Guitar problem

[Tomes of Deceit]

The top couple strings on my guitar always go out of tune (even after I changed them), and certain frets just don't sound good at all, they buzz or make a dull twang instead of ringing clearly. I read that when you're changing strings, you shouldn't take them all off at once, but unfortunately I think I did that a few times before hearing that. I suspect I warped the neck. Does this sound like the issue? And more importantly, how do I fix it? If I remember correctly, I brought it into a guitar store once and the clerk looked down the neck and said he thought it looked fine and he didn't know what the issue was...

[rippedflesh89]

to me, it sounds like you might need a truss rod adjustment.... its possible that your guitar has some bad frets, but more likely that your truss rod just needs to be loosened a little

[TheBlackFlux]

Originally Posted by Tomes of Deceit

The top couple strings on my guitar always go out of tune (even after I changed them), and certain frets just don't sound good at all, they buzz or make a dull twang instead of ringing clearly. I read that when you're changing strings, you shouldn't take them all off at once, but unfortunately I think I did that a few times before hearing that. I suspect I warped the neck. Does this sound like the issue? And more importantly, how do I fix it? If I remember correctly, I brought it into a guitar store once and the clerk looked down the neck and said he thought it looked fine and he didn't know what the issue was...

If you're having dead notes or buzzing only on certain frets you may have a high fret or two. If that's the case you'll need to get the frets leveled and re-crowned plus a setup.

You may just need a setup. How much relief do you have in the neck now?

[Tomes of Deceit]

I don't know, I'm a n00b at maintaining the guitar, I've never touched the truss rod. I've heard you can damage the guitar if you do the wrong thing so I haven't messed with it yet...I'm sure I could figure it out though.

[ChAAPY]

Changing strings doesn't usually cause your guitar neck to warp. Do you have a floyd rose? If you do, the reason for changing the strings one at a time is so you don't relieve the tension in the neck. This is fixable, it's just a major pain in the ass. Also, check your neck for cracks or any kind of noticeable damage.

A truss rod adjustment is the first thing you might need to do. After that, set your string height and then intonation. Check out these videos for some help.

Changing strings on a floyd rose (this may not apply to you): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_q2w...eature=related

this is part 1 of 4. just follow the links on youtube for the rest of it.

Truss rod adjustment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GD7zXzkrdM

Setting intonation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZVRC...eature=related

EDIT: If you're too afraid of making things worse, take it to a professional (someone who DOESN'T work at Sam Ash!). Fair warning: If you have a floyd rose and take it to a tech, he's going to overcharge you (around $70). Do not be afraid to ask him his experience with working with floyd roses (some of them get pretty annoyed when you do, but that isn't your fault). Take this as a learning experience. Pay what he's asking but ask him a million questions about what he did. This way you can have some advice to fall back on if and when it comes time for you to fix it yourself. This will help you learn how to properly take care of your instrument and it will save you from tons of headaches/$$$ in the future.

These three things are crucial to minimizing fret buzz and/or dead spots. Re-crowning is usually a last resort, but I don't know how old your guitar is or how often you play it.

Remember, electric guitars will always have some amount of buzz occurring but you want to minimize this as much as possible. Once you've set it up properly, pay attention to the way you pick the strings and your fretting hand as well because your technique plays a big part in this too. Don't depress the strings so that they go out of tune slightly or pick hard enough to where it causes your string to buzz. Tone is in your fingers.

[TheBlackFlux]

Originally Posted by Tomes of Deceit

I don't know, I'm a n00b at maintaining the guitar, I've never touched the truss rod. I've heard you can damage the guitar if you do the wrong thing so I haven't messed with it yet...I'm sure I could figure it out though.

I would recommend getting a book about guitar repair or more specifically books that solely show you how to setup your guitar. I personally read Dan Erlewine's books on repair.


And I would agree with Chaapy and take the guitar to a real guitar tech/luthier and get them to show you how to measure relief and correcting too much forward-bow and back-bow via using the truss-rod. Plus action height and intonation adjustment is very critical imo to learn as well. I still feel if you have dead notes or uncontrollable buzzing on certain frets rather than positions, you most likely have a high fret or more.

And chaapy makes the best point on the last paragraph. Your playing style will affect how much string noise there is going to be.

[Tomes of Deceit]

I guess I shouldn't have said bad frets, because it's only the couple highest (in frequency) strings that do this.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I'll try those things out.