slight fret buzz question

[mikeller]

My Axis has a buzz on several strings, around the 3 to the 5th frets. In addition, the action seems a bit high in the upper frets.

Is that an indication of too much or too little relief?

Thanks

 

[Dizzy]

My Axis has a buzz on several strings, around the 3 to the 5th frets. In addition, the action seems a bit high in the upper frets.

Is that an indication of too much or too little relief?

Thanks

Buzz @ 3-5 indicates too little, however high action @ upper frets indicates too much relief.

How high is "seems a bit high" ?

To check the existing state of the neck
(Copied from a previous post of mine ):

Checking Neck Bow

Correct truss rod adjustment is determined by the amount of bow or relief that is in the neck. To check neck bow, hold your guitar in playing position and check the low E and high E strings using the following method. With your fretting hand, hold down the string at the first fret. Now with your picking hand thumb, fret the same string at the area where the neck joins the body (around 16th fret). While holding both sections of the string in place, stretch your index finger of your picking hand as far as possible into the middle area of the neck (frets 7-9) and tap the string down to the frets. The amount of distance that the string is travelling to reach the frets is the amount of bow that is in the neck (you may also use feeler gauges to measure this distance, but it’s not necessary). It may desirable to have a slight amount of bow, but not too much. About .3 mm - .5 mm (.010” - .020”) is usually plenty of bow. Having too much bow will cause excessive buzzing in the center area of the neck and will cause the strings to be farther away from the frets in that area making it harder to play. Having too little bow or backbow to the neck will cause excessive buzzing on open notes and fretted notes near the nut area, and will bring the action down too low across the entire fretboard.

Once you have determined the amount of bow that is in the neck, then adjust the truss rod accordingly . Loosen the truss rod (counter-clockwise) if your neck is backbowed. Tighten the truss rod (clockwise) if your neck is underbowed (too much bow). Note: Loosen no more than 1/4 turn, then tune and recheck neck bow until your neck is properly adjusted.


I've copied this bit directly from EBMM FAQ.

Q: What is the best way to adjust the action on my Music Man guitar?

A: The best and easiest way to adjust your action is to use the truss rod. To lower your action, turn the wheel clockwise. To raise your action, particularly if you have fret buzz, turn the wheel counter clockwise. It is always a good idea to make just one or two turns at a time, then play it and see if it needs more adjustment. It normally doesn't take many turns of the wheel to notice a difference.

A "turn" as defined here is inserting an adjustment tool and moving a spoke of the wheel from one side of the neck to the other side.

Counter clockwise depend on what end you're looking, but in this case applies when looking from the bridge.

i.e. to gain some relief, turn the wheel from bottom to top in the direction EBGDAE.

 

[Lou]

Usually if you have some buzzing in the lower frets, you need to add relief. That will cause the action to raise a bit.

I would follow the above procedure, and get the neck relief correct first and then adjust the action at the bridge.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Lou's got the right idea...

 

[beej]

I prefer my buzz on the weekend

 

[mikeller]

Thanks for the replies and info!!! Will check it out tonight

 

[candid_x]

I prefer my buzz on the weekend

That makes Monday a buzz kill?

I can never hear/read these adjustment tips too many times. Just realized why I've been struggling with a high E string buzz on the second fret, and why the 12th and higher fret action seemed too high. Gave it a tad more relief and lowered the saddles a bit, and voila. Now, that's a buzz kill and an action thriller.

I think there's tendency over time (at least for me) to tweak less and less relief from the neck, always going for just a little lower action around the middle, but then the high and low fret action suffers.

Thanks for these reminders.