Classical Guitar - Buzzing at Bridge
 

I bought a Cordoba C5 Cadete (floor model) classical guitar for my 9 yr old son a month ago. Amazing guitar, nice finish, sounds like a cathedral despite the 3/4 size. Just recently I noticed a buzz coming from the bridge (wasnt there before). I’m usually handy with guitar setup, but a bit lost on this one. Here are the symptoms:
- Buzzing coming from bridge. Not the neck or the fretboard or the nut.
- All strings are buzzing, open or fretted, across the whole neck.
- Each string buzzes individually even the rest are muted.
- Action is normal, even on the high side.
- String ends are not touching the soundboard. They are overlapping each other tight to the bridge.
- Can’t quite slide a paper btw the bridge and soundboard. There is a vry sbtle crack on one side of bridge, almost looks like a finish crack.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A wound string lightly touching the bridge just before going over the saddle? Are the underneath loops, in front of the tieblock, firmly contacting the string portion ramping towards the saddle?

This is an obvious one but I've seen it enough times to bring it up, did you trim the ends of the strings at the tie block? If they are barely touching the top you can get a mystery buzz.

None of the string ends are touching the top of the guitar. They are overlapping over each other tight to the bridge tie block. I'll change out the strings regardless to see if fixes the issue. I got a feeling that it won't.

Hardware can buzz. Loose brace can buzz.

As Derek said, many things can cause buzz, start with looking internally and externally for loose stuff and move from there.

Steve

OK, the problem is fixed. Here’s what I did/found, in case it benefits someone with a similar issue:
- I removed the strings, starting with the wound ones. The buzzing continued with every string, including the last nylon E string. This ruled out the strings being the problem. Not promising so far.
- Looking inside the guitar I discovered that the bridge was attached to the body with 2 small bolts with a washer and nut. These must be loose I thought. But thankfully they were tight. I didnt how I could have tightened them if they were loose.
- Then I notice a yellow glob against a brace in the photo I took of the interior. Excess glue attached to bracing and touching the soundboard. I cleaned it with my fingernail. Problem solved. This mist have been vibrating against the soundboard. Weird, but plausible I guess. New strings on, no more buzzing :)

http://www.mirwa.com.au/images/thumbs%20up.jpg

Steve