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It took me a few days to notice this but on the guitar I just finished the A string makes a noise from hitting the lower frets when I press it down on the 10th to 13th fret. It's not a buzz, it's just a brief noise from the initial contact the string makes with one or more lower frets. Otherwise, the action/set-up seems fine. Any tips on how to go about fixing this?

Thanks,
Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Sounds like you either need a little more relief, or your nut slots are a little low.
Also, check for a high fret. Did you level them?

Once or twice I've had some really weird buzzes as a result of frets that were not properly crowned. I thought at the time that the buzz was coming from a completely different part of the guitar (bridge area). But once I found the frets and re-crowned them it all went away. I don't know if this is your problem but it is one more thing you can check.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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The strings behind your finger are vibrating sympathetically.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

It sounds like you are saying that you hear the sting slap down on back frets, but not a buzz. I think that slapping down without buzzing suggests something is really high back there. If it were only just a little too close to the strings, you would get a back buzz. The suggestions that others posted to solve a back buzz should also solve this.

Yes, it's the one string slapping down on back frets, not a buzz. As I said, it only happens when I press down the A string on the 10 - 13th frets. I haven't determined which frets are being "slapped" but, so far, the idea that makes the most sense to me is to raise the nut slot on the one string or dial in a little more relief.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

Yes, do just that. Putting more relief will change the entire neck feel and action on all strings in order to fix a problem with just one string.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

By the way. I happened to be traveling and playing a guitar that I was not used to. In many locations, I got noise when applying my left hand. I attributed this to the guitar being just "different" than what I was used to, and that my technique had been "honed" to my regular guitar, which I guess is my fault.

Couldn't it be that your frets are a little low in this area of the A string?

Perhaps for some reason, the frets are low in this particular area. I'll chase it some more on the week end.

Pat

_________________
There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.