Fret level or just action/relief?

B25Gib

.......In my opinion, the main culprit in fret buzz is radical humidity fluctuations! My moisture reading in my home here in W. Puget Sound (Bremerton) stays between 68 and 80% saturation yearound! While this is very much higher than the recommended 55% - I have had NO playability problems in 7 years with four different GJ guitars. I don't use and humidifiers to modify moisture. Will this higher moisture content cause eventual damage to my guitars - I highly doubt it! Does it diminish the tonal quality - maybe - but again - I doubt it! I'm jamming with other players using GJ guitars made in the Netherlands (Eimers) and France (Geroimo Mateas) and notice no reduced tonal volume or tonal quality.
.......That's the way I hear it!
.......Rocky

Jeff Moore

I've only had bad experience with dry air. Really bad.
I'm in Minnesota. This summer is wet 60- 85%. I have not dehumidified and I don't have a playability problem. I don't hear a difference either but if my guitar sound changes slightly and slowly, I'm sure not gonna hear it.

Tele,
Did you look to see if the 3-4 strings are slightly higher than #2?
It isn't a changing bridge, though maybe a badly made one, but I've only seen one badly made bridge and then only a little.

You need to get a way to check your frets. Doesn't sound like you've worked on that.
You haven't described what you see looking down the neck from the head stock. This will reveal the big problems in frets (if they're big). For me getting the finer fret issues ( on a truss rod guitar) means getting the neck as level as I can with the truss while the strings are on and up to tension and then checking it with a straightedge again with the strings on.
The neck takes a different shape with the strings off, so don't measure or diagnose it if they're off.

I think you should go shopping for a straightedge or get help from someone whose does this kinda work. You don't have to pay for the labor right away, they'll probably look at it for free.
I wouldn't give up nor hope for a change in weather.
I don't think wood necessarily springs back where it was in a wet and dry cycle of movement. That can happen but doesn't have to. It can move east in the wet, and north (rather than back west) in the dry. If there's tension within a piece of wood (especially newish wood) it'll go where it wants to go and not just back and forth when wet then dry. Ever seen a warped 2x4 just bounce back straight by waiting long enough? Never happen.

The only things that climate does to change the action (if that's what's happening) is: 1. Warp the neck 2. drop the top arch under the bridge 3. Pull the whole neck up as a unit, which shows up as a dip in the top between the soundhole and the end of the neck. 4. Shrink the neck wood but the place it'll shrink the least is in the neck joint. This will show up as a hump where neck meets body.

A sure sign of dried out wood is if the frets begin to hurt where they exit the fret slots. This shows up as a feeling in your fretting hand as you slide up and down the neck and are reminded of a wood saw, each fret becoming a tooth. That's a severe case of dry guitar
Where are you, what climate?

Jeff Moore

Just an update on humidity

I went to check on some guitars I had in the basement to see how they were holding up. The humidity was 80% in the back room. One had kind of exploded. The back is coming off, the neck has pulled up as a unit: that is the entire neck and neck joint have moved in unison in sympathy to the tension of the strings, such that strings are 3/4 of an inch off the fretboard. Total chaos
Another better guitar is moving slightly in the same direction.
Now I know that excess humidity is just as bad as dryness.
I've tested by ignorance, and am not longer ignorant of either extreme. Tomorrow I'll get a dehumidifier to sit next to my humidifier in that room. The Ace hdwe $6 "Taylor" humidity gauge is reliable. I have 6 of them, but need to actually look at them and rely on the 40-60% truism. It's a true truism.

I want my experience (and mistakes) to warn others.

Ugh.

Ian Rossiter

Lack of Humidity is a constant problem where I am. I need to have Humidifiers going year-round to keep my guitars playable. These bloody cold/dry Northern Alberta winters and Hot/Dry summers wreak complete Havoc on them.
My 255 was really happy when I took it home to Newfoundland for a week this past Sept!!! Come to think of it....so was I !!!

ibradbur

Ian, if you make it back to Newfoundland any time soon, drop my a line. I just moved back and itching to jam. My guitars are much happier in Newfoundland than Toronto, what a difference...