Help Me with What to Do About Buzzing

[zplay]

I live in the Northeast and now that heating season is on and even with the humidifier keeping the relative humidity in the 40s, all of my main acoustics have fret buzzes on the higher strings. The neck relief on all are minimally positive without any back-bowing. The actions are uniformly low - ~ 6/64ths on 6th and 4-5/64ths on first. Since it is happening to some degree with all of them, I'm assuming that the cause wouldn't be high frets. So, I understand that the options generally include higher saddles or increased neck relief.
So my questions are ....
- Is that a proper assumption?
- If so, what fix would you go with?
Thanks.

Paul

[TBman]

You could adjust the relief a bit. That's what I have to do with one of my guitars. Some people have winter and summer saddles and go that route, which may be easier. I'm on the fence on as to which one to do.

[zplay]

Thanks TB.
Yeah, it seems to me that getting different saddles made for winter playing would be mean more time/expense than just adjusting reliefs. One of my guitars - older one - has a pretty tricky truss rod to adjust that makes me slightly hesitant.

[Earl49]

Winter and summer saddles were quite common in Alaska where I used to live. Even with good humidity care in the house or in the cases, there is often some unavoidable change. Switch saddles out as the seasons change, or be prepared to chase the set-up constantly. An alternate is to have a shim that raises your saddle a bit in the summer when the top swells. Some argue that shims adversely affect tone, but that has not been my experience if you use a hard material (not cardboard). Which reminds me - I put two shims under a saddle that needed to be raised the other day, and that was too far. I need to go remove one and test play that guitar again. If that solves the issue, I will fit a whole new saddle once the part arrives.

Minor changes in neck relief are no big deal, if you are careful. Never force anything! Search for tips if you don't already know how to adjust a truss rod. I adjust mine one "flat" at a time - one sixth of a hex key - noting how much change has been made from where I started. Most people use a quarter-turn as their increment.

[Paddy1951]

Luthier Bryan Kimsey wrote an excellent article that makes the case for minimal neck relief. I prefer having a winter saddle. You may only need a couple of millimeters to eliminate buzz issues and and still have a good action.

[jonfields45]

When I used to own wood guitars I would set the truss rods in the summer (Gibson style truss rod necks, single metal rod in curved wood channel, will straighten out and even back bow in high humidity) and make my saddles in the winter. Not ideal but never a back bowed twisted neck or winter fret buzz.

[zplay]

Thanks everyone for the replies, though i am still confused.
Am I understanding right that the neck straightens or back bows more in the summer whereas in the winter there is greater natural relief?
i thought it was the opposite. It looks to me as if the necks are straighter now and that's why there is buzzing??

[zplay]

Also where does one fine shims thin enough to make changes in 32nds of inches?

[Paddy1951]

Originally Posted by zplay

Thanks everyone for the replies, though i am still confused.

Am I understanding right that the neck straightens or back bows more in the summer whereas in the winter there is greater natural relief?

i thought it was the opposite. It looks to me as if the necks are straighter now and that's why there is buzzing??

I am not an expert so this is just an opinion.
It seems to me that the TOP, (and therefore the bridge) moving up or down is more the cause of buzzing or not during seasonal changes. The purpose of the truss rod is to position the neck in one place and keep it there.

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by zplay

Thanks everyone for the replies, though i am still confused.
Am I understanding right that the neck straightens or back bows more in the summer whereas in the winter there is greater natural relief?
i thought it was the opposite. It looks to me as if the necks are straighter now and that's why there is buzzing??

If it is a metal-on-metal truss rod, like a modern Martin, it is humidity immune. A metal in curved wood channel (Gibson, Taylor, Fender electrics) will do the equivalent of slightly tightening the truss rod bolt as the wood swells with higher humidity. Most likely you need to shim your guitar saddles or make new saddles as the top radius of your guitars flattens as the humidity falls in the winter.

In some ways these two problems compensate for each other, more neck relief and less top radius in low humidity winter, and less neck relief and more top radius in high humidity summer.

If you make your saddles in the winter, less top radius, then no buzzing all year long but higher then optimal action in the summer.

If you set your truss rod in the summer, more relief than ideal in the winter, but never a back bow or twist in the summer.

[phavriluk]

Shims are available in hobby stores which stock ABS sheet plastic, which is available in thicknesses starting at or near ten thousandths. If whatever size is used, if an intermediate size is wanted, give the saddle a few licks with the sanding block so that the shim can bring the height up to what is wanted.

[zplay]

OK I think I get it. I will shim the saddles.
Much thanks. What a great forum!

[BT55]

Originally Posted by TBman

You could adjust the relief a bit. That's what I have to do with one of my guitars. Some people have winter and summer saddles and go that route, which may be easier. I'm on the fence on as to which one to do.

I’m also in the NE and humidifiers are the norm in my man cave. I have five wood acoustics. Only one has had a problem and a minor adjustment to the truss rod corrected the problem.

[zplay]

I'm happy for now with the shimming of one of my guitar's saddle slot with very narrow strips of folded tin foil. I'd guess the saddle height came up by about 1/32". The buzzes on all frets but a couple up the neck are gone. The material could easily be removed in summer if necessary.