String buzz on electric guitar, small neck tilt? How to adjust?

**EJMUSIC** · May-06-2020, 4:53pm

As the topic suggests, i recently bought a fender telecaster (tenor 4 string guitar) and there is awful string buzz on the bottom strings (lowest notes) up until around the first 7 frets. I can't tell if there's any sort of bow by sight by it does seem that the neck is "Tilting" upward a bit. The lower frets have a much higher action than the frets closest to the nut. meaning that the neck isnt perfectly straight but is inclined with the frets at the nut being higher than the frets towards the body.

With this tilt I thought I might adjust with a truss rod, but the thing is, Im not entirely sure which direction to turn it, there's infinite sources online that tell you how to use a truss rod but none of them thus far have really explained what I do when my neck is tilted upward on an incline. They all say "to loosen, or add more relief do this" or what have you, but they never explain what that means or never give me an image or some sort of diagram to work off of. I've already done about a 1/4th turn counter clockwise because that's what I thought I should try based on reading some of the guides and the buzz hasn't changed, it seems though that the action changed slightly on the frets closest to the body, in that the action is now higher by a small bit.

Which way to I adjust my truss rod? What else can I do to help fix this problem?

**pops1** · May-06-2020, 6:44pm

Fret the guitar at the 1st fret and the 12th fret an look to see a gap around the 7th fret. If that gap is more than a couple thousands then you need to adjust the truss rod. The gap you are seeing is the relief, it is needed in the center of the neck as the strings vibrate more in the center than at the ends. So to make the gap smaller tighten (clockwise) the truss rod. Some Fender guitars the truss rod is accessed by removing the neck so it is not as easy to do. You can use a straight edge to check your progress since you will have your strings off. Of course some are in the neck area too.

**Dave Sheets** · May-06-2020, 7:31pm

Before you adjust the truss rod, follow pops1 suggestion.

The truss rod is meant to adjust the bow or curvature of the neck, not the tilt. You want just a slight upward curvature of the neck.

There are allen screws in the bridge that can be used to adjust the height of the strings at the bridge, lowering the bridge saddles will bring the strings closer to the frets, particularly near the body. This can increase or decrease string buzz. There are other tactics you can use on a telecaster style guitar to adjust the neck angle as well.

I got one of these on close-out about a month ago (a tenor tele). It needed a lot of adjustment to string height and to the nut slots to get the action set up well, and to get it to play in tune. Heavier strings also helped, at least in CGDA tuning. Both the nut and the bridge had something of a tendency to generate string buzz, a bit of very cautious file work fixed this. I spent a couple hours tweaking it to really get it set up right, and it was well worth the effort, it plays and sounds much better. Funny how much better an instrument sounds when the notes are all in tune. A fun instrument. Fortunately telecasters are easy to work on. A lot of lower and mid priced electric guitars are shipped by Fender without much set-up work as far as I can tell. These issues are pretty common, but also relatively easy to fix.

If all of this discussion of adjusting makes you a bit nervous, it might be worth having it set up by a guitar shop in your area. I guess that does assume you can find one that's open.

This site discusses setting up a 6 string telecaster, looks to have plenty of pictures:

https://guitaristlab.com/the-fender-telecaster-setup/

**EJMUSIC** · May-06-2020, 7:55pm

Originally Posted by pops1

Fret the guitar at the 1st fret and the 12th fret an look to see a gap around the 7th fret. If that gap is more than a couple thousands then you need to adjust the truss rod. The gap you are seeing is the relief, it is needed in the center of the neck as the strings vibrate more in the center than at the ends. So to make the gap smaller tighten (clockwise) the truss rod. Some Fender guitars the truss rod is accessed by removing the neck so it is not as easy to do. You can use a straight edge to check your progress since you will have your strings off. Of course some are in the neck area too.

This seems to be the opposite advice for what im looking for considering there is relatively no gap what so ever (hence the string buzz), so i suppose ill just try a counter clockwise turn for now.

**EJMUSIC** · May-06-2020, 8:06pm

Originally Posted by Dave Sheets

Before you adjust the truss rod, follow pops1 suggestion.

The truss rod is meant to adjust the bow or curvature of the neck, not the tilt. You want just a slight upward curvature of the neck.

There are allen screws in the bridge that can be used to adjust the height of the strings at the bridge, lowering the bridge saddles will bring the strings closer to the frets, particularly near the body. This can increase or decrease string buzz. There are other tactics you can use on a telecaster style guitar to adjust the neck angle as well.

I got one of these on close-out about a month ago (a tenor tele). It needed a lot of adjustment to string height and to the nut slots to get the action set up well, and to get it to play in tune. Heavier strings also helped, at least in CGDA tuning. Both the nut and the bridge had something of a tendency to generate string buzz, a bit of very cautious file work fixed this. I spent a couple hours tweaking it to really get it set up right, and it was well worth the effort, it plays and sounds much better. Funny how much better an instrument sounds when the notes are all in tune. A fun instrument. Fortunately telecasters are easy to work on. A lot of lower and mid priced electric guitars are shipped by Fender without much set-up work as far as I can tell. These issues are pretty common, but also relatively easy to fix.

If all of this discussion of adjusting makes you a bit nervous, it might be worth having it set up by a guitar shop in your area. I guess that does assume you can find one that's open.

This site discusses setting up a 6 string telecaster, looks to have plenty of pictures:

https://guitaristlab.com/the-fender-telecaster-setup/

Yah, unfortunately the set up work or lack there of was pretty abysmal on this thing, and the work in general was not up to par with any professional standards.

Id be apprehensive to adjusting the bridge because I dont want to make the action too high at the higher pitched frets to avoid stringbuzz, I could try just a very small adjustment while also maybe adjusting the truss rod to compensate. I don't think ill be sanding down frets myself, but if its necessary maybe ill ask a trained luthier. Or maybe practice on a beater instrument first.

So i could try the bridge, maybe finding a new nut, and maybe sanding down some frets. Unfortunately finding another or filing down this nut could prove troublesome due to it might be tough finding a new one for this 4 string if i screw up. But ill see what i can do with the above suggestions

**Dave Sheets** · May-06-2020, 9:06pm

Yeah, the setup on mine was really a mess.

You may be ahead on this to just take it to a luthier, somebody who knows telecasters. The telecaster guys know a lot of tricks to get one working right.

**pops1** · May-06-2020, 9:51pm

Originally Posted by EJMUSIC

This seems to be the opposite advice for what im looking for considering there is relatively no gap what so ever (hence the string buzz), so i suppose ill just try a counter clockwise turn for now.

You are exactly right. You want a very slight amount of relief in the neck.

**EJMUSIC** · May-06-2020, 10:14pm

Originally Posted by Dave Sheets

Yeah, the setup on mine was really a mess.

You may be ahead on this to just take it to a luthier, somebody who knows telecasters. The telecaster guys know a lot of tricks to get one working right.

Yah its nuts... I've never received a tenor guitar from anyone that wasn't in some form or another set up horribly or just made with shoddy craftsmanship,
which is why I was excited to get this Fender tele because i figured, hey a reputable manufacturer! But nope.... Just the same old same old... Not the worst i've had though by far, i had a custom made last year that was sooo poorly put together I couldn't even look at it anymore...

What so hard about getting a well built tenor?

**Huck** · May-07-2020, 1:27am

Originally Posted by EJMUSIC

Yah, unfortunately the set up work or lack there of was pretty abysmal on this thing...

You said in another post that you paid Elderly to set up this guitar. What do they have to say about all of this?

**EJMUSIC** · May-07-2020, 5:34pm

Originally Posted by Huck

You said in another post that you paid Elderly to set up this guitar. What do they have to say about all of this?

They said "Take it to a local luthier"

**pops1** · May-07-2020, 5:48pm

If you have a back bow and you don't have a double action truss rod the only thing you can do is loosen the truss rod and hope the string tension pulls the neck flat. You may try heavier strings to see if it will straighten. If not it is a problem in the build.

**pheffernan** · May-07-2020, 8:01pm

Originally Posted by EJMUSIC

What so hard about getting a well built tenor?

It’s a niche instrument, so you’re often picking between compromises: either a vintage instrument that might have some issues, a factory one that might have some cost saving shortcuts, or a custom piece that might have a higher price tag. David Newton makes a nice one!