twisting to relieve buzz?

andmer

Hey Guys,

I have a D500, I just put on a set of argie 11's and after a bit of playing I've noticed that i have this super odd almost ringing buzz on my A and D strings If i fret around 4-8 fret and rest stroke. but only around that area with those 2 strings, higher and lower seem fine.

It's an odd buzz it almost sounds like a didgeridoo or a sitar or something.

I read about twisting strings so I wanted to try that first and just needed to clarify the position of the guitar when doing it. If i have the guitar on my leg in playing position I would be twisting towards my head upward, correct?

MichaelHorowitz

sounds like the top sunk...common during the winter, especially on the East Coast. Try shimming the bridge a bit.

'm

andmer

hrm. didn't seem to help. I've gone all the way up to 4mm! ouch! I even tried swapping in a different string.

any other ideas?

crookedpinky

Hi there, I wonder if you need a fret dress/level in the specific areas and strings you mention.

Alan

Texasrockabillyrebel

In regards to the string twisting, look down the neck as though you were checking the straightness of the neck (from the bridge). From that perspective the string is turned clockwise,or to the right. Argentines are pretty famous for being kind of loose wound and buzzy and that usually fixes it. It should only take a couple of turns though.

If the strings don't buzz when they're played openly you've probably got another problem. I'm just sharing the string trick.

Travis

Josh Hegg

Sounds to me like you need a truss adjustment. Wish you were closer to me so I could take a look. But most techs should be able to do a druss. It's hard to say without seeing the guitar but you just might want a little more relief in the neck.

Cheers,
Josh

Bob Holo

Haha... OK, this is a fun one. I'd have agreed with the other fixes suggested except one thing that you said sort of gave it away for me... or at least I've seen this twice now and it is what I'd check first:

1.) It's a Sitar-like buzz
2.) It's around the 4th-8th frets
3.) Shimming up to 4mm didn't help.

My bet is that either - some part of your 1/2/3 fret is high or loose... or your zero-fret is just a tinge too low. The sitar thing comes from the string just barely kissing the fret - but not enough to really take a lot of energy out of the string. When a string hits a fret in front of your hand, mostly it has enough momentum to drive itself into the fret and buzz out. But... if it's being motivated behind your hand by sympathetic vibrations of the other strings... then the motivating force driving the string to buzz isn't coming from the string itself but from the other strings, so it can continue to vibrate and give you that sitar sound without ever buzzing itself to a stop as long as the other strings are vibrating. This could be caused by lack of humidity. Dry wood shrinks - when that happens in a fretboard - if you have a fret that was close to the hairy edge of being loose because it was put into a fret slot that was widened to get a nice easy fit... that 'nice easy fit' can become a loose fit... or a lifted fret.

Guitars should be kept at 40% humidity +20/- 10 percent... That might sound militant, but if you can keep your instruments in that range, you'll do away with so many issues.

Oh, and if that's what it is, any good tech can reseat / dress those lower frets. Your Zero fret should be a minimum of a quarter millimeter higher than the 1st fret... half a millimeter is better - any more than that and your playability in the first two frets takes a beating.

(Thank you to Mr. Andersson for introducing me to that one)

andmer

Thanks guys.

I will investigate some more this weekend, maybe take some video for your keen eyes and ears to further analyze if you so feel the urge.