I need to talk about fret buzz. This is a bit difficult for a repair guy to do because, as I get into this, it can sound like I’m trying to dodge responsibility for shoddy work. That’s not the case—I actually feel pretty strongly about not doing that. The thing is though, it’s important for a player to be realistic about his or her needs and expectations when it comes to setup. Nowhere is this more of an issue than with fret buzz.
In order to generate noise it’s necessary to make a string vibrate up and down. Unless you’re fingering at the very end of the neck, under that vibrating string is a length of fingerboard, usually with a number of frets installed in it. It’s not like a harp, where you pluck a string and it rings beautifully and unimpeded—your guitar or bass has a bunch of wood and metal just dying to interfere with that vibrating sting.
Careful fret levelling and good setup can get an instrument playing cleanly. However, bear in mind that your playing style and technique, and the choices you make around action and strings, will have a major bearing on how cleanly that guitar plays.
The Structure Of The Acoustic Guitar：how A Guitar Makes Sound
However, if you’ve got a low action on your electric guitar or bass and you tell me you can hear a buzz when you play it unamplified, I’m going to ask you if that buzz can be heard when you play it through the amp, in a normal setting.
Buzzes on electric instruments that can’t be heard through the amp are often the price of that low action you like. In an ideal world, it wouldn’t be there but it’s not an ideal world (see note above on harps). If you want to play your electric guitar unamplified, it might need to be set up differently. Remember that there’s a reason most acoustic instruments are not set up with actions as low as their electric cousins.
Is your action appropriate for your style of playing? We’ve talked about this before—if you’re a hard player, you can’t expect to play with the same action as a really light picker. Bigger string vibrations need more room to move and a higher action is the answer.
How Does A Guitar Truss Rod Work?
Super light stings wobble about more on a particular instrument. A heavier gauge might give you a cleaner result. Playing the heaviest strings you’re comfortable with is always good advice.
I’m (very, very) far from being the best player in the world. However, I’ve worked on these things enough that, at least, I’m pretty good when it comes to fingering/fretting notes cleanly. There have been times when I’ll play a guitar that someone’s brought in for buzzing problems and it’ll play just fine.
That’s tricky. Nobody likes to think something might be their fault (I certainly don’t) and nobody wants to be the guy to tell someone that it’s their fault (I certainly don’t). But sometimes it is.
Diy Adjusting String Action On Acoustic Guitar
Fingering position and pressure are likely culprits. You want to be right behind the fret with a firm enough pressure to ensure good string-contact with the fret. If chords are buzzing, play the same notes individually—is the buzz still there? Sorry that I’m teaching grandmas to suck eggs here. However, if someone else can cleanly play your buzzing guitar, you might need to consider adjusting your technique or your expectations for your setup.
For a guitar to play cleanly, each fret should be neither higher or lower than its neighbours. If a fret is high, playing notes behind it may cause the string to vibrate off that fret. If you’ve a low fret, then the fret directly in front of it is (relatively speaking) a high fret.
High or low frets can be caused by poor fret installation and levelling. It’s also possible for frets to loosen and to sneak up out of the fretboard over time.
My Guitar Has A Buzzing Noise, Could It Be From These Strings?
If your guitar buzzes in one or a few small areas but plays cleanly elsewhere, high or low frets may be the reason. For instance, if you’re playing each note up the board and all play cleanly until, say, 9th fret. The 10th has a little buzz and the 11th sounds awful but the 12th plays cleanly again. You might have a high 12th fret.
It’s not always so cut and dry as this, of course, and it can be useful to use a short ruler to try ‘rock’ across a few frets. You can buy a ‘fret rocker’ (which has a number of different-length sides to fit across differently spaced frets) from Stew Mac or eBay, or you can cut a 6 steel rule into different lengths. If you span three frets and your tool ‘rocks’, one of those frets is higher or lower than its pals.
If you get a buzz when you play an open string, there’s a good chance the string slot in the nut is too low. It’s also possible the you need a little more relief or your first fret is too high. Odds are good it’s the nut, though.
Ask The Expert: Why Is My Guitar Buzzing?
At a high level, too much relief can be a cause of some buzz higher up the neck. Too little relief might cause some buzz all over if you don't play lightly. A back-bowed neck will generally buzz in the lower positions and play more cleanly higher up.
This is all very general. If you haven’t downloaded your copy of Truss Rods Made Easy, pop off and do so. You’ll find more information on relief issues in there.
The neck itself can sometimes be less than level. Humps and warps can happen. The result is that some sections are higher than their neighbours and that has to be addressed. A fret level or fingerboard level/refret is often the answer.
How Much Difference Does Your Guitar String Choice Make?
Potential hardware issues aside, a good setup for you may well be the result of some compromises. You might have to play with a lighter touch if you want a low action. Or, you might need to play a higher action to accommodate your style. You might need to live with some unamplified buzz.
The most perfect, flawless, fret-job in the world will buzz if the setup isn’t right for the player’s style and technique. Be realistic about what’s right for you and don’t worry too much about unamplified buzz.Q: I have a newish Gibson Hummingbird, which overall I think is a great guitar. I haven’t had much issue with it. I take it in for setups once a year or so, but a few months ago, I started getting a loud, rattly buzz when I strum. It came and went for a while, but now it’s steady. What do you think is the most likely cause? —George, Chattanooga, Tennessee
A: Ah, the buzz. Whenever I encounter the problem of the dreaded mystery buzz, I have a list of possible causes I run through. As with everything, a buzz is always in the last place you look, so I try to start with the simplest answer. I always bear in mind that the sound of a buzz can travel far from its origin, so sometimes you can’t trust your ears to tell you where the noise is originating.
Can You Use Acoustic Guitar Strings On An Electric Guitar? Should You?
Technique How is my client’s fretting technique? Does their fingertip sit between the two frets, and are they giving firm pressure downward on the fingerboard, enough that the string doesn’t fish around on top of the next fret up? This common issue calls for some real tact in conversation with the player.
Low Nut Slot Is one nut slot too low, causing the string to buzz along the top of that pesky first fret? If you press down the string at the first fret and the buzz is gone, you’ll know it was coming from the nut. Alternately, your low nut slot might give you a “back buzz”—this usually happens on the low E string, and can feel pernicious. It works like this: You get a metallic buzz when fretting or using a capo up the neck, but it’s quieted when you touch the string between the nut and where it’s fretted.
Poorly Cut Nut Slot A nut slot should give the string a clear take-off point at the edge of the bone that meets the fingerboard. If the slot is cut so that the highest point is in the middle, or on the wrong edge, the string can buzz through the slot like a sitar. It’s the same idea with a saddle of any material—if the take-off point isn’t on the edge toward the soundhole, the string can buzz across its top.
Is This String Spacing Off?
Too Low an Action/Strung Too Light While not the root cause of a buzz, trying for a very low action or using too light a gauge of strings can put a magnifying glass on little problems that you might otherwise never hear from. Things like…
Hitting a Fret The sound of a string hitting the top of a fret is a pretty distinctive metallic buzz. If we think we hear that buzz, we want to know why. Is there a high fret, a low fret, or a fret that
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