small fret setup techniques?

notbillcosby

I've got a Mustang and a mexican 50's Strat, and both have really small frets. The action is set comfortably- low but not EXTREMELY low- and both guitars buzz pretty much all the time and kill any chance of tone or sustain. I'm guessing this has somethign to do with the angle of the strings against such low frets but I don't know enough about guitar setup to know if this is the case or not. Is there a way i can setup these guitars to solve the problem, or do i just need to live with it?

echelon

as far as i know, the fret high (vintage, slim, medium, jumbo) should have a huge effects on how the guitar plays/feels, but shouldn't make any difference to how a guitar is set up.

If you're getting constant buzzing it's usually due to it needing more or less relief on the neck, or if one or more frets are too high. Both problems should be corrected by taking your guitar to an experienced guitar tech.

notbillcosby

echelon said: If you're getting constant buzzing it's usually due to it needing more or less relief on the neck, or if one or more frets are too high.

I know how to adjust the neck and to check if it needs adjustment... and both of these are straight. Maybe it's a fret problem...

echelon

echelon said: If you're getting constant buzzing it's usually due to it needing more or less relief on the neck, or if one or more frets are too high.

on the low E string, play a note at every fret, going upwards - does the fretbuzz stop at some point? If so, the fret before that may be too high.

Also when setting the neck relief, the neck shouldn't be straight - it needs to be bowed, with the bow exactly matching the vibrating shape of the strings. you know that right?

mumblyjoe

Check the following:

- Saddle heights

- Neck Relief

- Neck warping (can be a huge one, unfortunately not really solvable)

- Bridge is sitting flat in trem guitars

- Nut is cut properly