canadave Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Hi all, Just by way of introduction, I'm only a guitar dabbler--keyboards are my main area of expertise. But I'm no pro in either--just an amateur. I bought a basic Epiphone guitar (AJ-100 VS) from Long&McQuade music store in Halifax, Canada, in October. I've enjoyed it many times since then. However, I haven't played it for the last couple of months. Yesterday, I picked it up and tried to play it, and it sounded like it was broken. Every string when plucked made this flat kind of buzzing sound or almost no noise at all; I couldn't even do a basic full strum and get any kind of decent noise out of it. Note that it wasn't just "out of tune"--it just wouldn't play, period. I had a look at it, and it appears to me that the neck is slightly back-bowed at the part where the neck meets the body. From that point down to the head of the guitar, all along the neck, it looks pretty straight. I tried a bit of a truss-rod adjustment, and that has helped a little. I've done three small turns over the past day; it's at the point now where I can get sound out of the strings. However, the high E string is still a mess--as I go up the fretboard, there are a couple of completely dead spots; and there are some places where I get the exact same note on adjacent frets (sometimes even three consecutive frets). The other strings aren't great either--even the low E bass string sounds as if it's making slight contact with a fret and is "buzzing". I had another look just now, and the bow maybe looks a LITTLE better, but not a whole lot. I'm not sure how to handle this. Do I continue making truss rod adjustments? I'm leery to keep twisting that thing, since I really don't know what I'm doing. Plus, I thought it was for unbowing the entire neck, not just to unbow one particular area. Is this something that Long and McQuade would handle under warranty? I may be an amateur, but I do at least know not to keep the guitar in direct sunlight or anything like that--I've stored it on a guitar stand in my bedroom away from a window--the room is not subject to swings in temperature. I can probably post a photo if need be, or even a video. Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed with this? Thanks, it'd be much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burlyblack Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Hi, If it were mine I would take it back to L&M and have them do a set up, as well as check for any hi frets and the 12th fret hump. This should not cost you anything, at least it didn't cost me for set ups & L&M. They generally have a percentage built into the price for such things..in my experience with them....good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whirligig Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 return it to L&M they have a 1 yr 100% performance warranty. If they can't fix it they'll replace it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 If you get the same note on three frets, you either have a fret which has popped up out of it's slot or your have an undesirable back bow to your neck. Has the guitar been exposed to some form of traumatic force? Dropped, fallen, whether in or out of the case? Has it been exposed to extremes of temperature/humidity? You want to adjust the neck so it is dead nuts flat or bowed up a smidge'. There is a bit of finesse and art to adjusting a neck. Take it to a luthier for set-up if you can't get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I'm also a climate sorta guy when it comes to such things. I'd take it to the store too, though. Regardless of the cause, it probably deserves a pro evaluation. I've played for nearly 50 years but have no inclination to consider myself a pro on such things. A pro might also suggest why you have the problem in the first place, assuming it's not just a particular problem with that given instrument. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strat-o-steve Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 If the neck is straight, and only "falls away" at the neck/body joint.....then you have nothing to worry about. The guitar probably has an over-set neck, but as long as you can adjust the bridge for comfortable action with wiggle room for higher and lower adjustment you are fine. Many acoustic guitars have this "fall away", and it will assure that there is no buzz on the upper frets. Worst case, what you see is a hump where the neck meets the body. In this case, if buzzing is an issue, you will have to either level and crown those frets, or pull the frets and plane the fretboard hump out, then refret. Show a pic......sounds normal to me though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadave Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 If the neck is straight, and only "falls away" at the neck/body joint.....then you have nothing to worry about. The guitar probably has an over-set neck, but as long as you can adjust the bridge for comfortable action with wiggle room for higher and lower adjustment you are fine. Many acoustic guitars have this "fall away", and it will assure that there is no buzz on the upper frets. Worst case, what you see is a hump where the neck meets the body. In this case, if buzzing is an issue, you will have to either level and crown those frets, or pull the frets and plane the fretboard hump out, then refret. Show a pic......sounds normal to me though! Thanks everyone for your assistance...greatly appreciated here! I'm just going to take it in to L&M and see what they can do for me. If I get no joy there, I'll reply back here with pics and see where we can go with it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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