Gibby SG buzz

[CapnDenny1]

I know that I should know better, but I lent my Gibson SG to my son. He put some old caps in it he swears make it sound great, so I let him work on it and play it for a bit.

So I told him I wanted it back. If he has it too long the odds of it ending up at the pawn shop go up. So he brought it back and it now buzzes on a couple of the middle strings. He claimed he did nothing to it. Then he said it fell, and he thinks it landed on the nut, and somehow made the nut lower.

I looked at it, and I don't see any breaks in the neck, and the neck seems fairly straight. But when I check the nut slot depth the inner strings were down on the first fret, tight. You know you fret between the 2nd and 3rd frets and measure the gap between the string and the 1st fret. There is no gap, and I suspect there is negative clearance so to speak.

I ordered a new nut. But I've never heard of a nut suddenly changing. Whether it fell or not. He said one day it was fine. And the next day it was buzzing?

Anybody ever have that happen to their guitar?

 

[mountain man]

Did you look at the bridge saddles? Maybe 1/2 turn takes care of this?

 

[PapaBear]

Sounds like somebody thought you needed lower action and got carried away

 

[snarf]

Did you look at the bridge saddles? Maybe 1/2 turn takes care of this?

That was my first thought as well. Also, I'd wonder if he changed the string gauge on it at all. I've seen lighter strings than normal and heavier strings than normal cause buzz in the nut and first few frets for different reasons. I know you know this from working on amps and stuff, but be sure you don't overlook all the simple stuff just because he said it started after it fell. That may just be a distracting circumstance.

 

[CapnDenny1]

Yes, I think he decided he was as good of a guitar tech as an amp tech, and tried to cut the nut deeper. (He's neither, but he's a crazy good bass player and guitar player.)

Adjusting the bridge will not fix a nut slot that's too deep, or not deep enough either.

 

[mountain man]

Yes, I think he decided he was as good of a guitar tech as an amp tech, and tried to cut the nut deeper. (He's neither, but he's a crazy good bass player and guitar player.)

Adjusting the bridge will not fix a nut slot that's too deep, or not deep enough either.

OK. I was just going with the idea that when it left your house it was playing well........ All things even, I would check the bridge. Tune-o-matics - I've raised the entire bridge at once or just individual saddles. And then I'd check the intonation cuz that'll effect a buzz sometimes too. It's all a mechanical adjustment that you can undo if you make a mistake. If he cut the nut grooves deeper and didn't get it right? That's another problem. I haven't screwed with cutting nuts deeper. That's when I get a professional.

I'm sure you understand your problem with this guitar best!

 

[snarf]

Yes, I think he decided he was as good of a guitar tech as an amp tech, and tried to cut the nut deeper. (He's neither, but he's a crazy good bass player and guitar player.)

Adjusting the bridge will not fix a nut slot that's too deep, or not deep enough either.

You're right on that one! I've learned a little about nuts and saddles both by sanding away their bases trying to lower the action. You sand away too much, and all you can do is toss it and start over. At least that's what I did on the acoustic I was jacking with years ago. That was also back before I realized that you could shim them sometimes. Cutting the nut does the same thing.

Hopefully that'll fix it for you! On the bright side, at least you didn't have to go get it out of hock somewhere.

 

[blackcoffeeblues]

A long shot---- MAYBE----loose fret???? not impossible.

 

[CapnDenny1]

I spent about 3 hours on it today. I too the old nut off and first tried to just sand the entire nut down to lower the strings. But some of the strings were higher than others. So I got to use my StewMac nut slot files for the first time. I just took it slow and kept checking, and filed a little more. Eventually I got there.

I also had to adjust the truss rod. I had to tighten it about 1/4 turn. Pretty much straight. There was a slight forward bow which I took out.

Then finally I set the string height to about 4-5/64ths.

Finally I checked the intonation, and it was right on. I had adjusted all this before, so I am probably back to my initial setup, since the intonation was right on.

It plays pretty nice now. He claims it fell over, and that messed itup. I am guessing if knocked the truss rod off or something. Or even more likely, he tried to adjust something.

Regardless, it’s all better now.