I am getting fret buzz when fretting on the 8th fret G and B string.
I just put new string on so it's not the strings.
My action is about 1.6 - 1.8mm on the B and G strings.
neck releif is about .008 at 8th fret on low E
Do I need more releif ?

Pleased to meet you blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and twaaaaaaaa to you dont be afraid thats my moto. Yes you need about 1mm aplied across all the strings just raise the saddles, I say all the strings so it will be even and uniform

I aim for .012" relief but anything between .008 and .020 should be fine and dandy.
What i would do is check how much neck relief you have on the treble side. Its not at all uncommon for a neck to have greater relief on one side, as strings are not all equal tension. The treble strings excert more pressure on the neck so it would be unusual for a treble side to have less relief than bass side. Its worth a check though non the less.

Other things it could be

1 pickups too near the strings
2 worn frets
3 a high fret
4 (hate to say this) poor technique. Not trying to insult but its well worth examining your own playing around that area. I had the same problem on the high E string of a particular guitar. Non of the others just this one. The E buzzed and made all sorts of horrid ringing sounds everytime i struck it. Turns out i was just hitting the string way to hard for the super low frets on that guitar.

All the best with it Nevin.

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Your right again.

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I just bought the guitar used so it was probably allready there.
Mine is the opposite as my Low E bass string has less releif then the trebble strings.
My strings are 10-46.

I agree with what Ninja said but I'm going to take it just one step further. Typically I've found if something is buzzing at just one fret, it's usually due to a worn fret. Before I started playing with neck relief or the bridge, I'd simply look at the fret(s) and check for flat spots. I can't speak for others but over the years I've found that I tend to play more in certain keys than I do others....specifically E and A as I typically sing in the key of A and my wife sings mostly in E. As such, I tend to do more bends at specific frets in those particular keys and I end up with flat spots on the 2nd, 7th and 14th frets around the G string as well as the 5th, 10th and 17 fret around the high E. Obviously this depends on how much you play, how "heavy handed" you are with your bends, etc.. Of course the reverse is true too...I don't typically play very often in F sharp or A sharp for example and as such, those frets don't typically get a lot of wear.

On this same note, you didn't say if this is a newer or older instrument and/or if it was purchased used. In the case of used instruments (perhaps even one that you've owned for a while) you don't always know what keys the previous owner played in let alone their style. I've seen used guitars where there was virtually no fret wear at all and I've seen others where certain frets were just hammered. Something to keep in mind.

Again I won't speak for other people and without actually seeing the guitar it's hard to tell anyways, but I think that most folks do tend to play in certain keys more than others....SRV (and other blues players) for example being infamous for playing in E (ok...E flat with the guitar tuned down...the position on the neck is still E). With those heavy $@! strings he used to use and those jack hammer fingers, can you imagine the fret wear he must of gotten? LOL!!!

I will also add that as Ninja said, it could very well be your technique as well. I think that a lot of us have gone through this at one point or other...you get a little sloppy at certain spots on the neck. Certainly there are players out there who have "flawless technique"...guys like John McLaughlin, Al DeMeola, Stevie Vai, etc.. But for the rest of us "mere mortals", I think that most of us tend to have flaws in the way we play...at least from time to time. It's kind of funny really...as I've gotten older, I've come to realize something an old guitar teacher had tried to pound in to my brain. For many years I've had this bad habit of wrapping my thumb around the neck as I'm playing. Back in the day, my old teacher would sit there with a pencil and -poke- my wrist with it every time I did this. Well, once I finished with lessons, of course I went back to this habit and it stuck with me for MANY years...I never really thought too much about it. Over the past couple of years or so however, I've found that my left wrist starts to get fatigued and in some cases I get some shooting pains (yea...it's probably carpel tunnel). When I actually pay attention to what I'm doing and I keep my thumb planted on the back of the neck where it should be, guess what...no pain. I have no doubt at all that this also effects my playing and how the guitar sounds. Wouldn't surprise me at all if I had some buzzing in there some where that I'm not really paying attention too. Anyways, the moral is; if all else fails, look at how you're actually playing...it may not be the guitar, it could simply be you.

Yes, it could certainly be due to neck relief, bridge setup or perhaps even a slight twist in the neck and as I just said, technique is certainly a consideration too but more often than not I've found that if something is buzzing at only one fret on one or two strings, usually it's a flat spot on a fret.

Good Luck,
Jim

Well with senior Lomitus's very logical analisys i'd have to agree, its a flat spot on the frets. This has a easy if somewhat labourious solution, if your lucky. You may be able to get away with a fret polish as opposed to a level and crown. Luckily my playedtosplinterscaster needs a bit of a polish on a couple o frets. You cant just do a couple though, if your doing one you have to do em all.

1 get the strings off the neck and mask off the fretboard (IMPORTANT)

(notice the darker patches on the fretwire, thats what you need rid of.

2 get some of this stuff

or get some of this stuff off dimarzio
http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/shop/view_product.php?product=plnpwfrp&gclid=CMjFvNmp6pwCFZMU4wodz06VkQ

3 go up and down the fretwire with some of the polish soaked wadding or the fretpolish cloth, from E to E covering the whole fret


Heres how it should look when its polished up. Note the horrible black grime soaked into the masking tape. Shows you just how important that masking tape is, you dont want that soaking into the fetboard.


When your done wipe the fret with a clean cloth and it will shine up lovely, trust me you wont believe how much well maintained frets improve your sound.

(sorry the pictures aren't clearer, we need Mr Lomitus for that stuff)

p.s
Let me know if you use the dimarzio/planetwaves fret polish system. I have a brilliant final trick for that stuff.

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Hey Ninja,
First and foremost, thank you for the kind words...it's nice to be acknowledged. I actually prefer the level and crown method myself but I had the good fortune of being shown how to do it a number of years ago by a local shop owner/repairman. He was a real good guy and he had walked me through my first refret (on my old Kay P-bass clone) including the level and crown. It's one of those things that's not really as hard as it sounds but is VERY intimidating if you've never done it before. In the case of that bass, the frets were really a mess...several people including myself had played the $@!& outta her (and I still do...she's a great ol' gal). But because it was only a "Kay" she wasn't worth a lot so she was the perfect victim....err...subject for my first refret.

The thing I like about the level method over individual polishing is simply the consistency...if you have a good fret level, it makes it pretty easy to get them all the same height. In my case because I've also "embraced the culinary arts", I happen to have an over-sized sharpening stone that is really good for doing fret jobs....does a really nice job for me. I do still use needle files for crowning though...one of these days I'll break down and order a proper set of crowing files from Stew Mac.

Anyways, again thanks for the kind words and again good luck to the OP, whatever the problem turns out to be.

Peace,
Jim

Jim thats exactly the same thing i use for flattening. I also use a quater round file for crowning. It gets even the lowest of low frets perfectly domed where a half round file may not in some cases reach (though you have got to be 'refret' low).
The polish i use just as a smoother after a re-crown but find a gentle polish every 3 or 4 months does really help. Particularly if you play one guitar, or play one a lot more than others. It can be just enough to take worn frets back to a usable condition.

I know it wont allieviate the major dents but i hesitate to offer re-crown/level advice over a forum. Sure if anyone wants to come round my house i'll gladly show em. I hate to think that someone would ruin their neck through my advice.

Kind words are nothing. Where can we see the photography

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I've heard that you can use a Dremmel high-speed tool to polish frets too. Has anyone tried this method?

In the wrong hands I see re-fret as a result!! Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

I wouldnt do it, no doubt you can, but i wouldnt. For one thing the polishing attatchment needs that polishing compound, the machine runs so fast that the polishing compound can burn onto surfaces such as maple. I made exactly that mistake on some bone.

Truth be told its so easy with that planet waves system (previously linked) or a metal polish infused wadding (the brasso) that i suspect the dremel method would be harder.

The worst part about the job is masking the fretboard. The guard that comes with the planetwaves system isnt really adequate.

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Hey Ninja,
Yes, I certainly agree on the polish every few months. I'm actually rather lazy when it comes to changing my strings and that usually ends up being every few months so over the years I've just gotten into the habit of polishing my frets...as well as cleaning the neck and basically doing a full setup and inspection, every time I change my strings. And having worked in and out of restaurants for 20 years, yes...I've used "Brasso"...good stuff Can't remember what I'm using now (and sorry...too lazy to run down stairs and look at the moment) but it's some kind of paste my wife picked up for cleaning jewelry...very low abrasion and it does a nice job.

I also see your point on the refret/crowing thing on a forum. Honestly I was just mentioning it for the sake of reference. I wasn't really recommending that the OP do that on his own. Unlike setups and such where a newbie can typically fudge their way through, a person really should be shown how to do this by a more experienced tech....or at the very least, get one or two scrap instrument necks to practice on.





As Ninja said, I'm sure there are some folks who have done this successfully but I seriously would NOT try it. Doing a simple "polish" isn't really that hard at all to do by hand but using a Dremel....one slip and you'll need either a refret or a new neck.

Peace,
Jim

Hey Ninja,
Yes, I certainly agree on the polish every few months. I'm actually rather lazy when it comes to changing my strings and that usually ends up being every few months so over the years I've just gotten into the habit of polishing my frets...as well as cleaning the neck and basically doing a full setup and inspection, every time I change my strings. And having worked in and out of restaurants for 20 years, yes...I've used "Brasso"...good stuff Can't remember what I'm using now (and sorry...too lazy to run down stairs and look at the moment) but it's some kind of paste my wife picked up for cleaning jewelry...very low abrasion and it does a nice job.

I also see your point on the refret/crowing thing on a forum. Honestly I was just mentioning it for the sake of reference. I wasn't really recommending that the OP do that on his own. Unlike setups and such where a newbie can typically fudge their way through, a person really should be shown how to do this by a more experienced tech....or at the very least, get one or two scrap instrument necks to practice on.





As Ninja said, I'm sure there are some folks who have done this successfully but I seriously would NOT try it. Doing a simple "polish" isn't really that hard at all to do by hand but using a Dremel....one slip and you'll need either a refret or a new neck.

Peace,
Jim

Tanks for the good advise... I had an idea the the Dremmel was a bit extreme!