Buzz on D string

[Samuel Soo]

Hi, I have an issue with a fretted buzz on the D string, especially on the first 4 frets, it's a compound radius board, electric guitar and I have tried adding relief, leveling the frets, adjusting the truss rod, raising the nut slot height at the D string, any solutions?? action is at it's lowest, with 2mm on bass side and 1.5 mm on the treble side, with more relief than usual.

[Samuel Soo]

Oh! forgot to add, I have read through the Big Buzz list on Frets.com, but it is not any of those problems

[Bob Steinarsson]

Have you tried a new string? A string can have a bend even under tension.

[Samuel Soo]

Strings are brand new

[Bob Steinarsson]

I would still try a new string

[Jeff Highland]

What sort of guitar is it? Does it have a Fender or Gibson Style bridge?

Put the relief back to standard, I prefer about .005"

Cut the nut slot back to where it should be (so that when you fret the string between the 2nd and third frets , there is only a tiny gap between the string and the first fret about the thickness of a sheet of paper)

Now readjust the bridge saddle height, checking not only the E strings but also the D string.

I'd guess your radius at the bridge is too flat

[Samuel Soo]

It's a Teye guitar, gibson style bridge, the nut is slotted correctly, the issue is worse if I set the relief back to the standard

[Jeff Highland]

Yes, that is to be expected, set the relief properly and then raise the bridge till the buzz is gone.

Now measure 12th string height on ALL the strings.

You may need to adjust the bridge saddle radius by selectively deepening the string notches.

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Sam.

Check this out & see if it helps:  http://teye-guitars.com/bridge/

If you are the original owner and the instrument is under warranty, I'd suggest contacting the builder for resolution of your problem. Their website shows these instruments run from $2700 to $5K+.  For those kind of prices, I'd really be leaning HARD on the builder to fix the problem.

You didn't mention your skill level with guitar adjustment/repair.  If you are new to the craft, I urge you to contact an experienced local technician to look at the guitar.

One of our most difficult tasks (on this forum) is to troubleshoot issues like these without the guitar in front of us.  There could be several different 'things', or combinations thereof, causing of this problem. Pictures are helpful, but nothing beats a "hands & eyes on" evaluation.

Best of luck with resolving this issue (-:

[Mike Kolb]

Hello Sam...  I would hope, by now, the buzz has been addressed with the mfr, if not actually solved yet?  I would, however, take issue with what you said about having "read through the Big Buzz list on frets.com" and not finding a solution.  

The answer IS there... somewhere... it doesn't always become apparent at first, but Frank (through decades of repair) has done exhaustive research on buzzing, and the answer is definitely in the list.

It then becomes our job as repair folks to narrow it down on a particular instrument. It isn't always easy, but good luck.

[Jeff Highland]

One of the problems is that there is a lot of misinformation out there on how to setup Guitars.

Especially on Youtube, most of the guides are wrong in some vital aspect.

Common advice on setting neck relief includes sighting down the neck, using coins, just adding relief till it stops buzzing etc.

It's easy for the novice when following such advice to just make the guitar worse.