Being a guitar player involves more than just playing songs for an audience. It's a job and like any job there are some tasks as learning songs, performing flawlessly, being on time, having a great attitude and mechanical adjustments and maintenance of your tools. The main tool being your guitar, of course.
Adjustments can—-and should—-be made periodically to suit your playing style, and it's essential every electric guitar player should be able to do these basic tasks. Do you drive a car? Can you change a tire? Can you adjust the seat? Can you check the oil and air pressure in the tires? Can you put gas in the tank? Most likely you don't go back to the dealer to have these basic things done so why not learn some routine operations on your guitar rather than sending it back or having some else do it? Learning how to change your own strings is a good start, as well as a few other helpful guitar housekeeping tasks. Learning how to set up your guitar properly will make it sound better, make it easier to play, and could possibly improve your playing!
Guitar fret buzz can be an annoying problem for any guitar player. It's very normal for a well setup low action electric to have some minor buzzing. Keep in mind ... if the guitar plays great for you and the buzz is minimal and you can't hear it through the amp then leave it alone. If not, simply raise the action until it's gone. It's not difficult. You can learn how to do it. Empower yourself. Learning some tips for eliminating and fixing guitar fret buzz can make you a more satisfied musician. Be a responsible player and ask good questions to make yourself a better and more valuable player.
Fret buzz is what happens when one or more strings are too close to the frets. The only fret a string should actually touch is the one being played. If it touches any others as it vibrates, it makes an annoying buzzing sound. A little fret buzz is hard to avoid if you like low action. You may need to adjust the string saddles to increase string clearance over the first frets. If you do this yourself, make your adjustments in small increments so you don't raise your action more than necessary.
If you take your time and work deliberately, you should have no trouble making basic adjustments and keeping your guitar in top playing condition. It is up to you, the player, to fine-tune the action on your guitar to fit your personal style. Your string height should be set so your guitar is perfectly tailored to your playing style. Learning HOW to do some basic operations is as important a part of being a guitar player as is as getting along with the others with whom you play. You really want to be a guitar player? Are you sure? Some things you just have to do whether you want to or not--sorry, it's part of the job. Learn some guitar housekeeping, and you'll empower yourself to be a better player and a REAL player instead of a Diva.
When changing your guitar strings remember the following:
Remove, replace, and tune up one string at a time-keeping tension on the neck as you go. Never de-tune or remove all the strings at once. The truss rod is designed and adjusted to provide counter tension to the strings. Removing that tension suddenly can damage or warp the neck. The vast majority of minor buzzing issues are down to playing technique. If your strings only buzz on the frets when you play hard it's normal and no adjustment is necessary.
Sure there are some things that you feel may be beyond the scope of basic guitar maintenance for the average player, but why be average? If you're not experienced with truss rod adjustment let a professional do the guitar tweaking. The same goes for fret filing and crowning, bridge and saddle work, nut adjustments, and so on. Many a guitar has been damaged by wannabe luthiers. Some guitar repair jobs can be done cheaply and easily at home. Instead of chasing around for the perfect guitar, try to find a great guitar tech and take their advice and ask how you can help yourself. You want to be a guitar player, right? Be one all the way.
Rick Mariner
Haywire Custom Guitars Inc.
843-347-5742
