zigzag Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Only the 5th string on my ES-335 is buzzing. Any theories why only the 5th string would be buzzing? BTW, my new AVRII bridge will be in tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 I have no idea. The 1st string on my 339 is the only one that buzzes. Something tells me that after tomorrow you won't be worrying about it any more. Let us know how you make out with the new bridge. It's supposed to have more intonation range, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeladdie Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Slacken the string and put a small piece of paper between the string & nut. Retune to standard pitch and see if your buzzing has gone. If so, the nut is cut too low... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjohnson Posted May 7, 2010 Share Posted May 7, 2010 Cause the bridge's radius doesn't match the actual nut/fretboard radius? - could be the Low E is high at the saddle, and when set to specs, that makes the A string too low. Take a measurement at the 12th fret from the underside of the bass strings to the fret top and see if the A is actually lower then the 5/64 gibson recommends (or comparatively lower then the others anyway). You could raise 'em all with the thumbwheel to a good height based on the "lowest" string (the A?), & set the proper string underside radius/height across the bridge on the others by deepening the saddle slot on those that are too high, or just raise 'em all with the thumbwheel till the buzz goes away...period. :) Try this for 'how to...' http://books.google.com/books?id=zF24JMkjSpQC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=abr-1+adjust+saddles++Dan+Erlewine&source=bl&ots=DuDy8tFWTZ&sig=JBm867LwiAXjQ-YbKfQ_54mGYVs&hl=en&ei=fGHkS7DXFoP78AbN8LioDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted May 10, 2010 Author Share Posted May 10, 2010 Thanks wee, tried it but still buzzes. jmg, thank you and thanks for the manual; that's a keeper. My AVRII bridge was supposed to be here last week, but it didn't show. When it gets here, I'm going to take everything to my friendly neighborhood luthier and work with him to install it and re-do the set-up. If the string still buzzes, I'm sure he'll know what to do. (Probably tell me to stay away from Gibsons.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildperv Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 'cause it's the 'Bee' string! It's the nut... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clayville Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Could be the screw-retaining wire on the bridge. Carefully push a kink in it between a couple of strings with the edge of a flathead screwdriver (protect the guitar top first) OR put a drop of clear nail polish on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Update... My AVR2N bridge finally arrived and I took my 335 to a luthier that I've been working with for some time. He dropped on the new bridge (it was a perfect fit for the original ABR posts), put on new D'Addario 11s w/ wound 3rd, adjusted the intonation with a strobe tuner, cleaned everything up, and I was good to go. I'm not sure if he made an adjustment to eliminate the 5th string buzz, but it doesn't buzz now like it used to. However, it still buzzes. I am pretty sure that it is coming from the first fret and is caused by the nut groove being cut too low, like weeladdie suggested. I'll take it back this weekend and see if the groove can be built up. BTW, the intonation of three strings was slightly off by ear. So I fine tuned it, and it sounds great! Oh, and mildperv. Did you just make that up? You're killin' me!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjohnson Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 Sucks it might be the nut. I have been messing with my 336 on & off to try to kill the buzz on the D string - it certainly can get frustrating! Every time I would think I had it licked it came back. I could measure that it was just a bit lower then the rest at the 12th fret. Luckily it wasn't the nut....but then I didn't really want to have to file all the other saddles either. Numerous subtle tweaks later, it finally sunk in - the D saddle itself seemed slightly shallower then the G string saddle. I took them off and sure enough, they weren't manufactured the same height. Easy enough to switch them - just had to open up the slot on the 'new' D saddle for the wider string. Now that little bit of difference has brought it up where it should be, and there is still a good gap on the G. Whew - it makes me feel much better, so good luck with getting your's squared away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevoT Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 It may be the string 'catching' the nut, causing the buzzing. My method of stopping this is to get a pencil and stanley knife and scrape some graphite into the slot where the string lays. Hope that helps! :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Took the guitar back to the luthier and he filled in the groove on the nut with fast set glue, filed it back down, and the buzz is gone. Took about 5 minutes. He apologized that he didn't take care of it when the set-up was done and the new bridge was installed. Didn't charge me a thing. I'm a happy guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmjohnson Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 Good to hear he got it worked out - and that it wasn't a big deal to resolve! Enjoy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted May 24, 2010 Share Posted May 24, 2010 Glad to hear that the bridge worked out. I just installed an AVR-II on my 339. Worked out great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.