Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The neck is straight, but you have buzz?


This is very hard to diagnose at a distance.

I think the neck is back-bowed or twisted.

Please check with a metal straight-edge and let us know what you found. Sight down the neck from the headstock to look for twist.

jingle_jangle wrote:The neck is straight, but you have buzz?

Yes, but only bass-side, and mainly upper frets 2 to 5.

jingle_jangle wrote:This is very hard to diagnose at a distance.

You;re always welcome to visit

jingle_jangle wrote:I think the neck is back-bowed or twisted.

Well, I can only apply more pressure on the bass-side, any less and the trussrod nut will be loose!

jingle_jangle wrote:Please check with a metal straight-edge and let us know what you found. Sight down the neck from the headstock to look for twist.

Put a thick metal ruler on it - it's 40 cm long, don't have anything shorter, but it's flat and straight. I see a tiny space between it and the frets which is the same at bass and trebble side and no deviation at a fret where the fret might be sticking out more than the rest. Looked down the neck in various angles of light onto it and it looks flat, no twist.

The noise is so annoying I didn't play the 360 much these last 2 weeks. Even grabbed the 340 of the hook!

Werner: Happy Birthday by the way.

When I was setting up one of my guitars, I noticed an anomalous high spot (very slight, but enough to make the string(s) rattle) on the fret board (IIRC, around the second fret on the bass side). IIRC, I loosened the truss rods and applied a slight pressure at that point while gently snugging the truss rod nuts up; as I recall, this worked to reduce the high spot.

admin wrote:Werner: Happy Birthday by the way.

Thanks, Peter - it caused sometbing of a buzz

I don't see any high spot like Gary described, so I'm not going to try that one just yet, as I wouldn't know where to apply the pressure, nor do I feel comfy trying it even if there was an high spot!

I put the bridge up at the bass side, to good effect. Problem solved for now. I'll see how far I can get it down without the buzz coming back...

Have you checked properly for high frets?
You can use something else than the stewmac tool, but the video demonstrates how to do it:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_su ... eo#details

Thanks, Geir, I'll try that. Until now I used a ruler which is way too long to really spot frets that stick out.

Well... after I popped another g-string, I changed to Gibson branded D'Addario .010 roundwound brights as I ran out of .011 TI flats. I checked the bridge, one of the legs was a bit wobbly, so I corrected that - the weird chime's now almost absent. More and most annoyingly though, I got buzz on both D, A and low e now. Didn't change anything on the bridge except adjusting the front leg on the trebble side just a little nodge so it's not wobbling. Action on bass side's still too high, although playable on the first few frets. Still I get way more buzz than with my .011 TI flats. The guitar's on the wall hanger now, and I just don't want to play it as I get so annoyed I start to feel like Townshend crossed with Hendrix!

Neck's not totally straight, making it any straighter will most probably make the buzz worse? I'm open ideas!

Could it be the strings buzzing against the saddles?
You can check it by pressing a finger on the string on top of the saddle, while playing the string. If this is the problem it may come and go as the bridge is raised or lowered.

I don't know how the guitar saddles are, but when I've cut notches in bass saddles I had to angle the file down toward the tailpiece, slightly steeper angel than strings are running. If the notch is too flat so that the string rests inward on the saddle instead of on the front edge, the vibrating part of the string may buzz against the saddle.

Well, after having done all of the above and more... we arrive to tonight!

I pick the guitar off the hook... strum it, then start to tune... low e, A, D... tuning D a metallic pop comes from the neck, about mid-way. I complete tuning D and am a bit puzzled if this is what I've been looking for... I play Daytripper, with no buzzing for the first time in months!

I tuned the rest, played a bit - picking Street Spirit (Fade Out), moving on to Everybody Hurts, no problem. I start to strum some chords, there is the metallic pop again, from the same spot somewhere in the middle of the neck. I start playing Daytripper... sure, there it is, buzz on D and A strings.

Can't remember if I mentioned this (and too lazy to read back): The guitar once dropped onto the tailpin, which almost went through the real wood floorboard, but this buzzing didn't appear until more than half a year later.

Okay, what kind of crazy stuff is going on here, though, with this metallic pop from the neck???

Truss rod slipping or digging into maple or a wrong sized nut jumping a thread or two?

You mean the nuts on the trussrods, John? I checked those, I've been playing without cover for ages after I checked the neck due to the buzz. If they jumped one should be loose, as the bass side has almost no tension on it, yet is almost dead flat!

I'll see how it develops until these D'Addario made Gibson rounds need to be replaced. Then I'll go for my TI .010 brights.

Right now it's less annoying than disappointing. For the rest it's still a dream to play!

Yes, but I also meant the nuts at the other end also. BUT, you report the neck stays flat so the thread slippage is out.

The neck even stays almost flat with the trussrods completely loose... oh well, luckely it's at a level now where it is not too loud, still...