Brand New Guitar has Developed Fret Buzz (in 3 days)

Hi,
I just bought a new Squire Affinity Tele. It was playing very well at the store and I didn't detect any fret buzz when I was trying it out. I have had it home for 3 days and it seems to have developed some fret buzz. It also seems to be getting a little worse each day.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Check the neck relief and adjust the truss rod as necessary. This is one of the few things on a guitar that changes significantly in short periods of time.

Check the neck relief and adjust the truss rod as necessary. This is one of the few things on a guitar that changes significantly in short periods of time.

thanks, I'll give it a shot....

When you say to check the relief is there a particular test or am I just eyeballing it?

thanks, I'll give it a shot....

When you say to check the relief is there a particular test or am I just eyeballing it?

Eyeballing it can be tricky, relief is usually measure in thousandths of an inch. Measuring it involves a absolutely flat straight edge and feeler gauges. If you don't have the tools/skills required, it might be well advised to have it professionally set up by a luthier. It's well worth the price of admission!

Put a capo on the first fret and fret the string at the 21st. How big is the gap at the 8th fret?

It should be as close to nothing as you can get without being nothing. If it's more than half your e string's thickness (or fretting out), give the trussrod a 1/4 turn and wait a day to re-measure.

It'd be nice if the TDPRI had a complete, "Setting up your guitar" sticky.

@ NICK JD, you instruct the guy to "give the trussrod a 1/4 turn." Is this clock-wise, or counter clock-wise?

To add onto Nick JD's reply: Turn the trussrod nut counter-clockwise to increase the gap at the 8th fret and clockwise to decrease the gap.

Thanks, eMGEE. One more question for anyone who might know: He says to, "fret the string at the 21st". Which string is he referring to, as there are 6 of them? Thanks.

Thanks, eMGEE. One more question for anyone who might know: He says to, "fret the string at the 21st". Which string is he referring to, as there are 6 of them? Thanks.

Usually the big E is sufficient, but the little E as well will give a more complete picture of the relief of a neck. Also, when you do this, you will want to have the guitar positioned as if you are playing it -- not laying down flat.

Thanks, again. To quote Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places, "You've been helpful."

Hi,
I just bought a new Squire Affinity Tele. It was playing very well at the store and I didn't detect any fret buzz when I was trying it out. I have had it home for 3 days and it seems to have developed some fret buzz. It also seems to be getting a little worse each day.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Back on track for a sec...3 days doesn't mean anything. Now's the time to learn a little DIY maintenance. I've got pretty good humidity conditions here and find all my guitars, acoustic and electric usually need a truss rod tweak in the fall and in the spring. Furnace comes on in the fall and dries out the air a bit. Learn how to take the burr off saddles, fill in a nut with dust and superglue, adjust your pickups, shim the neck if needed, install/repair strap pins. This is fun ********. OH, and you might see the need to do a little filing of the fret ends soon as you could probably injure yourself quite well about now with the fret sprout that bet you are/are about to experience. You could easily waltz back into the store and get them to fix it up for you (if there was any kind of warranty) was this brand new, or new to you? If you live real close get them to do it but the sooner you start to do this, the more you'll be a bonny-fide geetar plyer.

You are using the sting as a straight edge basically. I use the A or D myself, I get crossed eyed looking at the high E. ;)

Don't get ham fisted tightening the thing, if it resists unreasonably [which it should not] pop back and ask what to do... don't get all herculean with it...

have you narrowed down the area on the fretboard that starts to buzz?... open chords or bar chords as well....

is it one particular string/ chord area that buzzes most?.... work your way along the fretboard note for note , string by string... to track down the buzz..

is it the nut end or the bridge end the buzz/rattle is coming from...

raising one bridge saddle might stop it, a nut slot may be too deep...... or putting more "dip" in your neck with the truss rod may work...

if it buzzes now , flattening the fretboard would make it worse, unless it's actually back bowed somehow and needs adjusting with the T/rod to get a starting point...... nes pa?...

thanks everyone for all the input and advice. The Guitar IS brand new and I know it would be easy to take it back but I also figure that a $160 guitar is the perfect instrument for me to learn some of these "essential" skills with. I have not had the importunity to attempt any adjustments yet but I will update as soon as I do. Frets 1 -14 seem to be the most affected (so like, all of them). It's not outlandish but it is annoying. edit: just played again, it is now outlandish

Additional info.... I noticed that at some points if I push the string down unnaturally hard the buzz will go away a little.
Just to clarify what I mean by unnaturally hard - this is my first electric, i usually play a steel string with medium gauge strings. The pressure I am applying is well beyond what I would need on my steel string.

Thanks again for all the help, you guys are great!

Does the buzz come through the amp, or is it only audible when the guitar is unplugged?

Does the buzz come through the amp, or is it only audible when the guitar is unplugged?

Still waiting for my amp to come in (back-ordered) from musicians friend. So I have had not plugged it in since I bought it.
Should I wait for the amp before making adjustments?

I'm of the opinion that just about every guitar can be set up well enough to play buzz free, but truly, a little fret rattle on an electric (particularly common with light strings and low action) that doesn't come through the amp is no big deal.

"Fretting Out" is different and unacceptable.

I'm of the opinion that just about every guitar can be set up well enough to play buzz free, but truly, a little fret rattle on an electric (particularly common with light strings and low action) that doesn't come through the amp is no big deal.

"Fretting Out" is different an unacceptable.

+1 both my tele and strat strings rattle if played hard unplugged but don't through an amp.

A friend of mine used to live near a damp area. And every time I brought my guitars to his place to jam with him I'd end up having to adjust the truss rods.
It never took much. But it always needed some adjustment when I got there & a readjustment when I got home.
It's funny that only seemed to be an issue when I brought them over there. They've been pretty stable everywhere else.

yep. them changes are due to a climate change between yer house and the store... Play it, just play it and play it and play it. Get her broke in a bit before you go twistin' the truss rod. maybe raise the bridge a tiny bit... but just play the heck out of her, I wouldn't start monkeying with a brand new guitar till she was broke in a bit. Right now with the weather outside changin' back and forth it ain't gonna take much if your actions really low to get a bit of buzz. Play it.

yep. them changes are due to a climate change between yer house and the store... Play it, just play it and play it and play it. Get her broke in a bit before you go twistin' the truss rod. maybe raise the bridge a tiny bit... but just play the heck out of her, I wouldn't start monkeying with a brand new guitar till she was broke in a bit. Right now with the weather outside changin' back and forth it ain't gonna take much if your actions really low to get a bit of buzz. Play it.

that's the rout I'm taking now. This might be a stupid question, but how long would you say I should wait before adjusting anything?

I'm of the opinion that just about every guitar can be set up well enough to play buzz free, but truly, a little fret rattle on an electric (particularly common with light strings and low action) that doesn't come through the amp is no big deal.

"Fretting Out" is different and unacceptable.

+1

My tele, strat and acoustic all have some sort of buzz. The strat and tele never put any through to the amp.

The acoustic buzz only happens when I play SUPER hard, and I use it as a musical thing and it actually sounds good in those cases. When people see me playing like that, they think I'm trying to rip the bridge off:P. That acoustic sounds best when you play it hard and fast, so I do that:D

For the OP, learning how to do your own setups will save you a TON of money and you'll feel super cool when your friends compliment the awesome playability of your guitar and you say that you set it up;)

Ok, I gave it a good break in period and decided I wanted thicker gauge strings. I did the restring and as expected the action was higher than before. So I first adjusted the saddles ( I know that the nut needs adjusted as well but I'm not comfortable doing that yet) and go the action to a place I like. Of course this introduced a bunch of buzz. So I gave the neck a 1/4 turn of relief. Now she is playing beautifully.

Thank you everyone for your help
It's worth a mention to those that may be reading this with the same issue... One thing I never really considered are the volume knobs. Simple I know, but going from an acoustic it is very easy to overlook. With an acoustic if I wanted it to be louder obviously I would play harder. However with an electric, don't play harder just turn up the vol. The obvious reason is because the hard you pick/pluck the strings the more likely they are to buzz out.