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Setup/action Preferences


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I just set up a guitar and was able to get the lowest string action I've ever felt. But (and there's always a "but"), if I play it unplugged, there is a slight buzz in the middle frets (around 5-10). If I play it through an amp, even straight with no distortion, it's completely inaudible.

It could fixed easily by raising the bridge a little. Better yet, I think if I tighten the truss rod a little, I could keep the low action and get rid of the buzz (I'm a light picker and I'm keeping this guitar).

I'm pretty sure I know what I'll do, but I'm just wondering what you guys would do in this situation. Would you leave it as is, or try to fix it? Does that slight buzz when unplugged bother you?

Edited by NotYou
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i try to get as little as possible and usually do quite well on that... but if its something thats cured by turning up your amp to proper playing levels, then turn up the f***ing amp :D

most people that get too **** about slight buzzes are playing without it plugged in!

i get buzzless at 2mm @ 12th fret for all but the heaviest of strumming... mostly buzz free at 1.2mm @ 12 fret, but at that distance its always going to buzz a bit if you dig in

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im the same with a bit of buzz on some of my lower action guitars, it seems the lighter the strings i use the less buzz i get though.

at the moment im running 8's and have very low action and little to no buzz, a pain to setup though and not everyones cup of tea (i get complaints about how brittle the strings seem but complemented on the tone :S).

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If the actions really low, i would lift it a whisker... but as Wez has said, a bit of buzz isn't a problem if its rectified with amplification. I try to keep things buzz free, about 2.5mm at the 22nd fret last time i setup my main geet.

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Success! :D

I tightened the truss rod a little to decrease the relief. There's no buzzing anywhere now and the string height is still super low. I still need to measure it, but I'm guessing it's now more than 1mm-1.1mm!

My old record is 1.2mm. I'm oddly excited about this.

Edited by NotYou
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It's .96mm.

I definitely agree not caring about the buzz when it's plugged in. This one is getting sent to someone important for evaluation and I don't know how he feels about it. I sent him a guitar once with 1.2mm string height and he thought it was too high :D

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I think you did the right thing. I hate it when my guitar buzzes. I like to fine tune and adjust the action so it is as low as it can go without buzzing. Your fret buzzing was most likely caused by a slight back-bow in the neck. Raising the bridge might have fixed the fret buzzing, but it would have also raised the action quite a bit. You did the right thing by adjusting the truss rod.

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Success! :D

I tightened the truss rod a little to decrease the relief. There's no buzzing anywhere now and the string height is still super low. I still need to measure it, but I'm guessing it's now more than 1mm-1.1mm!

My old record is 1.2mm. I'm oddly excited about this.

Ok, this makes no sense to me (and hopefully I'm about to be edumacated!)...

You had slight buzzing around 5 - 10th fret on the middle stings, right? How would decreasing relief fix that? By decreasing, we're making the board flatter and that is right in the effective area of the rod, so it would have brought the strings even closer to the board. ......Right??

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