Changed strings - now buzzing.

FlatPick
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Tue May 19, 2009 7:25 pm

I changed strings on my Jasmine. Hadn't been changed in at least 15 years. No lie. I got to the high E, and it sounds horrible. Not only buzzes, but doesn't not ring, just dies. I messed with it long enough I broke the new string. So put another one one, exactly the same thing. I don't know what I did. I took it to a guy who repairs stringed instruments, super musician. He said, "Well, your truss rod is frozen, can't turn it a bit, you frets are all different heights, and .." said something else was wrong. But it sounded fine before i changed strings.

I don't know where to turn now. I play my guitar Every day - now what? I am hours away from the closest guitar store..


jim56
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Tue May 19, 2009 8:50 pm

If your truss rod is frozen there's not much that can be done. You either break it trying to adjust it or you live with it the way it is. A broken truss rod on a Jasmine will cost more to fix than the guitar is worth. I'm sorry....bummer.


FlatPick
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Tue May 19, 2009 9:51 pm

Thanks - that is what the guy I took it to was saying. He was trying to be nice telling me it wasn't worth the $$ to fix it. But to me, it is worth a lot. I have had it about 19 years. I have played it about every day for the last six months. My 11 year old plays it a lot also. That bad part is no guitar stores around - so won't be replaced soon.
The good news is.....I get a new guitar. :woohoo:

Now....what to get.......


quincy451
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Wed May 20, 2009 4:14 am

my a Jasmine that had not had a string replacement in 15 years. I got one I bought about 8 months ago. It came with a hex wrench for the truss rod. Yours is most likely the same. Now given the age of the guitar you most likely need some fret work to make it really nice. But if you wanted to play with this truss rod adjustment I would try this. I would find a hex bit for a cordless drill gun that matches that bolt just inside the body at the top of the neck. But the drill on loosen and see if you get get it to loose it up. If you can do that you have it moving in the neck. After that you can go back and say try it now. The idea here being if you loosen it and get it moving you have not broken anything. It can just be tighened back up to the correct point.

As to why the old strings worked and the new strings don't it might have to do with the kind of strings. I know mine was supposed to have D'Arradias EXP-16s on it. I went with Exlixer extra light ployweb coated strings. Now I can tell you this. Mine was buzzing all over the place until I got all strings up to pitch. Then all that went away. But if you went to a tech he most likely thought of that. Or he might have just looked at the frets and went ugh...this is not going to be a job I can land.

Other than that I got a Jasmine S34C in mint condition with new strings I just put on a couple days ago. I could be talked out of that for say 50% off the music123.com price for a new one.


spags
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Wed May 20, 2009 3:57 pm

quincy took the words outa my mouth regarding the truss rod. definitely give that a shot.

as far as the frets are concerned, i had the exact same problem. all of my frets were a different height, the action was terrible, and i got constant buzzing.

i brought it in to have it set up, they removed all the strings and filed down the frets. it plays great now. see if they can do that for you.

it was pretty cheap. cost me $60 but that includes fixing the bridge which was coming up.


dustystrings
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Wed May 20, 2009 8:27 pm

After reading this thread and doing a little surfing I took a close look at my Fender acoustic. I didn't realize it could be so much better. It had a pretty significant bow to the neck and I was able to fix it with a truss rod adjustment. Also, I greatly improved the action by sanding down the saddle, quite a bit actually. It now plays so much better, and with no buzzes (not that there were any before). It doesn't sound any different, that these deaf ears can tell anyway. No big deal, I'm sure, for you pros, but it was pretty exciting for me. It plays much like my Peavey electric. Just another great thing I picked up on this site.


larry g
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Thu May 21, 2009 5:45 pm

Hey Flatpick:

I don't know if I can help you here or not, but here goes. The answer to your dilemma may be as straigtforward as changing your strings again.

Adjusting the truss rod may, or may not affect the buzz, but read on.

First, a little on the mechanics of the neck. Embedded below the fretboard and running the entire length of it is a truss rod. A truss rod is designed to counteract the tendency for the neck to bow forward as strings apply tension to the neck. This tension load is significant- usually more than a couple hundred pounds worth, all totaled up. With an adjustable truss rod, a nut is rotated at one end of the rod to either loosen or tighten the rod. Tightening the truss rod will pull the end of the neck backward (at the nut), loosening it will do the opposite.

O.K., so your guitar is now buzzing. What generally causes a string to buzz is the fact that the vibrating string is touching a fret that is too high. This can be caused by the wood of the neck moving around as the guitar has aged. Pick up your guitar and eyeball down the length of it, and you may spot a high point. This is a likely place for a string buzz to occur.

You may also notice that there is a slight forward bow to the neck. If this is not too severe, it may be O.K. In fact, a slight forward bow will help alleviate string buzzes. The downside, is that the more the neck bows forward, the higher the action (the height of the strings above the frets, usually measured at the twelfth fret). A low action means easier and better playability. Too low equals string buzzes.

Now, back to how to help you now. Do you know what gauge of strings were on the guitar before? If they were mediums, they would exert more force on the neck, pulling the end of the neck forward, and thus pulling the strings higher up off the fretboard. If they are now light gauge strings, the neck would not have as much tension on it, the neck would not pull forward as much, and the strings would tend to lay lower across the fretboard, which may in turn cause the buzzing over a fret that is too high. If this is the case, you may want to try this remedy first: go back to the medium gauge strings.


spags
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Fri May 22, 2009 3:07 am

larry g wrote:
you may want to try this remedy first: go back to the medium gauge strings.
It's worth a try. The one thing that concerns me is that it was only the high E string that was the problem. He didn't mention where on the fretboard the string was making contact (lower or upper frets, etc.). If the buzz is by the nut--and the problem is not neck relief or string gauge--it might be that the nut slot for the high E string is worn down and the nut needs to be replaced.

He apparently took it to a luthier who didn't mention any of these possibilities.


FlatPick
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Fri May 22, 2009 8:53 am

Hey guys - thanks a lot for all the information and suggestions. I'll go over the guitar tonight looking for everything mentioned, and post what I see. I don't know where it is making contact - but I think it is somewhere in the first four or five frets. When I fret the string at the fifth or sixth fret, things sound OK. But anywhere lower than that, it buzzes, and I almost hate to say buzzes. It doesn't ring out at all, just like something is deading it out. (I know, deading isn't a word)
Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Oh, and one more thing. The guy I took it to does work on stringed instruments - and has done it for a living. But I would fall short of calling him a professional by any means. If I can't get this figured out, there is a very reputable luthier about 1 1/2 hours from here, I will take it to him.


FlatPick
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Sat May 23, 2009 5:21 pm

Well - I have looked it over pretty closely. I can't find anywhere that the string may be hitting a fret. It is pretty close to the first and second, but I can't see that it is hitting it. The buzz sound is coming from around the bridge. I looked down the neck, I can't see any bow or twist. After I tuned it again, once I fret the high E passed the second fret, it sounds OK. May have to make the hour and a half to a luthier.


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