Guitar Techs, Please Lend A Good Guy A Hand

[FattyMatty]

My band is playing a benefit show next Saturday. I bought $500 worth of tickets and haven't sold them all, so I don't have any more money to get my guitar fixed, so I need your help.

I just paid the local guitar shop $80 to setup my guitar, and when I got it back it buzzes terribly. They said it will be 7 days before I can get it back, which can't work because our show is next Saturday.

I'm attaching some pictures. For starters, can you tell me how the neck looks? I'm getting a new tuner tomorrow because the intonation is really off, but I want to make sure the neck looks straight before I set the intonation.

Thanks fellas!

[SwedishLuthier]

First: More info is needed, like type of guitar, model (electric(acoustic) etc etc.

Does it buzz unplugged, is there a problem with the neck/neck relief etc? Or is it an electrical problem /buzzing through an amp)?

I'm guessing on the first problem so I'm going to give you a few hints about that. The neck shouldn't be 100% (IMO) if you want a buzz free guitar. You need a slight relief. Test this by using a capo (or finger) on the first fret and pressing the strings down av the last fret. You should have somewhere between .01"/0.25mm to maybe .02"/0.5mm (or slightly more is a super low action isn't your highest concern). Also check if the relief is even (the same on all strings). If not you have a twisted neck. The relief is adjusted by the truss rod. If you try to address this problem, just proceed with some care. Adjust the truss rod maximum 1/4 of a turn and let everything settle. In my experience it can take up to a couple of hours for a neck to adjust. So make small adjustments, wait and check like above to see if you get the problem corrected. If not, make another small adjustment and wait. Examples of typical setups here

If the relief is OK and the guitar only buzz at the first couple of frets the tech has adjusted the string slots in the nut too low. This is not an easy task to adjust if you have no prior experience, but there is a quite simple quick fix. First you need to be sure that is the problem. Press down the strings between the second and third frets. Look to see if there is a slight distance between the string and the first fret, approximate the same as a normal paper. If not, that is probably your problem. Fist you need to get the nut out of there. Some tips here. Now, with the nut out of the guitar, grab a piece of old style paper envelope from a string package. Other type of paper also works, but this is probably the best. Flow one or two drops of super glue on the paper and press the nut down on the glue/paper (if the bottom is flat. If not you need to make some type of arched surface to use while doing this). A piece of waxed paper or parcel tape helps to prevent the wet paper to stick to your work bench. When the clue has cured it forms a very hard matrix with the paper. Trim of all excess with a sharp knife and place the nut in the guitar and test the action at fret one. Now read the rest of the tutorial from the latest link about gluing the nut back

If the problem is low action on the last frets that is easy adjusted by rising the bridge/the bridge saddles. You find typical string heights in the table linked to above.

Good luck