Fret buzz and the OFR

[Disturbing Manor]

I’ve got a question about a buzzing that I’ve just picked up on my high E and B strings at the first and second frets. My strings are about 3 and a half months old and I’m using an OFR. It’s my first Floyd ever, so it’s still a bit of a strange animal to me. My action is set as low as possible without buzzing (well, at least it was…). If I pull slightly sharp on the bar, it goes away.

Is a fresh set of strings all I need to fix the problem? I’m hesitant to start tightening down the tremolo springs for fear of blowing my set-up. I’ve had it since November and have yet to need to tune it. It’s amazing. I don’t even want to think about truss-rod adjustments…the neck looks good and doesn’t appear to have any twists or anything screwy. Is this just a characteristic of the OFR?

[straycat]

Can you post a pic of the frets in question?A pic from the head down the neck one from the bridge up the neck and one from the side of the neck will help.

[Axewielder]

You might try raising the height of the high-e side of the trem a bit.

[dg]

This has nothing to do with your trem. Tightening the trem springs won't do anything but mess up the resting angle of the trem, since the the spring tension has to balance with the string tension at correct pitch.

Fret buzz that low on the board almost always has to do with the neck relief, the height of the nut, or a fret issue (ie. a lifting fret). Without actually having the guitar in front of me, my money is on neck relief or possibly a lifting fret, since things were fine & now they suddenly aren't. All it takes is a tiny shift for the neck to either be too flat or have a backbow. It happens around the change of seasons, so it's not surprising to see it happen in a guitar that you had set up in November. A lifting fret it usually pretty easy to spot, and folks here can help you with the fix for that.

I know you said you don't even want to think about truss rod adjustments, but they are a fact of life with guitars, especially if you want low action. The options are to educate yourself about how to assess neck relief & make adjustments, or take it to a tech.

[Disturbing Manor]

Aaiii...

I had a feeling it would end up on that path. The whole string issue didn't really make sense since they're still holding pitch perfectly fine. The bridge's angle in relation to the body still looks fine, too. The only thing that doesn't make sense now is why none of my other guitars have done this.

[dg]

Does anything look funny with frets 1, 2 or 3? Do the fret ends (especially on the high E side) look to be seated as well as all the rest?

[Disturbing Manor]

The frets look good, but now unplugged I can hear the buzz spread to the low E as well, also to the third fret. Upon closer inspection, the bridge angle seems a little bit farther forward than before (not totally parallel to the body...slightly "flat"). This definately looks like back-bow in the neck.

I know that "less is more" in the truss-adjustment department, so I'll be gingerly treading new ground on the most expensive guitar I own. I picked up one of Dan Erlewine's books on set-up and adjustments a few months ago, so I guess we all know what I'll be reading tonight.

Thanks for helping me think...I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Cygnus X1]

Tread without fear. DG is spot on, and there's plenty of help here.

[straycat]

+1

[Disturbing Manor]

That was it! I'm buzz-free and it wasn't the least bit painful! Thanks again for the advise, DG. This forum rules!

[nhspike]

another happy customer!

glad you found some "relief" to your buzzing problem DM
lemmie guess...
1/8 of a turn on the truss rod do the trick? (looser)
watch it for a week or two... sometimes little tweaks take a while to settle in.
if you find your action getting a bit "tall", you may want to tighten up 1/16th of a turn.
seriously...
sometimes it takes a while for an adjustment to settle in proper-like... I'm not sure if it's temp or humidity, but it's not unusual to find that it takes time to settle.

Congrats on having the balls to listen to dg, and get 'er done!