Open E String buzz.

[gygzach]

Hey guys, I have a quick question.

I just unboxed my replacement Ultra-III and I'm having open string buzz on the E-string when it is plucked, but only when it's plucked a little bit hard than normal. You can also hear it a little when strumming a little harder.

Any way to get rid of this? The last U3 I had I dont believe did this, and also the Studio I had before didn't.

Theres also a weird buzz by the bridge on a couple of the strings, I don't know how to explain it, its kind of like a hum/buzz. Can't really hear it unless your listening for it. Any ideas?

 

[davies]

It's common for out-of-the-box guitars not to be perfectly set up.

There are two simple solutions - raise the action on the relevant side until the buzz goes away or pluck/strum less hard.

Is the buzz noticeable when amped or just un-amped? If it's just un-amped, I wouldn't worry about it.

Is the guitar's action set-up the way you like it?

A pro-setup will sort all your problems.

 

[NovaSDF]

First, check the string height by measuring from the top of the 12th fret to the underside of the string. Epiphone recommends 6/64 on the bass side and 4/64 on the treble. (Gibson prefers 5/64 and 3/64 respectively.) It's possible your bridge is too low, in which case you just need to raise it a tad.

You should also check the neck relief. Press down on bass E string on the first and last fret and make sure it's got just a very small gap around the 7th fret. If you want to measure, most people seem to prefer .010 in relief, but I like my neck to be almost straight. The main thing to make sure is the neck isn't back-bowed, meaning the string has no room to move in the middle of the neck. If it is back-bowed, then you need to loosen the truss rod a bit.

You should also check the height of the strings at the nut, in case it is cut too low, but I've not run into that too often.

Assuming your action height is good, and your neck has a bit of relief, the most likely culprit would be a high fret (or several if they are really uneven.) You can check this with a fret rocker, which is a small gauge that has a straight edge that spans 3 frets. They are handy to have, and can tell you if you need to get the frets leveled. In fact, I like to carry one in my pocket when I go guitar shopping, just to get a quick idea as to how well the frets were installed in a new guitar. (Mainly because I tend to drop the action on a guitar, which means that high frets will become an issue.) You could learn to level and dress frets yourself, but I would recommend taking it to someone to do for you. If you decide to have a go at it yourself, please purchase one of those diamond crowning files from Stewmac. They are a bit pricy at $100, but will make your life a lot easier. You won't get tool marks, making polishing easy, and it will leave the frets perfectly rounded. In fact, if you have just 1 fret that is high you can lower it just with a few passes of the crowning file (just measure frequently with the fret rocker so you don't lower it too far.) If you decide to try it, buy a beater guitar for a couple of bucks off Craig's List to practice on first.

The other thing that I've run into that caused a rattle or buzz was a loose saddle in the ABR-1 bridge. I don't much care for Epi bridges, so it's one of the first changes I make. I doubt that is your issue from the sound of things, as I'm more inclined to think you have a high fret.

 

[gygzach]

Thanks for the info.

I raised the bridge just a tad and did a couple of other things and got the low E to stop buzzing. There the buzzing by the bridge was the pickup, it was uneven and was moving around so that was an easy fix as well.

Now the issue is that the A string buzzes when plucked by the pickup area. If I pluck further up by the fingerboard it doesn't. Ideas? Think its the problem thing as described earlier?

 

[mechtech]

Epiphone recommends that a capo be used on the first fret, and the string height be checked at the 14th-15 fret.
5/64 low to 3/64 high.
It takes less than a minute to see where you are at.
With that capo on. press the last fret and see what your relief is on each string. That is, there should be a gap under each string to the frets in the middle. How much? Shoot for about .008".
Do this FIRST before checking the string heights.
Let us know what's up.

 

[gygzach]

Epiphone recommends that a capo be used on the first fret, and the string height be checked at the 14th-15 fret.
5/64 low to 3/64 high.
It takes less than a minute to see where you are at.
With that capo on. press the last fret and see what your relief is on each string. That is, there should be a gap under each string to the frets in the middle. How much? Shoot for about .008".
Do this FIRST before checking the string heights.
Let us know what's up.

Will do.

So just to clairfy, i should check the relief first with the capo and check around the 7th fret and the neck should bend to much away from the string?

Gotcha.

Will do that when I get home from the office.

 

[NovaSDF]

With Fenders, most of their necks are 9.5 inch radius. With Gibsons, it can range anywhere from 10 to 11 inches. If you have a tighter radius neck, you sometimes will end up with a slightly higher action on the bass and treble E strings to get enough clearance toward the middle of the neck. Ran into that on a friends Epi LP Special. Hard to tell what you have unless you have a set of radius gauges.

The fix for that is usually to file down the outside saddles on the bridge a hair to drop those strings, thus raising the strings in the middle of the neck. Or you could pull the frets and redo the radius in the neck. Not a job for the faint of heart.

I would personally invest a few bucks to buy a fret rocker though. You may have some real high spots on a fret or two. It's easy enough to check. (You can also use any other perfectly straight edge, so long as it spans 3 frets - but you will need a couple of different sizes since the frets get a lot closer together as you move up the neck. I've seen pieces of solid metal rod used as well.)

Bottom line, you are never going to get a tight action if your frets are really uneven. If one is high (or low) it really throws everything else off.

(I should also mention that most tune-o-matic bridges are 14 inch radius. It's generally ideal to have the bridge radius slightly larger than the neck radius - so the action moves higher away from the frets as the strings get bigger and floppier.)

 

[paulgibson]

First, check the string height by measuring from the top of the 12th fret to the underside of the string. Epiphone recommends 6/64 on the bass side and 4/64 on the treble. (Gibson prefers 5/64 and 3/64 respectively.) It's possible your bridge is too low, in which case you just need to raise it a tad.

You should also check the neck relief. Press down on bass E string on the first and last fret and make sure it's got just a very small gap around the 7th fret. If you want to measure, most people seem to prefer .010 in relief, but I like my neck to be almost straight.

Its very important that when you are checking for relief using the string method, be sure to press the string at the back of the last fret, toward the pickup, not in front of the fret. This way you get an accurate look at the contour of the neck.



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