stratocaster Tremolo system is known as a Sychronized Tremolo system. Fender's "Floating" tremolo as on the Jazzmaster resides mostly inside the body of the guitar.

You may set your vintage trem to "float" but it was not designed that way.

BTW eqdinger: another thing I thought of is that one of your pickups may be set too high. If the screw is mostly out there may be enough slack in the springs to allow it to move out further occasionally and cause the buzz. If your Strat has raised pole pieces, that could also explain why it only effects a couple of strings.

Hueseph, that sounds like a good idea, except I've tried it without the pickguard/pickups on and it still buzzed. And I hate to disagree, but it seems that Fender thinks the trem was designed to float, "Allowing the bridge to float freely (no tension on the tremolo arm) using the claw screws in the tremolo cavity, adjust the bridge to your desired angle (Fender spec. is 1/8" (3.2 mm) gap at rear of bridge)" ( http://www.fender.com/support/setup/stratsetup.php ). But that's neither here nor there.

Okay so I measured the neck curvature, and according to Fenders spec it should be about .010" at the 8th fret, mine was measurable in mm. I guess that may be a problem :oops: Though I can't seem to get in to buzz now, after setting the string height and just messing with it, still trying to get the neck right though. It's weird though that it would just dissapear without the cause being obvious, it was so loud, about half the volume of a pick stuck in the strings on the 1st fret (and yes I checked to see if I had a pick there :lol: ).

Well my mistake I suppose, though I have never seen a Strat with a factory setting that has the bridge floating to any degree.

The simple thing I was trying to get at is, is it a true floating bridge such as a Floyd Rose or licensed by FR? The answer being no.