Dr500Me

[poopcicle]

Hello all I had an Aj500re that I ended up returning due to heavy buzz on the low e string when ever I played a bar chord on that string, Unfortunately GC was back ordered so I opted to go for a Dr500me of which they could readily get and use the refunded difference towards a new amp! well they had to order the guitar and here I am a week later and I picked it up Friday night. I visually inspected it in the store but it was so loud and busy I didn't really have the opportunity to tune and play, so fast forward to this morning and man all the normal chords sound beautiful but I find again that any bar chord on the low e string has a horrible buzz that comes through when plugged in as well as acoustic. Now I obviously have not had this set up professionally as of yet, but in looking around the net I am finding lots of folks with this same low e buzzing on Epi Masterbilts. So long story long........ I am looking for advice here, Has anyone encountered this ? is this fixable if I take it to a real shop? is it really this hit or miss with the Masterbilts and if so do I need to return this one also till I get a "good"one? thanks any and all opinions and experience would be greatly appreciated! Gc is gonna love me come Monday or Tuesday of this week! not only does the guitar have this possible issue but the amp rattles like a nuke has gone off when chords sustain, so that's being exchanged also... oh man greqat start to this new year! lol

[RIX]

I had a similar problem with my EJ-160 right out of the box. I checked for high frets, but didn't find any, then I checked the relief and found I had to adjust the truss bar a bit. Problem fixed.

You might also check with a local shop and see if they will assess the guitar for free. Maybe at that time they can determine if it has a high fret or just needs a setup. Either way if nothing else is wrong with the guitar I would have them set it up and save yourself the trouble of having to deal with GC again. BTW even the top of the line guitars may need to be setup.

 

Hope that helps.

[poopcicle]

I had a similar problem with my EJ-160 right out of the box. I checked for high frets, but didn't find any, then I checked the relief and found I had to adjust the truss bar a bit. Problem fixed.

You might also check with a local shop and see if they will assess the guitar for free. Maybe at that time they can determine if it has a high fret or just needs a setup. Either way if nothing else is wrong with the guitar I would have them set it up and save yourself the trouble of having to deal with GC again. BTW even the top of the line guitars may need to be setup.

 

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply, I usually have my guitars set up but not sure if I can get a "free" evaluation so I figured I would ask here before I dropped coin on a guitar I may have to return. I love how it sounds minus the buzz so I will see this through! thanks again and Happy New Year

[RIX]

You can check the relief yourself by holding down the 6th string at the first fret and at the same time hold it down at the 12th fret. Then visibility check the clearance at the 6th or 7th fret. You should have a bit of a gap; I usually shoot for .012" or .305mm to .020" or .508mm. If you don't have any gap then that could be the cause of your buzzing and the truss bar needs to be loosen. You can also check for a high fret for the 6th string with a credit card. Starting with the long edge of the credit card place it next to the 6th string over the 1st, 2nd and 3rd frets and see if the fret are level or if it rocks. If it rocks then that would indicate that the 2nd fret is high. You repeat this for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th frets and continue up the fret board until you reach the end. At about 10th fret you'll have to turn the card on it's side as the frets become closer.

 

The action. With a Capo at the 1st fret and measure at 12th fret from the top of the fret wire to the bottom of the 6th string. Repeat this for the 1st string. I like an action of 5/64" for the 6th string and 3/64" for the 1st string; I think that's 2.14mm and 1.5mm. Action though is dependent on playing style, guitar, and strings. You might get away with a little lower action if you’re not too aggressive of a guitarist or you might need it a bit higher if you are. If it’s too high you’ll probably have intonation problems.

 

You might also check YouTube, but I wouldn't make any adjustments if your not experienced doing them, but at least you'll know whats is wrong with the guitar.

[poopcicle]

Well brought it first thing this morning to a very good and also Gibson/Epiphone authorized shop...... Made a neck adjustment, still had problem, experimented with shimming the saddle, Buzz still there even with an action superman would be challenged by:(. The shop did a very complete assessment and ended up advising me I should return the guitar, so bummer times. I guess I will do an exchange and see if a new one will be free of defect, because I am looking to keep the nanomag/nanoflex combo I guess my next option will be to move to the ej200ce.

 

 

 

Rix thanks for your help and replies, that is some good info and I will keep it and use it in my future endeavors! Happy New Year

[diverden]

I had constant low end buzz with a recent Ej-200CE and the Esonic 2.

Wasn't the guitar it was the pickup system. Many others have had the same problem.

Returned the guitar and will never buy another with the Esonic.

[poopcicle]

I had constant low end buzz with a recent Ej-200CE and the Esonic 2.

Wasn't the guitar it was the pickup system. Many others have had the same problem.

Returned the guitar and will never buy another with the Esonic.

Yah everything is clean with the electronics, this is audible buzz while playing not plugged in as well as plugged in but plugged in is just picking up the buzz not the cause.