ripsrv Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 my strat has mad fret buzz and it comes out of tunes every time i give it a dirty look. the frets are a bit flat on top. the guitar is pushin 10 years old and i play it alot. what can i do to get rid of the buzz, and help it stay in tune? i checked the intunation on the guitar and got it as close as i feel i can get it. when i pic a string...it will go in and out of tune....its wierd. i dont no what to do about it. thanks for any advice u can offer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Could be a number of things. Have you checked the neck for adjustment? (sometimes its the weather) Are the tuners slipping? I'm sure you're winding the strings right as you have been using it for 10 years. Do the frets need dressing? How about the springs and adjustment on the trem/bridge? If the springs are too weak and/or the screws holding the bridge down a bit too loose or the trem is set too high, that can cause problems. I'm sure the more experienced members can give you a lot more tips. Good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 i dont now if the frets need work or not. i dont think its the strings/tunners. im not sure how to check the neck....any advice? i have 5 springs in the back to hold the bride down. hmmm thanks for the advice so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 When's the last time you changed strings? There could be any number of things going on with the guitar. Why not just take it to a shop and have it set up? They'll put on new strings for you too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Have the problem happened over night? A little more info there might help First: Are the strings new? The first thing to do is to change strings. Have this happened on several sets of string or only this one. Strings can go bad, but they can also be bad from the start. I have had faulty string fresh out of the package. You also have to have fresh string when intonating. If you intonated with old strings you have to do it again with new ones. There are a bunch of things you can do to look for the problem. Start with checking the relief (how straight the neck is). Use a capo on fret one and push down the string at the last fret. Look in the middle of the neck and look at the frets in the middle of the neck. There should be a tiny, tiny bit of distance there. Some prefer a dead straight neck but “most” people like a little bit of relief. Over the year a neck moves and might form a back bow. This is corrected with the trussrod. Also heavy strings need more relief and lighter need less. If you have flat areas on top of some frets and not all that is your next focus area. Especially if say the first five frets are heavily worn and the rest are in pretty good shape. Then the string will touch the first fret up from the one you are fretting and that might also cause the problem you are describing. Then you will have to take the guitar to a tech or make the decision to do it yourself. If your choice is the last one there are tutorials if you do a search. Did I get you right when I understood that the bridge is held firmly against the body? Then old tremolo springs can be ruled out. There are a lot of other stuff to check but you might consider reading up on set-ups. More info on relief: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-0670.html truss rod adjustments (for their own trussrod, but you will get the picture): http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-0975.html General setup ( with their neck jig but again…) http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-5252.html And the list goes on… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 thank abuch for the help guys. yes the bridge is frim against the body. the frets thatare worn the most are between 12-22. and mostly on the higher(uncoiled) half of the neck. i spend alot of time in there. it has happend threw a couple of sets of strings now. i didnt want to take it in, i want to try to figure it out and fix it myself....im stuborn but more impotanty i just wanna learn how. might have to if i cant get to the bottem of it. ill read those links and see if i can come get it squared away, thanks abuch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 christ on high the neck was way out! i read up on the main page here and stewart mac, busted out the old feeler gauges and unstead of eyballing it lile i usually do everything, (and at that it was been quite a while) and the neck had a very larg amount of relife in it. this confused me, i thought if anything that would help eliminate fret buzz. so anyway, i brought the neck back to were it should be and i put the action down to were it should be...it was a bit high. and now... it buzzes alot more hahahh. it is alot easier to play but it buzzes everywere! can u file the frets so they are not flat anymore, and then polish them up with sand paper? would that help any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acousticraft Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 As far as fret buzz goes if it has quite a bit of fret wear it would pay to relevel and profile the frets so they are all level. Then you should be able to get a nice low action. As far as going out of tune, every electric I have played goes out of tune especially if there is a temperature change. I often find a guitar is sharp first thing in the morning and as the temperature warms up then it goes flat. I guess this is due to contraction and expansion of the strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 As far as fret buzz goes if it has quite a bit of fret wear it would pay to relevel and profile the frets so they are all level. Then you should be able to get a nice low action. As far as going out of tune, every electric I have played goes out of tune especially if there is a temperature change. I often find a guitar is sharp first thing in the morning and as the temperature warms up then it goes flat. I guess this is due to contraction and expansion of the strings. i have done alot of searchin aornud here, but i cant find anything helpful on how one would level and profile (i assume that is the same as crowning) frets. any links...tips... anything to point me into the right direction. i think the tune problem had to do with the high action, the nasty bowi had in the neck, and i intunated my guitar last time when the strings were not brand new, a combination of those probly had something to do with it. thanks for the help so far guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripsrv Posted February 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 bump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 bump Maybe you can post a pic of the upper frets? I don't know if it's possible to tell if they're so worn that they're a problem, but it's worth a try. I had a similar problem on the tele project I just finished --turned out that the heel was riding up too high in the pocket (the heel itself isn't flat and there was a tiny ridge at the back of the pocket that I hadn't caught). Once I adjusted for all that the guitar set up perfectly. Have you tried putting a small shim at the front (neck side) of the pocket to see if the problem goes away? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.