Frustrated beyond belief

[BoardMonster]

Ok, here's my story(rant), I purchased an axis sometime in 2005/2006 based on all the wonderful reviews I'd read on the instrument over at harmony-central. (Of course living in Jamaica. I had to go to Florida to pick one up because music stores/techs are in very short supply down here).
Got it home and loved it, it was joy for the first two weeks, and then one day kaput.....the sound goes completely,the guitar stops sending a signal to anything, carried it to the one pseudotech in Ja and he diagnosed the problem as some faulty wiring, and fixed it back up for me lovely. So there I am enjoying my axe again, and then one day I notice that my G string has a weird buzz/warble to it (a problem that not even constant contact with ernie ball customer care has been able to diagnose or solve through email correspondence), of course not having the deep deep pockets to ship it to them for repair/setup, I've chosen to live with it...mind you I've had this guitar since 2005/2006. Then a few months ago the high starts to buzz when played open, which im guessing is a possible nut issue. Now today I notice that my tenth fret on the B string has a odd buzz to it almost like when a note is poorly fretted.

So now I'm at my wits end, can anyone suggest a fix for this? I've just about had it with this plagued guitar and i'm considering just selling it and buying something else.

P.S. the reason I haven't carried it to the tech again is that he's rather rubbish at actual guitar setup, just handy with electronics/wiring.

 

[azazael]

new strings?

Possible its just need a couple minor adjustments here and there.
The wood will be changing and your climate will affect it.
You should get guitar serviced every 6 months at least.
I hardly think its a problem to send to EBMM, its just a setup it needs.

 

[Grand Wazoo]

My dear friend, setting up a guitar is not rocket science, you would need to learn a few basics such as truss rod adjustment and saddle's intonation and heights, I guarantee you that a guitar your age is very young to be suffering from worn nut slots, worn frets or even frets that might have moved out of their slots, definately not in a guitar that young. Take some time to look through this link, learn those basics and then follow the guidelines given in the ebmm website on how to set the correct string height, intonation etc etc. You will do yourself proud in the end. By all means you should not panic at this moment. You are probably frustrated that your cherished valuble insrtument is a little "under the weather" Your regional temperature might have played a big part but I am sure if you follow these guidelines you will achieve a decent result

So start with understanding the basics here: Setting Up Your Electric Guitar

and then move on to the Ernie Ball F.A.Q. tips on how to maintain your guitar including trussrod set up, pickup heights and strings heights at the following link:
Ernie Ball - F.A.Q.

Good luck and don't despair the good people of this forum are always at hand to help

 

[Beth]

Hi Board Monster,

You can try calling up our representative who deals with Jamaica and perhaps he can direct you to a good luthier who can get the parts you need if you need to repair it. He is located in Miami and might already be at the NAMM show in Anaheim, but will be back next week. Ask for Jeff Sanchez at:

Consolidated Music
tel: 1-305-437-9798
[email protected]

All the best,
Beth

 

[BoardMonster]

Thanks for the words of advice
and thanks a lot for the info beth, I intend to give him a call soon.

 

[TimSz]

I love Beth. She's my favorite customer service rep for any company anywhere in the world.

 

[Toetruck]

That happened to my LTD Viper 400. If there was a Sam Ash near you, I would go there. I went there and I told them to give me a full checkup for $40. Some frets were buzzing and were hard to play. The dude there said it had something to do with the neck, like getting pulled back a tiny bit which threw off the fretting. Im sorry if this isnt the problem or if someone explained it, but doing this worked for me.

 

[Astrofreq]

I love Beth. She's my favorite customer service rep for any company anywhere in the world.

Ahh, the one and only Beth. Music Man without Beth is like a rose without it's scent. Oh, and how the days grow long without posts from our favorite lady of SLO. Oh, many are the diaries I have filled with your name....

Translation: (she's pretty cool).

 

[Big Poppa]

the recent stuff sounds like very minor truss rod adjustment...remember its fairly humid where you live and that wood breathes

 

[TNT]

BMonster,

I wished I lived near you, I have you up and running in (literally) a matter of minutes. Honestly, it's just due for a scheduled maintenance check and set-up - that's it.

Try and search for a genuine tech or a very good guitar player (typically they do their own work).

 

[BoardMonster]

Thanks for all the input guys!
Frustrated no more

 

[Grand Wazoo]

Glad to hear it, have you managed to fix it yourself or have you find someone capable to help you in the right direction?

 

[azazael]

the recent stuff sounds like very minor truss rod adjustment...remember its fairly humid where you live and that wood breathes

woo go me hehe

 

[luv]

it sounds like maybe you have worked through some of the problems....or at least the frustration level has dropped. I live in Colorado, it is dry here and it effects my guitars as well. I have learned through some trial and error to maintain my guitars myself. Once you know what you are dealing with it is very easy. Just remember that each adjustment will require you to adjust something else......be it retuning..saddle height..intonation...or truss adjustment. Sometimes those neck adjustments take a little while to set in....so you may come back a day later and things have changed a bit. Just keep tweaking....you'll get there. I wouldn't do any fret work myself (not qualified yet), but everything else you can do with absolutely no negative long term effects on the guitar (if you goof). Unless you strip the truss! Don't do that!

I recently purchased an Axis Sport that had been displayed (probably on a bar wall) for nine years.....never played.....never cleaned....never maintained. I took the whole thing apart to clean it...including removing all the saddles from the bridge. I didn't note which saddle came from which string (on purpose). I just started from scratch and pieced it back together and adjusted everything for each string. In two hours I had the whole thing apart, thoroughly cleaned, back together, and playable. Over the next week I was tweaking it a little every day.

Like several have noted here....even if you have it done by a "pro", you will still need to have adjustments made periodically.....you might as well learn to do it yourself. There are some great reference tools out there....books/internet.

You can do it...good luck.

 

[BoardMonster]

Nah, haven't fixed anything yet, but I may just have found a local guitar tech who seems to be pretty good, I can have him take a look at the more serious problems that I haven't been able to solve by myself (I can do a basic setup on my guitar truss rod/saddles/intonation, but not much beyond that), and if that tech falls through I can always contact the dealer that Beth mentioned.