Vibration

[garry]

Hello,

 

I hope someone can help me with a problem I have with the guitar I have recently bought for my son. He's been playing for 3 months and I have just bought him an Epiphone. The problem he has is that he has changed the strings and he is getting a lot of vibration, especially on the larger strings. He has bought some new strings but the problem still exists. Can you help?

[Base]

Not sure what you mean, the strings are supposed to vibrate, that's what they're for!

 

Do you mean you are getting fret buzz? That means the action is too low (or the neck is hideously warped). What sort of bridge is it?

[garry]

Thanks for replying, as you can tell I know everything there is to know about guitars. Fret Buzz is probably what Ive got, as for the bridge its bolted. Its an Epiphone Les Paul Special II.

Any advice you can give would be apreciated.Thanks

[PBBPaul]

I would suggest raising up the action a bit. If you or your son don't have the knowledge/skill to do this yourselves, I would further suggest taking it to a shop or having an experienced player do it. It's a quick adjustment that most shops will do for little or no cost. If you want to take it a step further, have a complete setup done by a qualified luthier. This typically costs up to around US$100 but is well worth the expense.

[Base]

Did you buy the guitar brand new?? If so (and it was from a guitar shop as opposed to somewhere like Argos), you may be able to get it done for free.

 

There is a place in Guildford that will do a complete setup for about £35 and he's very good, not sure how easy that is for you to get to, wherabouts in London are you? Otherwise, you should be able to get it done for a lot less than $100. Didn't realise it was that expensive over there guys!!!!

 

COOL (for us)

[PBBPaul]

Originally posted by Base:

Didn't realise it was that expensive over there guys!!!!

 

COOL (for us)

It's normally less than half that much at a typical shop. I use a pretty high-end guy so I pay a lot. It's still worth it though to me to have my guitars in near-perfect playing condition and I only have to have it done once.

 

He should be able to have it at least tweaked for free.

[ihategarybettman]

I have a Special II and, even though it's Epi's budget Paul, I still love its feel and sound. However, I did take it to a shop to get it properly set up (that cost ~$35) and replaced the tuners, because Epiphone's low-end tuners are notoriously bad and the G string would not stay in tune no matter what I did. Now I have a fine second electric (I refuse to refer to it as a "backup").

[musicalhair]

Hey Garry welcome to the forum. I'm sure we'll get your problem fixed if you haven't already brought it in for a set up.

 

Fret Buzz is when the string bounces off a fret as it vibrates. If you play each note going up the neck of the guitar eventually you'll be able to get past this or depending on the problem (and more likely) find what frets are effected and you can even figure out what fret is it buzzing on. As you play it really look and listen and feel it and you'll probably find exactly where the buzz is happening.

 

Another possiblity is that something is loose. Feel around and try to stop what is vibrating. Sometimes a taill end of a string vibrates, or really it could be anything.

 

Sometimes a minor tweak is all that is needed and sometimes you'll need to have the "intonation" or "bridge compensation" set so that the frets play the notes they should (and not be sharp or flat).

 

Where ever you picked up the guitar, they can reccomend someone to do a "set up" if they don't do it themselves. You might be able to guilt them into doing it if it has been buzzing since you first bought it.

 

Please post back if you get the problem solved, or you can better diagnose the problem. This is a great forum and I believe a lot of good guidance can be found here.

[I I mjrn]

An overlooked possibilty, especially for a neophyte player, is technique.

Maybe he's just playing too hard or in a way that sets the strings "splanging" (sorry to get overly technical vertically.

[Darcy H]

Were they the same gauge strings? Going to heavier strings will pull the neck up and you'll get less buzz, higher action, and of course vise-versa going to lighter gauge strings.

 

I'd recommend going up a gauge before trying anything else, especially if a string change predicated this buzzing. (Strings are typically sold by the gauge of the lightest string, so 9's are farely light, 10's medium.....)