Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi
This is my first time on this site. I really hope somebody can help me, PLEASE!!!!!!
I am an amateur guitar builder and I keep having similar problems. I have just finished building an acoustic guitar. Everything's pretty cool but the D string especially has a really annoying buzz/rattle in open and fretted position. The rattle seems to be coming from the bridge area but I don't know much about these things. The action is a standard low - 2mm at 12th fret Low E but I could go lower and the other strings don't rattle!! It is not a high fret, the neck relief is pretty good - .10 at 6th fret when holding down at 1st and 14th. The saddle is not too low.
Personally I am just a strummer. When strummed the rattle makes the chords sound a bit 'tinny'. It probably wouldn't bother a finger picker much BUT that's not the point!!
I really, really want to sort this out.
Does anyone have any ideas??
Forever grateful for any help on this.
Thanks.

Welcome Eden to the OLF!

Here are some things to check that caused me grief on my first guitar.

Nut slots: The slots need to be filed at an angle that is somewhere around half the difference between the fret board angle and the head stock angle. Since our head stocks are generally angled back at 15 degrees check to see if your nut slots are filed at around 7-8 degrees AND flat with the front face of the nut slot being the highest point.

A nut slot that is not flat or filed at enough of a back angle may result in buzzing that seems to come from the bridge area - go figure.....

Also check that you saddle is not flat on the top and has a peak to it and that the strings break cleanly on this peak.

I hope this helps buddy.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

also check and be sure all the nuts and all the screws of all the tuners are tight , and also your truss rod, after a few monthes my first developed a strange sound, turned out to be a loose tuner nut ! ... jody

Welcome Eden,

Hesh has led you to the most likely suspects.

An easy way to check the saddle is to put pressure on the string at the front of the saddle with your thumb nail and pluck the string. If the buzz goes away just add more relief ahead of the break point of the saddle.

We can both thank Michael P for this tip.

Cecil

I didn't see this mentioned yet, so I have one suggestion. Make sure that all of the string ball ends are pulled up securely to the bridge plate. If they are dangling any bit at all, there is potential to rattle.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

Sounds to me like it could be your bridge. The saddle should fit tight in the bridge slot and seat flat on the bottom of the slot. If it is not, it could rattle. I have fixed a few guitars (mostly student guitars) by just making a correction to the bridge.

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Rich S

"The inconvenience of poor quality will linger long after the thrill of a bargain has been forgotten"

As David C. told me, it's the nut, nut! well he didn't really call me a nut, but my bet is it's your nut slots. All of what Hesh said, plus there could have been some side to side wiggle with the file when you were cutting the slots (Hourglass shape= potential buzz).

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Thanks very much folks. I've filed the nut slot and shaped the saddle better. I haven't tried it yet as my previous attempts at dealing with the problem left the top in need of some TLC so i'm just re-doing the French Polish a bit.
I'm sure the great advice you've given is going to work though, thanks again.

One more thing: If I've cut the nut slot a little too deep, is there any repair tricks you have to build up the slot rather than fitting a new nut??

Thanks, Mat.

Take some bone dust and fill the slot with it. Then, drop in some water thin super glue. Let it set up and you can re-slot the nut.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

I'm with J. on this one. I had the same problem before on a bouzouki I built. Just take the offending string off and put it back on by snugging up the ball end to the bridge plate.

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

If it's only one string, all the way up fretted or open it's very likely the nut! If it's other strings too, here and there then it may be something else.

Just went through this myself! Why coming from the bridge? Again, I don't know! Hesh gave you the very likely culprit!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)