A Fret Buzz Thats Driving Me Crazy!

[hearsedriver]

So, my new D-28 has a fret buzz on the 4th string, 2-5th fret. The guitar is properly humidified. Action is 7/64 Low E, 5/64" High E with .010-.012 of neck relief. Im usually pretty good at diagnosing and fixing fret buzzes but, this one has got me scratching my head. The frets are level. No rocking whatsoever with the fret checking tool. I have a good selection of fretting tools and , while dressing the sharp factory fret ends, I even ran my fret leveler lightly down the board followed by by radius block and polished each fret to a mirror shine. Im wondering if maybe I should put a slight amount of back-bow in the fingerboard and then doing a light leveling again? Any suggestions? Thanks

[mirwa]

Sometimes subject to the grain of the neck, we need to do our fretlevels with the neck mimicking a strung up position.

Majority of the time, easily IMO in excess of 90 percent of cases, you can set an instrument up on a bench and then string it up, slight truss rod adjustment and its good to go, but the other 10 percent have non ideal neck grain orientation and as such need to be treated differently

I can PM you a link showing said process if you wish.

Steve

[hearsedriver]

Thanks Steve. Yes, please PM that link to me. Sounds interesting.

[Ned Milburn]

Originally Posted by hearsedriver

So, my new D-28 has a fret buzz on the 4th string, 2-5th fret. The guitar is properly humidified. Action is 7/64 Low E, 5/64" High E with .010-.012 of neck relief. Im usually pretty good at diagnosing and fixing fret buzzes but, this one has got me scratching my head. The frets are level. No rocking whatsoever with the fret checking tool. I have a good selection of fretting tools and , while dressing the sharp factory fret ends, I even ran my fret leveler lightly down the board followed by by radius block and polished each fret to a mirror shine. Im wondering if maybe I should put a slight amount of back-bow in the fingerboard and then doing a light leveling again? Any suggestions? Thanks

Sometimes a string will have a kink that produces similar symptoms to a high fret. First, try a new string. Then carry on.

What is the action on the D string...?

[Carey]

Originally Posted by hearsedriver

So, my new D-28 has a fret buzz on the 4th string, 2-5th fret. The guitar is properly humidified. Action is 7/64 Low E, 5/64" High E with .010-.012 of neck relief. Im usually pretty good at diagnosing and fixing fret buzzes but, this one has got me scratching my head. The frets are level. No rocking whatsoever with the fret checking tool. I have a good selection of fretting tools and , while dressing the sharp factory fret ends, I even ran my fret leveler lightly down the board followed by by radius block and polished each fret to a mirror shine. Im wondering if maybe I should put a slight amount of back-bow in the fingerboard and then doing a light leveling again? Any suggestions? Thanks

I don't know if this would apply to your guitar, but this is often seen on classicals:

https://allstringsnylon.com/asn/d-string-buzz/

[hearsedriver]

Originally Posted by Ned Milburn

Sometimes a string will have a kink that produces similar symptoms to a high fret. First, try a new string. Then carry on.

What is the action on the D string...?

3/32” action at the D. I have already tried a different string.

[Ned Milburn]

Originally Posted by hearsedriver

3/32” action at the D. I have already tried a different string.

Did you check that the relief is the same on all strings??

Also, check your saddle peak. If it is too flat, the string can buzz there.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by hearsedriver

So, my new D-28 has a fret buzz on the 4th string, 2-5th fret.

As always , it is better to be totally explicit when describing the symptoms.

The way I read it, your new D-28 buzzes when the G string is fretted at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th fret.

It does not buzz when fretted at the 1st fret, and it does not buzz when fretted at the 6th fret and beyond.

Is my understanding correct ?

[mirwa]

The process I linked you was dealing with a warped neck, however the same process is used for a neck that twists or changes slightly under tension.

Here is a process for you,

adjust the neck so you have zero relief under tension,
strap the guitar to a flat bench,
make some wood that will just fit under the headstock tip whilst in tension, leave the wood sitting in place,
remove the strings and carry out a fret level, mark with permanent marker all frets before doing any levelling,
dont bother with crowning yet, put strings back on,
adjust relief for the thickness of a piece of paper at the 7th,

Test play the instrument, if it plays good, then go ahead and crown the frets, if its playing up, then something in the way you are doing the repairs is askew

Steve

[hearsedriver]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

As always , it is better to be totally explicit when describing the symptoms.

The way I read it, your new D-28 buzzes when the G string is fretted at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th fret.

It does not buzz when fretted at the 1st fret, and it does not buzz when fretted at the 6th fret and beyond.

Is my understanding correct ?

Yes. 4th string fret buzz when fretting the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th frets only.

[hearsedriver]

Originally Posted by Ned Milburn

Did you check that the relief is the same on all strings??

Also, check your saddle peak. If it is too flat, the string can buzz there.

Yes, the relief is the same on all strings. Even when. Put as much as .020” relief in the neck, the buzz is still there although not quite as loud. The saddle peak looks ok to me when I lay my 16” radius block on top of it.

[hearsedriver]

Originally Posted by mirwa

The process I linked you was dealing with a warped neck, however the same process is used for a neck that twists or changes slightly under tension.

Here is a process for you,

adjust the neck so you have zero relief under tension,
strap the guitar to a flat bench,
make some wood that will just fit under the headstock tip whilst in tension, leave the wood sitting in place,
remove the strings and carry out a fret level, mark with permanent marker all frets before doing any levelling,
dont bother with crowning yet, put strings back on,
adjust relief for the thickness of a piece of paper at the 7th,

Test play the instrument, if it plays good, then go ahead and crown the frets, if its playing up, then something in the way you are doing the repairs is askew

Steve

Thanks Steve! I’ll have to rig up a way to strap it to my workbench but that shouldn’t be a problem. What exactly does this procedure do?

[mirwa]

The tension on a neck is located at the nut, the grain of the wood in the neck responds to that applied tension, in conjunction with a steel bar (truss rod ) internally. So the interaction of a neck not cut quite on the quarter and a steel adjustable bar can do some interesting things to the fretboard itself.

If you strap the guitar down so it cannot move and lift the headstock slightly you are slightly replicating the tension going through the neck when strings are on.

Jigs exist that use dial indicators at two locations to show how the neck deforms under string load, when we remove the strings the neck goes back to its untensioned position, using a jack or piece of wood under the headstock can simulate the load that was applied from the strings, ideally, you would also pull the nut area down to create a headstock kick situation, but for what you are doing the single piece of wood would be more than sufficient, using two dial indicators is very important for getting a super low action on a bad neck on an electric guitar

Steve

[phavriluk]

Originally Posted by hearsedriver

So, my new D-28 has a fret buzz on the 4th string, 2-5th fret. The guitar is properly humidified. Action is 7/64 Low E, 5/64" High E with .010-.012 of neck relief. Im usually pretty good at diagnosing and fixing fret buzzes but, this one has got me scratching my head. The frets are level. No rocking whatsoever with the fret checking tool. I have a good selection of fretting tools and , while dressing the sharp factory fret ends, I even ran my fret leveler lightly down the board followed by by radius block and polished each fret to a mirror shine. Im wondering if maybe I should put a slight amount of back-bow in the fingerboard and then doing a light leveling again? Any suggestions? Thanks

Let's see now, a new instrument with buzzes? Before I suggest that OP try to diagnose and remedy this himself, I think maybe this is a situation that warrants a trip to a Martin-authorized repair station and put the problem on the counter. New instrument + original owner = warrantee service, no?

[hearsedriver]

Originally Posted by phavriluk

Let's see now, a new instrument with buzzes? Before I suggest that OP try to diagnose and remedy this himself, I think maybe this is a situation that warrants a trip to a Martin-authorized repair station and put the problem on the counter. New instrument + original owner = warrantee service, no?

I prefer to do my own work when possible. That’s why I posted this thread.