Troubleshooting Guitar Buzzing
Correcting that irritating buzzing sound when playing your guitar can help improve your sound and ensure the guitar is correctly set up. According to Fret Not Guitar Repair, the most common cause of guitar buzzing is the strings and the fret coming into contact at some point on the guitar’s neck. Find the source of the problem to learn how to correct it. Different buzzing locations mean different problems, but these can be fixed by correcting the nut, truss rod or frets of the instrument.
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Open String Buzz
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If your guitar strings buzz when you play an open string, this means that the string is coming into contact with one of the lower fret markers when it vibrates. The most common cause for this is the small slots cut into the nut of your guitar. Find the nut by looking for the small strip of white material between the neck and the headstock. The small grooves for each string are likely to be cut too deep. Removing and replacing the guitar’s nut and cutting new grooves is the best course of action.
Constant Buzzing
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Constant buzzing, when coupled with visibly low strings in the center of the neck, often means that your guitar’s truss rod needs to be adjusted. The strings may be actually touching the frets in the center of the neck, which is the cause of the buzzing. The truss rod controls the bowing in the neck caused by string tension, and should be adjusted to be as straight as possible without causing string buzz. Adjust the truss rod to give the neck a little more relief. This means increasing the bowing of the neck slightly.
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One Spot Buzzing
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If the buzzing is coming from one particular location on your guitar’s neck, the problem is likely to be related to an uneven fret. Several uneven frets can be a cause of buzzing across the entire instrument. Fret a note hard, close to the fret, and pick it softly to see if the problem disappears. If it does, you may need to re-level your fret board. If the issue is only on one fret, replacing that fret will be suitable to fix the problem. Otherwise, the entire fret board may need filing level or replacing.
Hard Strum Buzz
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Guitars that only buzz when you strum the strings with a lot of force can be corrected more easily. This means that only excessive vibration from the strings causes them to come into contact with the frets. Adjusting the truss rod to increase bowing slightly can fix this, but switching to heavier gauge strings is much easier and safer. Change to thicker strings to increase the tension on the neck and increase the bowing slightly. This can be a simple solution to this problem.
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