Hi Lounge... I just started playing electric again after fifteen years off. I picked up a 2010 American Deluxe Strat and Mustang III amp. I'm very pleased with the setup but have a couple of questions perhaps you could help with...

1) There is a slight fret buzz between roughly the 7th and 9th frets on the 6th and 5th strings. I noticed most all of the american strats in the store have it. Is it normal or should it have been corrected through set-up?

2) There is an loud, annoying buzz through the amp (not 60Hz - higher in frequency) when I don't touch the strings, even at moderate volumes. Could the shielding be inadequate (there are fluorescents in the room but they are turned off) or perhaps the pickups adjusted too high? This strat has the N3 noiseless pickups.

Thanks in advance to any who are willing to help a returning player out!

Welcome to the Forum,

Simple answer to your first question will be to change strings and do a setup (or ask pro-tech to do for you if you not sure how). If you are unable to take it to the tech try adjust the truss rod (add relief by 1/4 of a turn) to see if that helps in the meantime. You will need a complete setup anyhow.

This is not a hard rule this is just a starting point to give you a general idea, anything you change will impact other settings do it methodically.
Buzzing On:
Open strings - adjust saddles
Bottom of the neck (low notes) - Nut cut or installation issue.
Mid neck - adjust truss rod
Top neck - adjust saddles

Guitars go through many temperature/humidity changes during their storage and shipping and we are talking wood here. There are many factors here in play that can cause the buzzing.

Your other question, huh N3 noiseless making noise
Try other room or location. Try other amp if possible first before gutting the guitar or taking the amp to the store for warranty repair.

Hope that helps

Great tips on the truss rod.

Given where you are saying you have buzzing, mid neck, I'd say tighten the nut (turn to the right/clockwise) about 1/4 turn and see if that takes care of it. It has been my experience that buzzing mid neck is usually too much relief (bow). You need some as a flat neck can buz in other places.

On the buzz, check your ground wires. Had a similar problem. It would make a noise but when I touched any metal parts, the noise would stop. Drove me nuts. All the wires looked fine. However, I noticed the ground wire running from the pot to the trem claw. The wire was more or less just on top of the solder joint and a little tug (I mean very little tug) the wire came off.

I soldered it on again and the noise went away.

Jeff

Thanks Guys!

I would like to correct one of the posts here if I may.

If it buzzes open, it means that the nut action is too low.

If it buzzes on the low to mid frets, it is most likely the neck relif (but could be a combination of the neck relief and the saddle height).

If it buzzes on the higher frets, it is most likely the saddle height (but could be a combination of the saddle height and neck relief).

The reason I say this is because both the neck relif and the saddle height effect the action. The neck relief should be done before the saddle height.

There is a complete setup guide here...

http://www.fender.com/support/articles/stratocaster-setup-guide

It would be a good idea to learn how to do a complete setup on your guitar.

Hope this helps, and keep us posted.