G string problems

Johan

Hi
My new guitar has just arrived and I have a ploblem. The g string is buzzing. I tought that the string would have been damaged during transport so i changed it. But the buzzing are there still.
Any of you had a problem like this. Any thoughts? Is there something i can do?

Johan

djadam

The key is to figure out where the buzzing is coming from... is it buzzing on a fret? Which fret?

Also, what kind of guitar did you get? Often gypsy guitars ship with action which is very low relative to the traditional gypsy setup. So raising the bridge a bit with shims can often cure a buzz.

Or maybe the frets need to be balanced in a good setup.

Bob Holo

New strings tend to buzz more - strange but true. Play it for a couple of days and see if the buzz gets better. If not, here's a good simple procedure for checking fret levels as Djadam suggests.

Lay the guitar down on a flat surface and get a small card. Business cards work fairly well though you may have to cut them to size as you move up the neck.

Put the card on edge so that it spans 3 frets. Use a light touch so you don't dent the card's edge. Start at the first three frets (near the headstock) and see if the card "rocks" on the middle of the three frets. Do this for the bass side, middle & treble side of the fingerboard on those frets and then move up to the next fret (so, the first time, the 2nd fret is the center, next time the 3rd fret is the center...) and move toward the neck in this way. If you find one or more frets that "rock" you may need a fret level.

If that doesn't give you any clear answers, you can repeat the process with a longer card or ruler - maybe 10 to 15 cm long to see if there are any areas on the fretboard that are high (sometimes its not just one fret - it's a bow in the neck) Or - you could simply play the string at each fret. Start softly and work from the first fret up to the 12th fret. Repeat this increasing your picking force until the string starts to buzz. Notice whether the buzz is on all frets or only on some frets. If the buzz is on all frets for that string but all other strings are fine, the action is probably too low for that string. If the buzz starts at a certain fret - then look at the fret directly in front of it - and also look at the fret that is half way between it and the bridge. Typically if the fret buzz is up the neck it will be where the neck meets the body. Look down the edges of the surface of the fretboard as you would look down a gun-sight and see if the neck is straight or just a tiny bit concave. If the neck is convex or if the fingerboard bulges a little near the body (12th fret or 14 fret depending on guitar model) that could cause buzz.

Depending on what you learn from doing this - you might choose to get a fret level or raise the action or adjust the truss rod or re-shape the bridge to have more arch in the center. You can raise the action yourself using pieces of hardwood veneer under the bridge's feet - and this will temporarily fix most small issues till you have time to get the setup work done - but don't try leveling the frets or adjusting the truss rod unless you're confident that you know what you're doing - and don't have the bridge reshaped or otherwise modified by anyone who doesn't have experience working with Gypsy Jazz guitars.

-Bob

djadam

Bob, as always your post was incredibly helpful - and detailed! I'll definitely find use for your card-technique for checking fret levels.

Once again, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

a

if you're getting a buzz from the g string, you might want to remove it.