Tama action gremlin

[Jonathan Conant]

A friend has a mid-70's Tama, a nice fancy dreadnought.  Several years ago the first string started buzzing at the nut end.  He took it to several people, to no avail.  Then he tried to adjust the truss rod and when he broke the corrosion with a mighty pop he thought he'd broken it.  I agreed to look at it.  He had not broken the truss rod, but loosened it completely, resulting in a big bow and a kind of Bigsby effect.  I clamped and straightened the neck, having cleaned and lubed the rod threads.  Previous repairs had shimmed the nut, so I cleaned that up and made a new bone nut.  New strings, set-up, polished frets.  Everything was then fine and my friend was pleased.

Now, a month later, all at once the first string is buzzing again.   I haven't had a chance to see it yet but expect to, pretty soon.  I have no idea what to look for.  He told me that a previous repair person claimed the neck was twisted and it was irreparable.  I saw no evidence of that.  Otherwise, though, I have no clues to work with.

Any ideas?   Thanks in advance.

[Thomas James]

Stabbing in the dark.... maybe a change in environment or your simply adjustments settling-in made things move ... "Bigsby effect" sounds like a flimsy/unstable neck?

[Alain Moisan]

Hi Jonathan,

The best advice I can give you is to adress this like you never worked on it before.  First off, don't start trying to find a solution when you don't even have the guitar in front of you, and once you do have it, try not to focus on the previous repair you did on it.  There is a tone of reasons for a string to buzz (changes in humidity being one of them).

Been there!

[LARRY KLOSE]

What Alain say.  Truss rod adjustments often take a while to "settle in" and after evaluation, another round of adjustment may be in order, especially when the starting point is as radical as where you started.  Look for popped frets and go through Frank Ford's buzz list if that's not the problem.  Everything is on the table.  I found a loose screw on my mandolin finger rest the other day and that was causing a very subtle buzz.

Larry

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Johnathan.

Lots of good advice thus far.

Once you have the guitar in front of you (because discussing this any further without it being hands on is simply speculation):

Check to see if the customer put new strings on it. A poor restringing (like wrapping the strings above the tuner hole) can cause open string buzzing issues. So essentially, check for a good break angle over the nut. Also ask if the new strings (if any) are a different gauge. I only guarantee my work until the next 'customer performed' re-stringing because many players simply don't know how to string a guitar correctly.

Also, recheck the cut of the nut. Sometimes, if the nut slot slopes toward the finger board, it can and does cause this exact symptom. I usually "fix" the issue right in front of a customer with a couple swipes with my nut file. I find it to be a pretty common cause of open string buzzing or "sitaring".

It may also be prudent to do a fret level/re-crown/polish to make sure incorrectly indexed frets are not the cause.

In an ideal world, I'd love to be able to keep the guitar in shop for 3 or 4 days after the initial adjustment as truss rod adjustments need time to settle in. But, as we all know, we don't live in that perfect world.:)

Could you let us know the outcome of this issue as it will be a good reference for future inquiries of this sort.

Best of luck :)

[Peter Poyser]

Paul has nailed the sensible approach.

If nothing else is obviously sticking out at you, that's the first line to follow.

And of course Frank has a "Tour De Force" Buzz Solution Tracker available which should cover everything.

However, there are a couple of other thoughts that came to mind, so I will share them with you, for what they are worth.

We are currently in the period where in certain geographical locations due to Temperature and Humidity Changes, the area behind the Bridge having swollen a little in the Summer, often begins to start to shrink down. The E 1st String being lowest in Action, might thus exhibit a buzz before anything else, if that is actually what is going on.

Its suddenly become quite cold indeed here, and so I wonder if it's something to bear in mind. You see, although today the two Temperature/Humidity thingies in front of my Array of Acoustic Guitar Hard Cases told me it was 70 degrees T and 53 degrees RH. And is probably just as good at your Workshop. At the Guitars Owners Residence, you might be looking at, an entirely different, kettle of fish altogether.  It's possible he's taking the Guitar about and its being subjected to considerable environmental changes.

 

The other thing I wondered, was whether the problem was due to the Player themself, beyond their stringing ability, rather more to do with their Playing?

Some Players by virtue of poor fingering technique and or clumsy strumming methodology, do create buzzes, that essentially are produced by themselves, in the same way that some so called Drummers can't be easily Recorded, with certain parts of the kit seeming far too loud because the Drummers themselves, have no proper internal sense of Sonic Balance.

Poorly laid fingers on the fretboard,  thumb not placed optimally on the neck for vertical location of finger tip to string, fingers touching other strings. Hitting the Strings at too Deep an Angle with a pick or with too much Force, to produce a Genuinely Musical Result. Lots of Player errors can be productive of buzzing, if the Players are formally untrained, or lack any proper technique.

Optimal Playing Techniques like Optimal Playing Positions (I have a theory based upon personal observation and physical empirical evidence. That 98% of Guitarists don't know how to open their Guitar Case and take it out, without the potential of damage to the Instrument, and 98% of them don't know how to hold their Instrument to Play it, without the potential of physical damage to themselves) are important.

The many aches, pains and physical difficulties they usually encounter are often entirely avoidable. So if bad or lack of technique is involved, a good diplomatic way to broach this after watching them Play, is to ask if they ever have hand cramps or pain in their wrist etc.  If they say they do (a strong likely hood) you can explain these problems can be avoided by using the right playing techniques.

These will of course, entirely stop the Player induced buzzing, as well.

Simply as a by product of Good Technique.

It's just a thought..

 

P

[Jonathan Conant]

Once again, thank you all .... some of this I knew, some I knew and had forgotten, and some I never knew, and all will be useful when I see this Tama again.  By the way, the relief was .09, not .14, but still very bad, and the shock of being straightened may have been too much for the neck to get used to all of a sudden.  I will report back.     Jonathan

[Jonathan Conant]

The holidays interrupted the Tama truss rod adjustment process but today the guitar came back.  I had set the action pretty low as the player doesn't use picks and has a gentle attack.  Sure enough, there were buzzes across the fingerboard at frets one through four or five (more buzz on high E and B than on low E or A).  Step by step I backed off the truss rod and after two less-than-quarter-turns the problem was mostly cured.  At that point I decided to raise the action at the saddle (it was .080 and .060 at the 12th fret), up to .090 and .070.  Another eighth of a turn on the truss rod and one high fret was revealed, under the high E at the 7th.  Once that was leveled and crowned the guitar played fine.  There is just a touch of relief.

Thanks to everyone for the comfort and advice.    Jonathan