But guitars are complex and sensitive instruments. There can be moments when something sounds a little out of whack, like the rattling of a string (or multiple strings) against the frets as you’re playing, commonly referred to as “fret buzz”.
First, you should assess your technique. If your strings buzz all up and down the neck, perhaps you aren’t pressing down hard enough on the strings or are placing your finger too far behind the intended fret. There’s the buzz.
Aside from your playing, however, it could be an issue with your guitar. That’s a bummer, but you—or a seasoned guitar technician—can address it head on.
Why Is My Electric Guitar Buzzing
Sometimes, one or more frets can jut out higher than the others, and that’s a problem. Once you hit that fret, the dreaded buzz will cause an abrupt halt to your playing. To level them, however, all they need is a simple dressing. You can check to see if they are level with a straightedge. In addition, the strings might have created grooves in the frets over time, which will preclude the strings from vibrating properly and give you buzz.
String action refers to how high the strings sit above the frets. If they are too close to the fingerboard, that will likely result in fret buzz. Adjusting the saddles and bridge can help this.
If your nut is worn or has grooves that are too deep, that will make the strings sit too close to the fretboard and make your open strings buzz.
Finding And Fixing Rattles And Buzzes On Acoustic Guitars
Furthermore, you might need a truss rod adjustment. A guitar’s neck is supposed to have a slight amount of bow in it to offer some distance between the fretboard and the strings. Too little of a bow—a “back bow”—means there won’t be enough space and cause open strings to buzz. Too much, and the guitar will be more difficult to play considering the high action it creates.
All of these situations highlight the importance of a good setup for your guitar. It will keep you buzz-free and getting the pristine tone you wanted in the first place.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.
Electric Guitar Buzzing At Bridge: Things You Must Know
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.
Fret Buzz: 5 Ways To Stop The Buzz
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 has bounced back up after we thought we’d seated it properly? Is the fingerboard warped, or ski-sloping at the fingerboard extension? Or do we have a…
Neck Without Enough Relief If a neck is too straight or back-bowed, strings are bound to hit the tops of the frets as we play. If a taut string is a straight line and we create a sine wave when we agitate it, you can picture why we need at least a little relief in a neck. Your tech can help you figure out the right amount of relief for your style and instrument.
Ways To Avoid Guitar Pick Noise
Loose Hardware This is a kind of buzz that often migrates; it can make you feel really silly when you figure out that the annoying rattle that seemed to come from the body of your guitar was just a loose screw on the strap button or a tuner strip. Electric guitars can have loose pickup hardware.
(Pro tip: Lots of older flattop Gibsons have bridges with two bolts fixing them to the top. The 1/4-inch nuts threaded up against the bridge plate can come a bit loose and rattle. If you didn’t know they were there, you’d be driven absolutely nuts looking for the explanation!)
Loose Brace or Glue Joint While these tend to have a different quality of sound, wooden rather than metallic, they are still noisy and irritating. It’s especially audible in the case of a loose top brace in an acoustic guitar.
Is Fret Buzz Normal On An Electric Guitar?
Your tech will test for this by thwacking a finger or thumb around the guitar’s top and back and listening for the sound of wood-knocking-into-wood.
Mamie Minch is the co-owner of Brooklyn Lutherie and an active blues player. She is the former head of repair at Retrofret Guitars.So, you've got a guitar you love and it looks, feels, and sounds great... but, some (or all) of your strings are buzzing against the frets and it's driving you nuts. Let's take a look at some common causes of fret buzz and the appropriate ways to address each one. This is just an overview and not an in-depth tutorial.
Let's define fret buzz. Fret buzz is the annoying sound caused by a guitar string rattling/buzzing against a fret wire when the guitar string is being plucked or played. There are three common causes of fret buzz:
How To Put A Capo On A Guitar
Note: Technique is not listed as a cause of fret buzz, but it is worth mentioning because, at a certain point, the cause of fret buzz is the player and not the guitar. If the player attacks the string too aggressively on a perfectly fine guitar, fret buzz will still occur.
The frets are supposed to be level with each other (they should all be the same height). There is an exception to this rule (upper fret fall-away), but we won't be getting in to that here. When the frets are not level with each other, that means some of the frets are shorter and some of the frets are taller. It's the tall frets that are the problem because the string comes in to contact with them and it results in fret buzz. The string does not buzz against the low frets. The diagrams below help illustrate.
Great. The frets are exactly the same height off the fretboard, which results in there being a space between the top of Fret #2 and the bottom of the guitar string. Because a guitar string vibrates when plucked, there needs to be enough space between itself and the fret to allow for that vibration to occur without the two coming in to contact with each other.
How To Get Rid Of An Unwanted Guitar Buzzing Noise: 15 Steps
Uh oh. Fret #2 is taller than Fret #1, which results in there not being enough space between the top of Fret #2 and the bottom of the guitar string. That means the guitar string will rattle/buzz against Fret #2 every time the guitar is fretted and played at Fret #1. In extreme cases, there will be no gap at all (they're touching) between Fret #2 and the guitar string, and the result is a dead fret... the guitar can't even produce the note!
Remember how the string doesn't actually buzz against the low frets? We should be able to see clearly as to why.
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