[oompa]

so my guitar is behaving weird. all the open strings are buzzing, more on the thicker strings, less on the thinner ones. as soon as i fret them on the first fret there is no buzz at all tho. im pretty sure the relief is well enough, and if i experiment in shimming it really high there is no buzz either.

i also have a problem with intonating anything thicker than say .056, it simply needs more length. this might just be connected to the same problem, cus im prolly having so much relief that it doesnt get enough stringlength, all just to avoid extreme buzzing.

so i figure i need to level the first fret. my question is: can this be done by me (im obviously no guitar wiz but im a quick learner ), or do i have to take it to a guitar luthier? the reason i ask and don't just go to one is that i live in nowhere and its probably some 100 miles to the nearest guy who even knows that guitars can have 7 strings, so its really not an option within any reasonable future.

what do you think? i know this board crawls with tech's and people with experience.

also: what might it cost to have the frets levelled, and can i ask to just level this one fret or do they always do the whole thing with testing etc?

thanks

[budda]

Guitar Forums: DIY - Modify and Maintain Your Guitar: Fret Leveling / Crowning / Polishing --- Photos

tihs may help

[eon]

Thanks for the reply, budda!

I know I apprecitated the link...

Man I love this site!

[Alex-D33]

Originally Posted by budda

Guitar Forums: DIY - Modify and Maintain Your Guitar: Fret Leveling / Crowning / Polishing --- Photos

tihs may help

great info

[heffergm]

If you're getting buzzing on all the open strings that go away as soon as you fret anywhere on the board, the only issue is that you need to raise the nut height.

If you've got a locking nut, that means shims under the nut. It's simple to do, provided you've got the shims.

The only thing the nut does (aside from locking in the case of a floyd) is keep the open strings off the first fret. However, if you shim it too high, it'll affect the action across the whole board.

So the trick is to shim the nut JUST high enough to keep the open strings from buzzing.

EDIT: it looks like you've got an Ibby. Shims are pretty easy to come by. Ibanez makes them in 3 sizes. Oddly enough, most Ibanez come shimmed way too high from the factory. I pulled all the shims out of my Universe and it's about perfect, but of course every guitar is different.

[oompa]

yea i have it shimmed. for a while too high i think, im not sure cus i have no fine measuring devices to check it with, but i figure it was too high (shimmed it with like.. a shim thick as a medium pick) so i took away a few layers of foil. still its well enough i believe. even when shimmed that high i had a buzz when i struck a chord medium hard. also, shimming it too high causes intonation problems and i have one as it is. i really need to give it more length cus i can't even get a 0.59 intonated on it (7620 - 25.5"). that is really the main issue, trying to adjust more length causes other problems as you all know, saddle height, nut shim, action, truss rod ajustmens and intonation all go hand in hand, i mess with one and ill have to adjust most the others you know

really the intonation problem is what bugs me. a .056 shouldnt be any problem on 25.5" not even a .062, so i figure something is wrong. but the only ting i can think of is to give it alot more length through tightening the truss rod wiiiich leads to more buzz -> increased shimming -> higher action and an on and on in a downwards spiral

i need help

also, thanks for the link buddha, got me convinced i absolutely will not try to level the frets myself

[budda]

it had that effect on me too lol.

yup, gnet has some goood info.