Dead Fret?

[ShadowImage]

The strings on my 5er (EADGC) have moderate fret buzz which gets worse the further up the neck you play. While fretting up the neck, the 16th fret is dead (No sustain), particularly on the D string (middle) but also moderately on the E and A strings. The 17th fret however, sounds fine. Would this mean that the 17th fret is too high and causing the buzz and muting the strings when playing the 16th fret?

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Usually as you go up the neck and are experiencing rattle / buzz, the first fret that is clear with no buzz is the high fret.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Your diagnosis is correct. It's most likely a high 17th fret.

 

[tzohn]

I had the same issue but at the 13th fret on D string and slightly on A, so I thought fret 14 is high. I was just about to do a fret leveling job but I decided to make a fresh setup with accurate measurements and found out
that I had a little extra neck relief. I know it doesn't make sense but by "flattening" the neck, buzzing and dead notes disappeared and everything returned back to normal.