Lots of buzz lately.

[lpfan]

I just noticed the other day that my acoustic is starting to buzz ALOT. It stays in tune and the string tension is ok so how can I fix it? I don't know alot about tweaking guitars, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steven Lister]

Depends..., where is it buzzing?

Everywhere? Weather often tweeks your top or neck a bit. Requires raising your action to alleviate.

Frets 8 - 22? Add neck relief. Some acoustics have truss rods -- many are accessed to adjust through the sound hole.

Frets 1-7? reduce neck relief and/or nut grooves may be worn down annd needs attention.

 

Search the electrics forum (& web) for buzzing and truss rod threads. Principles of electric and acoustic are the same.

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-"

[lpfan]

Its buzzing everywhere. We had an ice storm maybe a month ago and now the weathers nice. I'm sure thats played a part. The truss rod is accessed thru the sound hole but I don't know which way I need to turn it.

[TWANG]

when the weather is dry the top bows in on acoustics.

when it's wet, it swells up.

 

so the first thing is do you store it in the case.. and do you use a humidifier in the case, or in the room.

45% is about as low a constant humidiyt as you can get by with.

 

If it's all over then you probably have a top thats bowed in a bit..

if you run a straight edge over the top of the guitar.. from the lower strap peg to the bridge.. you'll probably see that it bows in.

IF you haven't had it humidified correctly.

 

You can adjsut the truss rod, but your top will bow again when the air isn't so dry.

 

have you got a hygrometer?

You can pick them up cheap at a hardware store.

See what your humidity is first, I'd say.

usually just getting that right will swell the top back to normal.

 

TWANG

[Steven Lister]

Its buzzing everywhere. We had an ice storm maybe a month ago and now the weathers nice. I'm sure thats played a part. The truss rod is accessed thru the sound hole but I don't know which way I need to turn it.

Then leave your truss rod alone -- initially. Low action is the more likely problem (caused by the humidity change/weather and its shrinking the thin wood top). First try raising your action by elevating your bridge/saddle a few mm. If not adjustable then use a shim under the saddle.

 

If that doesn't fix it' date=' then you need to add relief to the neck (again weather likely straightened your wood neck)

Check your manual. No manual? Check the web for adjustments to a similiar make/model. If still no luck, then follow this rule-of-thumb: tighter/clockwise = more tension and thus more neck relief

 

Whatever you do GO SLOW! Do not loosen or tighten the adjustment more than 1/4 turn in a 24 hr. period.

Mark the alignment of the adjuster to a spot on the guitar with a Sharpie (so you can keep track of where it was if/when you need to go back to square one). Make your adjustment, allow the wood to "settle in" -- TEST -- Readjust if needed.

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on:-"

[lpfan]

I had is stored in a padded gig bag not a case. I also had my lp in a padded gig bag and its just fine. No issues whatsoever. I'll try to check and see if the top is bowed. Thanks for the info!