Acoustic Guitar Buzzing (I hear in my sleep)

[Dana Griffin]

My guitar is an old Yammie FG 160-1 and I love this guitar. It sounds great, it plays great, I have no complaints about it whatsoever. But recently for the past few months I have been getting a buzzing sound from the bridge area. I quickly referred to the buzz diagnosis page but no luck. So I decided to post it on here in hopes of finding an answer to this unique problem. I had also brought it to a local luthier but it boggled his mind although he didn't seem too knowledgeable to begin with. 

The situation:

The buzzing occurs when I play an A weather it be open or fretted on the low E. It also occurs when I play the open G string. Even if I put a capo on I still get the buzz so Im thinking its not a nut problem. Heres the catch that I hope will find me a resolution: If I remove the high e string the buzzing completely stops. Again it is not when I am play the High E string but if I remove it the buzz disappears. 

What I did try thus far:

Immediately I changed the strings = Didn't solve it

Figured it was a tension problem , So I changed the saddle and raised the action= didn't solve it

I tightened the machine heads to the headstock= didn't solve it

I have rapped on the body but nothing is loose on the body like I say its only when the High e is installed that I get a buzz. 

Checked for loose or misplaced string ball and changed the strings again= didn't solve

Rapped on the neck also for a loose truss = didn't solve

If anyone has any suggestions or advice to give I would greatly appreciate it 

If you need me to take pictures and post them I can do that also

Thank You and Happy Playing to You All!

[Dana Griffin]

he put new bridge pin in and that didn't help ,and he said that in the inside everything was securely glue and that the bridge plate didn't show signs of a lot of ware at all. He did say that it sounded like the ball ends but said they seemed snug up against the bridge plate. The only thing he could think of is that seeing that it is a laminate top that maybe the plywood pieces are a little loose causing a buzz from a change in weather.

[Murray MacLeod]

You say the buzzing happens only when the high E string is installed. What happens when you dampen the high E string (with a piece of foam rubber or similar wedged between the string and the fretboard ) ?

[Mark Pollock]

Haven't seen anything abotu the saddle yet - if you haven't pulled it out yet to take a peek, now's a great time. I have found all kinds of terrible things used as shims - pieces of paper, hunks of guitar string, matches - and of course you can make sure that the bottom of the saddle is flat and that the slot itself has a flat bottom, and make sure the saddle fits somewhat snugly in the slot.

[Dana Griffin]

I have come to the conclusion that this is most likely a loose brace just a very subtle one that sounds more like string ball buzz. I will upload some pictures of where I think the buzz is coming from just to get another opinion. This is about where the buzz is coming from but from the inside brace where it seems that there is a slight gap between the perpendicular braces. This gap is quite small but since me and my guitar tech cant find any obviously loose braces this is my last resort. If I mute the strings and rap on the body with some force it does buzz around this area. Sorry ahead of time for the lighting I don't have proper equipment for this. Let me know what you think=]

Picture Links:
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/709/img0409zc.jpg
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/8196/img0412o.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/6057/img0413gw.jpg

[Tim Mace]

Put a piece of dampenig test material in the gap and see what happens.I had a loose upper brace on my classical 30 yrs. ago and filled w/ a dab of silicon( not advice) and solved the prob seemingly forever.Sounds great.
Symptom was more of a distorted tone than a buzz and it tapped when rapped.Luthier couldn't find it...and dismissed it.
Hopefully you've found your prob.

[Mark Pollock]

Just got a new Guild that has a similar problem, and it turns out that a string slot in the NUT is too low, and the strings buzz against the frets when an A is played on any string.  I know that it is about two years to late, but perhaps the buzz is simply the string hitting a fret?

[John Engström]

A humble tip to find the exact location of the noise:

1. Have a friend play the buzzing sound continuously

2. Put a length of cardboard tube to your best ear, plug the other ear

3. Search for the location of the sound using the open end of the tube

That's how noise pinpointing is done in electronics repair.

[Ron frazier]

Just a suggestion change the string to a different gage.

Ron