Big Time Fret Buzz

[fsmith]

Alright so I celebrated the year anniversary of the delivery my Petrucci by giving it a complete fretboard cleaning, oiling, waxing. New strings, removed 10's and replaced with 10's, the whole nine yards.

Put it all back together and, fret buzz hell...

I'm getting string buzz on the entire neck. Most noticable on the wrapped strings. I have the truss rod nut backed all the way off, no tension on it at all. Still there.

Okay, so I've looked through everything I could find in the FAQ and postings. What would my next step be? Raise the trem claw screws and then readjust the neck via the truss rod? Or should I raise the individual strings at the bridge?

Trem is level all the way around, everything looks good except for the damn buzz.

Many thanks in advance...

fred

 

[Lew]

Hi Fred,
Did you replace with same guage strings?
How high is the action?

Also I have a couple of questions for you...PM inbound sometime this evening mate.

 

[jongitarz]

Adjust the truss rod so you have the proper amount of relief, then raise the saddles.

 

[fsmith]

Hi Fred,
Did you replace with same guage strings?
How high is the action?

Also I have a couple of questions for you...PM inbound sometime this evening mate.

Yep, EB 10's for EB 10's. Action is not bad, not too low at the 12th fret.

I'll be here, I'm home sick today. Fire away.

fred

 

[Lew]

Hope your not too unwell.

I will pm ya in a few hours or so, it's nothing urgent,no problems or anything but right now I have to play world of warcraft

 

[fsmith]

Adjust the truss rod so you have the proper amount of relief, then raise the saddles.

Thanks Jon. As always, your quick responses and expertise are invaluable.

fred

 

[jongitarz]

Good luck with it Fred.

 

[fsmith]

Thanks Jon,
Back in business, although I really couldn't get a whole lot of relief in the intial setup of the truss rod. I'll let it sit like this for a day and try again. But hey, I'm playin' again.

fred

 

[tommyindelaware]

when you cleaned it ....did you remove the neck ????

 

[jongitarz]

Good question Tommy. Maybe the neck isn't fully seated in the neck pocket

 

[fsmith]

No, I didn't feel comfortable going to that extent. I just loosened all the strings, cleaned the neck, and fretboard and restrung.

I'm going to play with it some more today, it's playing fine, I just think I could get a little lower action at the 12th fret and up.

We'll see...

thanks guys!
fred

 

[tommyindelaware]

is your guitar typically hanging out in a room where the humidity is very low all the time due to the heat being on all season long..w/ no humidfier ?
this causes the neck to actually shrink.
run your finger along the edge of the fingerboard. if you feel the edge of the frets sticking out.....your neck has shrunk.
but...... where the neck joins the body....the neck cant contract as much.....leaving the frets up higher around the 12th - 14th fret & up higher..compared to the lower frets....causing some fretting out around the 14th fret or so.....making you have to raise the saddles more.
your guitar may need a good drink of humidity.
this happens to ALOT of people in winter.

 

[fsmith]

Tommy,
I thought that might be the case but the frets along the neck are as smooth as the day I got it.

fred

 

[KungFu Grip]

Good question Tommy. Maybe the neck isn't fully seated in the neck pocket

I had this exact same problem when I refinished the neck on my Steve Morse. The neck pocket was TIGHT. I literally had to use a rubber-ended C-clamp to squeeze the neck back into the pocket. It was only out by about 1/16" and it was enough to throw everything off.