Actually fret buzz, but in reality a lot more

[LeightonBankes]

Originally Posted by bugsy

......I might add that the neck cannot be loosened any more.....

Originally Posted by Shuksan

You are correct. A standard one-way truss rod works against the string tension. Tightening it pulls the neck back and reduces upward bow of the neck. Tightened far enough, it can introduce a back bow. Tightening the truss rod would make your problem worse if the problem in frets 5 to 13 is caused by the neck being bowed back.

got's to read the fine print, he has the truss rod backed completely off, 0% chance it is not bowed with a ton of relief

[Frank Ford]

Originally Posted by bugsy

Hello people!
. . . but somewhere along the line, I learned that a TUSQ saddle and nut help accentuate whatever properties the guitar has. . .

Item one -

Please do not believe all you read on the Internet. There is absolutely no agreement on the "benefit" of those materials, or much of anything else regarding instrument modification and tone. The entire conversation is muddied by those with products to sell and those who have bought products and want to justify their own decisions.

This bit you CAN believe: The most important factor in tone is the player. Play, practice, work on technique and skip any attempts to improve the instrument.

Item two -

Have a competent experienced luthier set up your guitar, unless you really want to sacrifice your playing time to a steep learning curve of DIY guitar mechanics.

After a half century of doing and talking about this stuff six days a week I think I can say I speak with the voice of one who has "been there, done that."

[Shuksan]

Originally Posted by LeightonBankes

got's to read the fine print, he has the truss rod backed completely off, 0% chance it is not bowed with a ton of relief

got's to read the fine print: I said that "Tightening the truss rod would make your problem worse if the problem in frets 5 to 13 is caused by the neck being bowed back."

At this point, we do not know what the neck profile of the OP's guitar in fact looks like. He has not said what it is. All he said was he has string buzz from fret 5 to 13. There is more than one way that could happen. If it's because the neck is back bowed, your advice to tighten the truss rod would be incorrect. If the buzzing is caused by the new saddle being too low (a good suggestion on your part), your advice would still be incorrect. Tightening the truss rod does not "bring the 5th-13th fret up" as you put it. It pulls the headstock back and flattens the fretboard.

[LeightonBankes]

Originally Posted by Shuksan

At this point, we do not know what the neck profile of the OP's guitar in fact looks like. He has not said what it is. All he said was he has string buzz from fret 5 to 13. There is more than one way that could happen. If it's because the neck is back bowed, your advice to tighten the truss rod would be incorrect. If the buzzing is caused by the new saddle being too low (a good suggestion on your part), your advice would still be incorrect. Tightening the truss rod does not "bring the 5th-13th fret up" as you put it. It pulls the headstock back and flattens the fretboard.

ok. The trussrod is not attached directly to the headstock. It doesn't "pull the headstock back" although that may be part of the net effect. It attempts to bend the neck. He said more than "he has string buzz from fret 5-13" he also said the trussrod couldn't get any looser and he said it was fine until he changed the saddle and nut
I've been this guy. He shaved his saddle too low and then attempted to compensate for it by loosening the trussrod. We all tried it that way the first time. Then we learned that is not how you do it.
When someone talks about a guitars action/playability, he is referring to the strings from the nut to the saddle and the fretboard. Looking at it that way, the functional parts of playing the guitar, the truss rod exerts force on the neck pushing the center up

[bugsy]

Firstly, thanks.
Yes! The slots were already cut in the nut. And I was using medium gauge strings when they started buzzing.
I have now put in D'Addario Light gauge strings.

[bugsy]

And, the neck was dead straight without any tension on the truss rod.

[Shuksan]

Originally Posted by bugsy

Firstly, thanks.
Yes! The slots were already cut in the nut. And I was using medium gauge strings when they started buzzing.
I have now put in D'Addario Light gauge strings.

The reason I asked about the nut slots is that tuning problems can be caused by the strings sticking in the slots instead of sliding smoothly when using the tuners or when bending strings. If the slots were too narrow for medium strings, then they could stick. Did the tuning stability improve after putting on the light strings?

After you got the new TUSQ saddle, did you compare its height to that of your original saddle? If the guitar was buzz-free with the old saddle, then you would want the new saddle to be the same height, not shorter.