Guitar Fret Buzzing Problems

I am surprised at the large number of guitars, for sale in stores, that need some final going over before they are ready to be played. Often some or all of the strings are too close to the frets and they buzz and vibrate when depressed. If I am checking a guitar for possible purchase I always run my hand down along ends of the frets. I have actually cut myself on sharp protruding frets. Some retailers claim that during the winter time when it is unusually dry indoors, that the wooden necks actually become very dry and shrink. The frets, of course, being metal do not shrink. This situation causes the sharp frets to stick out like knife blades. It is similar to a door that will stick when it is dry. I'm not sure I believe this explanation because I know some retailers who consistently run humidifiers in their stores and the problem still doesn't seem to go away. In spite of all the ramifications of "sharp frets" it doesn't take a whole lot of skill and time to carefully file the sharp edges. Tuning and playing a guitar will cause the frets to wear. Within a year a groove may be formed in the frets right where the strings are depressed. This of course causes the strings to buzz because they are now being pushed down farther than usual. A string is supposed to touch just the fret above the site where it is being depressed. And when you consider a string when it is being tuned, riding back and forth like a file in the nut grooves, will dig out the wood in a hurry.

When checking a guitar for evidence of worn frets it is best to look at the first few frets. This is where most guitarists play and the wear marks are usually most evident. There is nothing you can do with worn frets except replace them. This is a job I would not recommend. Find an expert. And speaking of experts, there are guitar technicians who can take a cheap guitar with strings that are too low or too high and other problems and seemingly do miracles. One of the nicest necks I ever played was a cheap guitar that a technician had worked on and it played like a dream. One time, years ago, a guitar salesman came into the store where I was teaching and asked some of us to check out the line of guitars he was selling. I tried out the one he brought along and loved it! I raved so much regarding that particular guitar that the store owner ordered eight of the instruments. Within a few weeks the guitars arrived. What a disappointment! They played just like cheap guitars. Obviously the guitar the salesman had shown us had been worked on by some technician. It was a good example of the old "bait and switch" tactic.

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