Low action Buzz, or High Action No buzz?

[JohnnyRebKy]

Hi yall. i have a American Standard Tele i bought a few months ago brand new. I believe it came with .9 strings on it from the factory ( correct me if wrong) . anyways, ever since ive had this guitar ive had nothing but trouble with it buzzing.....as in fret-strings buzzing. the big E string buzzed like crazy when noted on the second fret. So i found myslelf trying to tweak the neck to fix it, which occasionally worked. yea i know, suck it up.....its just a little fet buz, if u cant hear it thru the amp then your good. well, it drives me crazy lol. i just dont agree with a 1200 dollar guitar frett buzzing. and not ot mention, the action was really high ! so, the other night i put some .11 strings on it. Wow what a difference, those big strings tightened everything up really well and the buzz stoped for the most part and i havent had to touch the neck adjustment. So i end up taking it to the music store to have action set lower on it, and when i get home its a ratteling mess ! so i spend 2 hours raising the strings back up and using a gauge to set to factory settings. so my question is..........am i gonna just have to suck it up and keep the high action so i dont have to deal with the buzzing ???? i cant stand strings banging around and making awfull racket on it. it plays sweet right now with the 11.s on it, nice and tight. any suggestioNs?

[musicmatty]

A couple things here..NO..you shouldn't have to put up with any guitar that rattles and buzzs and pings..especially a $1200. axe.

Factory 9-42s and it should be playin without any trouble. It needs a professional set up. The neck should be very straight but not back bowed, and the action should easily settle in at 3.5/64 or 4/64 measured at the 17th fret with Fender -9-42s. Yes, you have a problem, but it should be very fixable without raising the action above 4/64 and having to put heavier guage strings on.

Don't you have a waranty?? Take it to someone who knows what they're doing and stop with the guess work..if your not sure what you are doing.

[boris bubbanov]

I like the sound of the 11s as well.

Some folks don't mind rattling and buzzing, and some techs just do what they're told to do I suppose. I'd find someone else to tech it next time, someone who: 1) Listens carefully to the customer and 2) Does not return an unplayable guitar to a customer without at least asking "are you sure this is what you wanted?"

[Ronkirn]

You got mail....

Ron Kirn

[Scotland]

Low action = no buzz. If your guitar is set up properly.

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by Scotland

Low action = no buzz. If your guitar is set up properly.

Amen !
imho, Ron Kirn is THE Master when it comes to set ups...

Originally Posted by JohnnyRebKy

So i found myslelf trying to tweak the neck to fix it, which occasionally worked.

i think you've found that wasn't quite the way to go about it....

visit TDPRI'er Extraordinaire Rob DiStefano's website: www.frettech.com , click the info button an' scroll down a ways 'til you get to his set up tutorial...

but if the board and/or the frets are not level to start with, there's not much else you can do but have a Level an' Crown job done....either of the two Gentlemen named above are capable of superior fretwork...

[Ronkirn]

Here’s a tip... most mistakenly think the neck should be dead level, or flat... not so. There should be a very slight bow. Fret, say the G 3rd at the 1st fret and the 20th around the 7 – 9th frets. There should be somewhere about .020 +- or about the thickness of a typical business card clearance between the top of the frets and the bottom of the string.

Next thing is the nut… the clearance at the 1st fret when nothing else it going on should be about, .030 something like 1/32 of an inch perhaps a little less. Make the nut adjustments with the bridges adjusted almost down to where you would like the final action. Do not worry about intonation at this point.

Once the nut and the bow is correct you can just adjust the saddles down until you start to hear a buzz, then back off about one turn with the Allen wrench. BUTT (___!___) …

If your neck hasn’t had a fret leveling… you are probably wasting your time… here is why..

When frets are pressed into the wood, they seat at different heights… every time.. Sometimes it’s very slight… .001 or less, a variation many guitarists will not notice… at least those that have never experienced a correctly setup guitar, since they have no point of reference.

But if, say the 12th (where the action is usually about .060 or 1/16th inch) is .003, that’s the thickness of a sheet of paper.. high, then to get the 11th fret to play with out buzzing you will have to crank the action up significantly higher than the typical 1/16th so the angle created when the string is fretted clears the 12th.

Get the Frets leveled…. Don’t argue, just do it. Isn’t it written in the Book of Leo 1:1 “Non leveled frets are the root of all evil.”?

Ron Kirn