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Buzzing and off notes
Hello friends! I just got some feedback that this discussion forum might help set me in the right direction.
I started and stopped playing my Ibanez acoustic guitar about 20 years ago. I’m retired now and decided to try it again. I’ve finished the first week and a half of the 30 day start up. I’m currently doubting my abilities to form chords and whether I’ve really attached my strings properly. I get quite a bit of buzzing and some off notes even though I’ve tuned each string before playing. Of course Off notes could be my ability to prerss the fret to the right pressure or location. I’ve got a new Stagg tuner that I am using and I’m pretty sure that each string is tuned to the right level since it lights up appropriately green with each pluck of string. Any helpful hints of next direction would be appreciated. Thanks so much.
Bill
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7 Replies
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Your action may be a bit too low if you are getting buzzing….go one string and one fret at a time up the fretboard to see if you still get buzzing anywhere. You may have to adjust your truss rod to lift the strings a bit higher off the fretboard. Taking it to a professional for proper setup may be the easiest way to do this if you aren’t comfortable.
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If you haven’t played the guitar for 20 years, it may be in need of a setup. Adjust the neck relief, string action etc.. I would recommend not doing this yourself if you don’t have experience in adjusting truss rods, sting action, saddle height and other setup adjustments.
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Thanks so much guys! I’ll take it to a guitar shop for adjustment. Just learning about truss rods and such. I put a strap on to go around my neck that I used a shoelace to attach to top underneath the strings. Would this pull unnecessarily on the neck and cause shifting also? I did see that another technique was to drill into the lower part of guitar piece and attaching a button for hooking strap.
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You wouldn’t want to have the guitar strap hooked around your strings, this could cause issues. The strap should be attached to both sides of the body. Yes you may have to drill a small hole to attach a button on bottom of the neck heel.
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It fairly popular for people to use the strap attached to the neck as you have described, as long as the strap string is under the guitar strings and behind the nut between the tuners so it doesn’t interfere with the sound. Some guitars come with strap buttons, some do not. I’ve tried both ways, and for me, having the strap attached to the neck seemed to get in the way of my fretting hand and I also didn’t like the angle of the strap. I’ve installed strap buttons on my guitars like Pete had posted below. Do what’s comfortable for you.
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Yeah, I did fail to mention it’s fine to have the strap go to the end of the neck but just make sure it’s not hooked onto any strings. Even if you just feed a little strap under the strings and around the back of the neck, you can attach to that.
I’ve never been fond of that setup, don’t really know why? if your guitar is neck heavy (and one of mine was!) I imagine balance is probably less troublesome with the strap on the end of the neck.
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Thanks so much. I found out from a Guitar center that I had tuned the 6th string and a few others to an octave lower than it should have been causing excessive buzz. I think I’ve got the buzz figured out for now. Thanks again.
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