Ok so i bought a new fender blacktop strat around christmas time.Recently its started having fret buzz.So i started watching a couple of videos on youtube about fret buzz and adjusting the truss rod. It seemed simple enough so today i tried it.I followed the instructions i only turned it a most 90 degrees at a time etc and left it for an hour or two each time. But nothing is having any effect the neck has changed its curve at all all and the fret buzz is the same as ever. Is it possible that the nut has come away from the truss rod? Is my truss rod broken? Or am i just missing something? also i used the allen wrench that came with my guitar.
Thanks in advance for all help and advice.

Hi monkshaw,

How much did you adjust, a full turn, less, more? It shouldn't take more than a half turn to adjust if it's close to begin with. A full turn would be huge, usually way too much. Looking down the hole for the truss rod adjust, CCW will allow more bow, but it is not a biflex rod, so the wood has to release (bow/bend) after adjustment, and sometimes after loosening the nut, you have to help it a little by pushing the back of the headstock while holding the body firmly in place. With this model, you can only loosen the truss rod nut to allow the neck to curve from the string tension, if you feel resistance on the nut get stronger while loosening, that is too far and it can start to push the plug out. Often the neck won't release for quite awhile, maybe even days later, after the guitar has experienced environment changes, then the tuning drops, indicting an increase in the bow.

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Hi shimmilou Thanks For the reply i didnt know you had to leave the guitar for that long for it to bow.i only turned it 180 degrees (half a turn )altogether i turned it around 45 degrees each time but after turned it for 2 times it got stiff so i tried turning it the other way for two turns, after nothing happened i figured some had gone wrong so i stopped. So i think the nut is actually where it was when i started. so will what i've done damage the guitar?....... thanks for the help. I feel really stupid now

I doubt if you damaged anything if you didn't push the plug out. No need to feel bad, everyone began as a novice.

Not always, just sometimes takes longer for the neck to release. You should be able to feel the nut getting harder to turn as you screw it in CW. If you can turn the nut several turns CW without feeling it get tighter, then something is wrong. If the nut does get tighter when turning CW, loosen CCW a half-turn or more until the nut feels loose, and wait for, or force, the bow. If the nut is loose, it can rattle too, so once you have the proper bow, make sure that the nut is snugged CW just enough to keep it from rattling. If you are using nines, there may not be enough string tension to allow the neck to bow very much. I have nines on mine, and I adjusted about a half-turn CCW and got no more relief, that was weeks ago. I am sure that using tens would give more bow, but I really like nines on this guitar, so I put up with a little bit of rattling myself. I really only get it on the low E anyway when strumming hard.

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Thanks a million for the the help i just gave it a couple of turns and it was getting tighter so i loosened it until it rattled and left it there. I have nines on my guiatr too so thats probablywhy it didn't bow in the first place i was just wondering should i leave it on a flat surface like a table to bow or is it ok on my guitar stand?
Thanks for all the help, you been really helpful

Truss rod adjustment alone isn't what removes fret buzz. You never mentioned what amount of relief (if any) the neck had before you began turning the nut. It really doesn't take much relief. But it is a balancing act between the right amount of relief in the neck, and string height, and also the correct curvature of the strings to match the fretboard radius as well. If it wasn't broke before you turned it, then what you did didn't harm anything. But with a fully relaxed truss rod, measure the relief with the guitar strung to pitch. If the neck is still dead straight or even back-bowed......time for a warranty claim!!!!!

+1 Steve-oh-no

monkshaw,

I would lean the guitar on something like a wall or amp, guitar facing up at about a 45 degree angle to the floor, so that just the headstock and bottom of the body are making contact, to add the weight of the guitar to help force some more bow.

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Ok Thanks will Try that and after that i'll will try adjusting the string height.If that does work I''l let you know
Thanks to the both of you for all the Help

Hi monkshaw,
Everything the others said (+1) and also to piggyback onto that: everything should work in synchronicity with each other. Buzz comes from alot of places.....Pickups being too high, frets being uneven, open string buzz, if the nut is not cut correctly.....there's a good amount of possibilities available....including how you're playing. Unless i missed something, i didnt see anything relating to where the buzz was. Its good to start there and work backwords. If it buzzes in the lower part of the neck (closest to headstock) then it could be...i repeat could be that the neck is too straight or what i call overbowed. If it buzzes at the high end...could be that there is too much curve.....or is what some call backbowed ( i call underbowed).
Here's some basic guides....there's probably plenty out there. But a couple of tools from the hardware store and a capo will generally keep your guitar setup pretty nice if you use care.
Hang in there!!

http://www.fender.com/support/articles. ... -to-guides

Best regards,
rob

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rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

Just wanted to add you could have a tech at a shop take a quick look at it, as well. I think most will take a quick look without charging you much if anything.

Ok thanks to everybody for all the advice and help
So what i did was: followed the fender instructions and re setup the tremolo and string action. i Then put on a new set of strings and the fret buzz is pretty much gone.The buzz is pretty impossible to hear except on the low E string and even then its not too bad and i guess that's because i'm using nines on this guitar.
All in all the guitar now sounds much better than when i started
Thanks a million to everybody for the help And for having patience with as i am a novice

+1 on the tech. I had a similar problem. Turned out that the neck had dried out a bit and required a heat press treatment. It fixed the problem COMPLETELY. I made sure to use a Fender authorized repair center - you can find them on the Support section of the website.