awkward fretbuzz on the 15th fret of my D string...

ghostjs · #1 07-08-2009, 07:28 PM

hey, i have a Fender MIM jazz. ive been wondering whats causing my D string to have fret buzz on the 15th fret.. no other fret has this serious fretbuzz. im wondering if theres something i can do besides raise the string up... before it had a low action i didnt have this problem. anyone can help me?

BassMan7530 · #2 07-10-2009, 07:03 PM

I had a similar problem with one of my basses and one of my friends guitars before, and It was actually cleared up on both instruments by doing just a few basic adjustments. Make sure your neck is perfectly straight (or at least as close to it as possible). If it isn't, just tighten/loosen the truss rods as needed (a bowed neck seemed to be the main contribution to the fret buzz, even if it was occuring on just a single fret). After the truss rod was adjusted and the neck was straightened, the single-fret buzzing problems we had on my bass and his guitar went away instantly.

That should solve your problem. If it doesn't, try adjusting string height and try different heights untill you find something that works. Good luck!

Brian

Turnaround · #3 07-10-2009, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassMan7530

Make sure your neck is perfectly straight (or at least as close to it as possible).

Sorry, but this is not good advice. Generally the neck should NOT be perfectly stright. It needs a little relief - read the sticky at the top of the page if you don't understand.

A single string with an issue at a single fret should not be treated by adusting something that affects all strings over all of the frets.

BassMan7530 · #4 07-10-2009, 10:27 PM

Well, it was a little misleading of me to say 'perfectly straight,' but I intended it to be interpreted as 'adjust your neck to be more straight,' I suppose. That was a bit of an accident on my part; I agree with you on the necessity of relief in the neck.

Although it does sound odd to make an adjustment which affects all of the strings over all of the frets, thought, it really does work (for my friend and me, at least). An old bass of mine had the same problem, with buzzing at a single fret. A little tightening of the truss rod got rid of it, and the fret sounded perfectly normal. Same exact scenario with my friend's guitar. We just tightened the truss rods slightly and the problem was completely gone. Not even an action adjustment was necessary to fix the buzzing frets, tightening the truss rods alone solved the problem.

ghostjs · #5 07-11-2009, 08:00 AM

yeah i have a straight neck. but the 15th fret buzzes a bit now. still unnacceptable in my standards though...