We had another full turn-out at our monthly Guitar Setup Workshop and everyone was happy and somewhat surprised at how much they learned in just a half-day. But for a few moments one fellow wasn’t so happy at all!
“When I came in here, my guitar wasn’t buzzing and now it is, so you guys had me do something wrong!”, he said.
A quick check showed that the guitar was definitely buzzing on the low-E string, at the first fret when played open.
He was so sure that it wasn’t buzzing before the workshop, yet the cause of the buzz could only be a low E slot in the nut. We hadn’t filed the slot or touched it in any way whatsoever.
So how could both statements be true –
- The nut slot had not been changed
- The E string was not buzzing before the workshop
We’d performed the various steps of a complete setup and had finished by installing new strings, tuning, stretching and setting intonation.
Stop right here, think hard, then write down what you think the cause of the buzz issue is. Go ahead. I’ll wait..
{waiting}
If you wrote that a change in string size may be the cause, you win the prize!
The guitar came in with ten gauge strings and he’d now installed nines. How could that cause the buzz?
The nut had been factory filed for nines (9 – 42) but he’d been playing tens (10-46) without issue. Now the nines were buzzing at the first fret on low-E and somewhat on A also.
Low-E on tens is 0.046″ in diameter. It’s 0.042″ on nines. The extra four-thousandths of an inch, though a tiny amount, just had nowhere to go in a 0.042″ nut slot, so the string sat up high in the slot, enabling it to clear that first fret.
The proper size nines however, allowed their 0.042 string to seat all the way down into the 0.042″ nut slot, which had been filed or worn too low, so now it was buzzing.
He now had five options –
- Remove hearing aids when playing
- Play with a capo
- Replace the nut
- Shim the nut
- Fill the nut slot
The first two options may sound silly, but they have the benefit of not having to buy nut files. The least invasive option is to fill the slot and file it to its proper angle and height.
Replacement and shimming also require filing the slot, if you want the nut to optimally contribute to your playing and tuning satisfaction.
{Grammerly just sent me a vomit emoji over that last line!}
So, when changing string sizes, remember this little tale. If you’re going up in size, you’ll likely need the nut slots re-filed. If you’re going down in size, you should be ok unless your previous strings were hiding a lot slot problem as in this case.
Got any guitar techy puzzles for us? Send them in and your guitar tech horror story may be the next one we write about!
