Tracking Down Fret Buzz
By: Gary Allen

It happens to just about every guitar player eventually. Fret buzz or rattling. It is that annoying sound that happens when you fret a note and either hear a buzzing sound or you get a dead muted string. This happens when a fret further up the fretboard than the fretted note touches the string you are playing. There are many things that can cause this to happen but the most common problems are bad intonation, strings to close to the fretboard, a truss rod in need or adjustment or high frets that need to be filed down. I went over some of these problems in my "Guitar Set-up and Intonation" article which you can read at Guitar Set Up and Intonation.


What I would like to do with this article is show you an easy way to track down the offending fret or group of frets. By knowing where the problem frets are, you can better decide how to deal with the problem. This project will only work on guitars with metal strings or metal wound strings.

What you will need for this project is a capo, a multimeter, an alligator probe attachment (you can get an alligator probe attachment at Radio Shack for about $3.00) and a little time. You can pick up a mutlimeter at almost any hardware store with an electrical section. It does not matter if you use a digital or analog multimeter. The digital models are significantly more expensive but give you no advantage over the cheaper analog models for this particular project. A multimeter is a must have tool for a guitar player who is going to also do wiring projects on guitars.



Tracking Down the Offending Frets

Now that we have all our tools together, let’s get down to finding those pesky buzzing frets. The first thing you will want to do is figure out which fretted notes are causing the buzz. Here are the steps you will want to take.

1. Starting at the first fret of the first string you will want to pick each note down the fretboard until you here the buzzing sound. You will eventually want to do this same process on every string, but for this lesson I am only going to deal with one string. You can use this same process on all the strings of the guitar.

2. You will want to put the capo on the fret of the note you find the buzzing on. If the buzzing sound occurs when you strike the note on the forth fret, then you will want to put the capo behind the fourth fret.

3. Now you will want to use the alligator clip on one of the multimeter probes and attach it to the string between the nut and the machine head. You can also attach it to the string between the saddle and the tailpiece on guitars with tune-o-matic or similar bridges.



4. Put the multimeter on the highest resistance setting. Using your right hand, pluck the string. As the strings is vibrating, touch each fret with the other multimeter lead probe. When you get a reading on the multimeter, you have found a fret that is coming in contact with the string. This happens because the metal of the fret completes a resistance circuit with the metal of the string.



5. Keep track of the frets that are giving you readings and don’t be surprised to find many frets on one string giving you readings. Once you have finished one string you will want to check the others in the same manner.

The actual reading you get with the multimeter is not really that important other than the fact that it will give you a rough idea of the severity of the string and fret contact. The higher the reading, the less the string is touching the fret.

You will want to check the problem frets to make sure they have not come loose or lifted. If they have you may want to try to gently tap them back down. If they are not loose or lifted, you more than likely have one of the problems listed at the beginning of this article.

Gary Allen

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