7th fret buzz

[Rock A My Soul]

i got a brand-new epiphone wildkat not too long ago, and there's a really annoying problem: 7th-fret buzz. it's mostly on the middle four strings, with a little bit on the low e and none on the high e. it's got a bigsby knockoff and a tune-a-matic bridge. i have a suspicion that fixing this would involve adjusting the truss rod, in which case i'd take it into the shop, but i'm wondering if it's just a simple problem i can fix myself. thanks in advance.

[Ryan_77uk]

Unless you know what your doing, I'd take it into a store and have it sorted out. You can really **** up your guitar messing with the truss rod.

[corvette]

Could be a couple of things.....
1. Your truss rod could be too tight, and you need some relief dialed into the neck. A quarter turn counter clockwise usually does it, but have it checked out.....a new guitar should be set up and serviced from where you purchased it.
2. I've seen this on Import guitars....you could have a high fret that either needs spot levelling, or just tapped down.....sometimes you find a few lifted frets, and they need to be tended to. Again, the place you purchased it from should help you out.
corvette

[Rock A My Soul]

well, i got it at guitar center. it's the first thing i ever bought from them aside from strings or cables, and i've heard not-so-good things. how are they service-wise?

[airfall]

they've been helpful in my experience.

[skyneverclaimed]

I had a similar problem with one of my gutiars.. I replaced the strigns and it was fine

[Rock A My Soul]

well, i thought it might be the acoustic strings i put on all my electrics, so yesterday i put d'addario electric strings on it (.011s, if it matters, i like really heavy strings) and it's still pretty bad, if not worse. i think it came set up for .011s or .012s because i read other reviews saying that theirs came like that so i thought it would be ok but perhaps it was set up different. so i guess i'll just take it there and see what they can do. thanks for the help though.

[corvette]

Originally posted by Rock A My Soul
well, i got it at guitar center. it's the first thing i ever bought from them aside from strings or cables, and i've heard not-so-good things. how are they service-wise?

Don't know.....never been in a Guitar Center before. I don't do big box stores....
corvette

[JDWalker]

I had a similar problem on my guitar; the high E would buzz on the 3rd fret. What it might be is that your bridge is too low, causing the strings to lightly touch the eigth, or possibly ninth fret when holding down the 7th fret, and need to raise the action a little bit. You do this by loosening the two bridge posts (the things screwed into the guitar holding the bridge in place). You should be able to loosen it with either a flathead screwdriver or an allen wrench. Make sure you make the bridge posts the same height, no matter how high or low you make the action. If one side is high, and the other too low, it can cause problems. I suggest using a fine-measurement ruler to measure the exact height of it. Loosen it a little bit, and then play it. If it still buzzes loosen it more and play it (you can adjust the height of the bridge with the strings on, though with a tremolo it the strings will go out of tune). Do this untill it functions properly, and if it doesn't let me know, I'll try and see if I can figure out what the problem is. Feel free to email me (justindwalker@hotmail.com) with any questions.

[Johnny T]

Well speaking from experience in CA, GC is great as long as you know what you want, and go get it. As far as help with set-up, I have never been offered the "idea" on where to go. (Probably why I learned myself how to repair, set-up etc., and now build electrics. Maybe I should thank them!)

In my opinion, your guitar needs a thorough set-up. A set-up means not only putting the guitar together but also setting it up to YOU and how you play. This includes strings. I still tech sometimes one of my players has four stage guitars and 3 set-ups.

Another thing. If you take it to a good luthier he might discover that you 'popped' a fret, or the the frets need dressing. In which case you might consider taking it back and getting another guitar.

I agree with corvette about the truss rod. Again luthier time. Here's an idea. See if you have a straight edge piece of steel like a yard stick or better a true straight edge, rest it on the neck and see if there are gaps in the neck and second gaps between the fret heights. This might give you at least an idea of whats going on.

JT

[TheWizard]

i got a brand-new epiphone wildkat not too long ago, and there's a really annoying problem: 7th-fret buzz. it's mostly on the middle four strings, with a little bit on the low e and none on the high e. it's got a bigsby knockoff and a tune-a-matic bridge. i have a suspicion that fixing this would involve adjusting the truss rod, in which case i'd take it into the shop, but i'm wondering if it's just a simple problem i can fix myself. thanks in advance.
Well, whenever I get a new guitar, the first thing i drop money on is a Professional setup. They are not expensive and will make your guitar play A LOT better plus remove annoying **** like fret buzz and stuf...