Which Direction To Turn Truss Rod?

The G string is buzzing on my new MIM Standard up around the first or second fret. Everything else about the guitar is fine and no other strings are buzzing, just the G. But the buzzing from the G is driving me up the wall as fret buzz bugs the heck out of me. My tech had adjusted the action, etc. and everything was fine at that point so I am guessing that the guitar has simply settled a bit or the new strings have stretched.

When I place a finger behind the nut on that string the buzzing stops so I am assuming that this means that my truss rod needs just the tiniest adjustment. Problem is, I never play around with my truss rod so I am not sure in which direction to turn it in order to resolve this - clockwise or counter clockwise. Can anyone help?

Turn the nut clockwise to increase tension on that type of truss rod, which will flatten the neck. Loosen the nut and you reduce tension on the truss rod, which will allow string tension to bow the neck more.

righty tighty, lefty loosey. :lol:

Or, don't touch your trussrod. If you can put very slight pressure behind the nut, and stop the buzz, you don't have enough break angle on that string.

Put on a new string, and use a few more windings. That will put the bottom of the string wrap down closer to the peg head, increasing the down angle of the G string. This should solve your problem.

I don't play MIM guitars, but if I remember right, they only have one strings tree right? On the E and B? If you really want to solve the problem for good, and not have to remember to extra wrap your G, just add a second tree on the G and D strings. That oughtta do it. If it already has a tree on the G and D strings, then a little adjustment might be in order. Worst case scenario, a new nut.

Or, don't touch your trussrod. If you can put very slight pressure behind the nut, and stop the buzz, you don't have enough break angle on that string.

Put on a new string, and use a few more windings. That will put the bottom of the string wrap down closer to the peg head, increasing the down angle of the G string. This should solve your problem.


Good advice. I will grab another set of strings later today (provided I head out) and will try that.


I don't play MIM guitars, but if I remember right, they only have one strings tree right? On the E and B? If you really want to solve the problem for good, and not have to remember to extra wrap your G, just add a second tree on the G and D strings.

You are correct, there is only one. Funnily enough, the fact that the buzzing stopped when I placed a finger behind the string made me wonder if this might be a possible solution.

I was in the store for something else today and spoke to my tech who suggested that I just add another string tree. I grabbed one that he had there and I'll put it on later.

I was in the store for something else today and spoke to my tech who suggested that I just add another string tree. I grabbed one that he had there and I'll put it on later.

I recently did this for a friend of mine, did the trick no problem. I have to do the extra wraps thing on my Pbass. The A string rattles like crazy if I don't give it enough down angle over the nut. I can't find a practical way to add another tree to that though. There just isn't room, and it looks terrible. On a strat or tele, a second tree ain't the end of the world.

I recently did this for a friend of mine, did the trick no problem. I have to do the extra wraps thing on my Pbass. The A string rattles like crazy if I don't give it enough down angle over the nut. I can't find a practical way to add another tree to that though. There just isn't room, and it looks terrible. On a strat or tele, a second tree ain't the end of the world.


Doing this won't screw up the tuning by pulling it sharp will it? I wouldn't think so but someone mentioned to me that it might be an issue. I figure detune, install tree, place string under tree, retune, problem solved.

Sorry about the questions, I just don't want to make a massive mistake here.

Doing this won't screw up the tuning by pulling it sharp will it? I wouldn't think so but someone mentioned to me that it might be an issue. I figure detune, install tree, place string under tree, retune, problem solved.

Sorry about the questions, I just don't want to make a massive mistake here.

Your figuring is totally correct. If you just screwed the tree down on your strings, you would defitnitely pull them sharp. But even then, you could just re-tune. You are not changing the length of the string. The nut and saddle are staying in the exact same place, so the pitch, when tuned to pitch, will remain the same. You are only changing the down-angle at the nut. It may make the string feel slightly stiffer, maybe, but it won't change the pitch. If you tune your G, it's gonna be a G.

What about placement of the second string tree? Does it have to be placed a specific distance from the nut or tuner key?

What about placement of the second string tree? Does it have to be placed a specific distance from the nut or tuner key?

I don't think it needs to be a specific distance, just offset slightly from the existing one (say a quarter of an inch or something).

Your figuring is totally correct. If you just screwed the tree down on your strings, you would defitnitely pull them sharp. But even then, you could just re-tune. You are not changing the length of the string. The nut and saddle are staying in the exact same place, so the pitch, when tuned to pitch, will remain the same. You are only changing the down-angle at the nut. It may make the string feel slightly stiffer, maybe, but it won't change the pitch. If you tune your G, it's gonna be a G.


Thanks, that's what I thought.

I took the guitar into the store today and the tech took a brief look at it between other jobs. He said the nut slot was fine and he made some adjustments that resolved some of the buzz, but not all of it.

I decided to try restringing it with more winds so I put a new string on there tonight and that helped a bit too but it still hasn't entirely eliminated the buzz from the G string (all of the other strings are fine).

So I guess I will have to put another string tree on there. Because the G string sits kind of high between the nut and the tuner I am thinking I will put a spacer in there so as not to be bringing the string right down to the headstock the way the string tree does on the B and E strings.

I got severely ticked off at the buzzing when playing tonight and out of frustration decided to throw a higher gauge of strings on there. I had .09s on it originally but had a spare set of .10s for my Les Paul sitting around so I put those on and added an extra wind on all of the tuning pegs. Once I did that - voila! No more fret buzz. I guess this particular guitar just prefers .10s to .09s in the same way that my LP does.

So, while I wasted a few bucks on a couple of sets of strings (the .09s I bought when I got the guitar and the set I bought yesterday so that I could put a new G string on there and give it more winds around the tuning peg), that is all it has cost me to resolve this - and I didn't have to drill any holes into my headstock.

I liked the idea of having a lower gauge of string on the Strat because the Fender scale makes .09s feel like .10s do on Gibsons tension wise but, now that the buzz is gone, I don't care. Or maybe I'll take my LP up to .11s just to even things out :wink:

Regardless, except for a slight adjustment that I expect to have to make to the truss rod once the new strings have had some time to pull on the neck, everything is solved.

I got severely ticked off at the buzzing when playing tonight and out of frustration decided to throw a higher gauge of strings on there. I had .09s on it originally but had a spare set of .10s for my Les Paul sitting around so I put those on and added an extra wind on all of the tuning pegs. Once I did that - voila! No more fret buzz. I guess this particular guitar just prefers .10s to .09s in the same way that my LP does.

So, while I wasted a few bucks on a couple of sets of strings (the .09s I bought when I got the guitar and the set I bought yesterday so that I could put a new G string on there and give it more winds around the tuning peg), that is all it has cost me to resolve this - and I didn't have to drill any holes into my headstock.

I liked the idea of having a lower gauge of string on the Strat because the Fender scale makes .09s feel like .10s do on Gibsons tension wise but, now that the buzz is gone, I don't care. Or maybe I'll take my LP up to .11s just to even things out :wink:

Regardless, except for a slight adjustment that I expect to have to make to the truss rod once the new strings have had some time to pull on the neck, everything is solved.

Good to hear it worked out for you. I love happy endings.:grin:

Good to hear it worked out for you. I love happy endings.:grin:


Thanks for the help.

The funniest thing is that the solution, which turned out to be a pretty simple one, was discovered through a fit of anger :lol: