setup woes

[vulpesoutfoxed]

I have a honeyburst Comanche semi-hollow body guitar that I custom ordered in 2009,(arrived august of 09). The guitar has the #1 neck with rosewood fingerboard, the saddle lock bridge. When it arrived it looked and played amazingly. Still looks gorgeous, the sound however isn't quite so pretty anymore. After having it a little longer than a year it developed this obnoxious buzz, audible unplugged and through an amplifier, on the low E and the A strings around the first to fifth fret that grates on my nerves worse than fingernails on a chalk board. I have since had it to a couple of guitar techs for a set up to see if the buzz could be worked out. The first left a bit to be desired, giving the guitar back to me with more buzz than it went in with only to get snotty with me and refusing to acknowledge the buzz when I said I wasn't happy. The second guy who was much better, determined the frets were not level and showed me the inconsistencies while my guitar was on his jig. He leveled and dressed the frets and it helped a great deal however he couldn't get the buzz to an acceptable level. It is still very easily heard even through my amp, might not be so bad if i was playing on a drive channel but i play clean a lot so still the grating buzz. Any ideas on what i can do to get this resolved without raising the string action to a ridiculous height? I am really frustrated at this point and am hating the fact that I am beginning to think my guitar may be better suited as an oar rowing a raft across the Great Salt Lake. Makes me thankful i have never had an issue with the 3-screw micro-tilt neck that is on my Legacy. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[GDub]

You may have a neck that has developed a little twist--wood is fickle (aka, sometimes unstable). G&L has a 10 year warranty. Get it fixed.

--GDub

[Kit]

I also suggest you check the straightness of your neck. If the neck is almost perfectly straight with no relief, it can cause buzzing. You can check that with a straight edge. If the neck is very straight you can add a bit of relief by turning the truss rod counterclockwise a quarter or a half a turn. Then wait a day or so to see if the buzzing problem diminishes.

[vulpesoutfoxed]

Thank you GDub and Kit for getting back to me, I failed to mention that the second tech did also check the straightness of the neck and found it to be good, he did however find a slight bump in the finger board but said it was something that most guitars in this climate develop and that it wasn't anything that should cause my guitar to buzz as bad as it does, but also said that leveling the fingerboard certainly wouldn't hurt. There is a little bit of relief on the neck which was just adjusted when i picked the guitar up. I will give it the weekend, and if nothing improves, maybe see about getting it fixed under warranty. Though seems like maybe that is the wrong direction if the neck is straight.

[Philby]

Just a thought - is the nut cut too low for the strings in question? To be buzzing on the lower frets, especially the first fret where neck relief has less effect, says to me the nut slots might be too low.

I would've thought a good guitar tech would check that though.

[sirmyghin]

Sounds like your techs did a terrible job. Another reason I don't trust em.

I am with Philby, have the nut checked.

[vulpesoutfoxed]

I certainly will have the nut looked at. Though isn't the nut kind of taken out of the equation when fretting a note higher up the neck? I can understand a buzzing open string being an issue with the nut, but say a note is fretted at the 5th, wouldn't the buzz have to be coming from somewhere between the 5th fret and the bridge?

Despite the frustration this guitar is causing me as of late, at least I am learning a lot more about my guitars and what can cause problems to arise.

[Craig]

I certainly will have the nut looked at. Though isn't the nut kind of taken out of the equation when fretting a note higher up the neck? I can understand a buzzing open string being an issue with the nut, but say a note is fretted at the 5th, wouldn't the buzz have to be coming from somewhere between the 5th fret and the bridge?

Despite the frustration this guitar is causing me as of late, at least I am learning a lot more about my guitars and what can cause problems to arise.

I would recommend that you take it to a G&L dealer for them to check it out. If they cannot resolve the buzz, they should be able to help you get it serviced by G&L
under the warranty. Make sure to have your purchase receipt with you when you take it in.

Hope this helps.

[vulpesoutfoxed]

Thank you Craig for weighing in on my plight. The place i took it to begin with was the local G&L Dealer in addition to the shop where I purchased the guitar. While the shop owner and most the staff are pretty decent, I am really not sure about their service guy, he certainly couldn't resolve the buzz then blamed me for it after he couldn't get the guitar set up. Maybe too he was just having a bad day, I do intend to give a call next week and talk to the shop owner. So we shall see what comes of that.

[Miles Smiles]

I've heard occasionally the buzz could come from the leftover string part between nut and fret. Could easily be checked, if you damp the string at that part. But if the buzz is gone at high string action, this shouldn't be the cause. Did you actually raise the action, or is it just an assumption, that it would disappear?

[sirmyghin]

I've heard occasionally the buzz could come from the leftover string part between nut and fret. Could easily be checked, if you damp the string at that part. But if the buzz is gone at high string action, this shouldn't be the cause. Did you actually raise the action, or is it just an assumption, that it would disappear?

They call it 'back buzz' It happens on the high G on my bass when the action is less than .016".

[beachroadbum]

Hi all,

I just wanted to bring this thread back to light and see if you were able to get the buzz fixed. I have a new F-100 09 edition in with my tech with the same exact problem. I am getting a buzz on the first four frets on the low E string. He raised the nut a bit on the low e....that didn't work...brought the nut back down...raised the saddle on the low E to 3/32 still didnt fix the buzz...so he told me he is going to face off the frets thinking that may be the issue. He said the neck is straight but the buzz is just such a pain. Why is this happening with usa G&L's especially when they use the plex machine?

[pauliewalnuts]

to check "back buzz" put a small piece of a business card between the string & nut (essentially raising the string at the nut) and see if you still get buzzing. If the buzz stops, the nut is cut too deeply.
You can replace the nut, or use some crazy glue with baking soda to fill the slot, then re file it to the correct depth if its just happening on 1 or 2 strings.
Usually buzzes from the 1st to 5th go away when loosening the truss rod a bit.
Let us know what happens!
thanks