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I have recently completed my 3rd acoustic guitar build using the Jonathan Kinkade Build your own Acoustic guitar book. used a neck jig in routing my mortise and tenon joint and I think the angle is a bit much now that I am doing the final set up. It appeared to have a bit of back bow and a bit of a hump at the 14th fret when I strung it up. I used the truss rod to put the appropriate amount of relief in the neck and I have about 2.5 mm clearance at the 12th fret between the strings and the fret. I have ruled out back buzz but I am still getting a bit of buzz on my Low E, A, D, and G strings when fretted up to about the 10th fret. Open strings do not buzz

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing the apparent fret buzz?

I can try to get some pictures up if that helps

First step is to make 100% sure you have no fret issues like fret ends popped up etc... but it sounds like you went through that.

Too much neck angle will cause a hump at the body fret. That sounds like your problem. A possible solution is to pull that relief out of the neck and get it dead straight from the nut to the hump. Then shim the saddle up or make a new one to get back to your string height you lost from setting the neck straight.

If it's a bolt on neck you may consider resetting it. If you don't want to deal with that then another good solution would be to re-fret it and resurface the fret board to take the hump out.

This is one of the reasons I always I fret the guitar once the neck is set. If there is any indication of a body joint hump I can take it right out then and there.

Good luck.

Sounds like you need to do a fret dress, preferably with the strings on and up to tension, and then sand in a slight fallaway from the fifteenth fret through to the last fret.

Set the neck straight from the nut to where the neck joins the body (usually the 14th fret). You can use the string as a straightedge holding it down at the 1st and 15th fets, or a notched straightedge if you have one. Check the string height from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string, should be at least 1/32 of clearance with the nut adjusted properly and the neck dead straight . If not your neck angle is too steep, and you should either reset the neck angle, or install a taller saddle. If the neck is angled back too far, it will result in excessive falloff of the fretboard extension over the body, which will present as a hump when the neck has relief, and possible fretting out at the 8th through 15th frets.
Most guitars will have a little bit of falloff over the body, which is acceptable, but it can be excessive.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I would pull all the frets out.
Then with a slight bit of back bow(use the truss rod if needed) to the neck,level the fret board.
Straight as an arrow.
Refret-then check for fret levels.

Use the 155 wire from Stew mac -it gives allot of room for leveling!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I agree that you need to check for loose frets . When you think about it , the neck is what is going to make the guitar feel . There are many ways to do this . I have fretted off the neck and on. I am leaning to the doing it on the neck. The fretboard prep is very critical and with it on the guitar , you can make it perfect for that guitar .
Like Mike I am doing the fretboard planing on the guitar. depending on a 1 or 2 way rod or Non adjustable rods will dictate my procedure. You won't need a back bow on a 2 way rod but the non adjustable and 1 way is a good idea to do it.
We all find our techniques that work for us . I use a chalk and mark the board and level , once I have that planed I will set the frets. So much about fretting is based on the prep . When the board is perfect, you will get a better fret job. Setting the frets and leveling will be easier .
I mark the frets with a sharpie and work down the frets to get them level , once level remark and crown. I use a diamond sharpening stone to rough level then I have a large machinist parallel to final the level , re crown and polish. If you have a hump going on you need to address that .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I like the pull frets re-level on the guitar advice. I was never been able to accurately predict the amount of drop off to sand into the extension so now I level with tension on the rod-even a two way, fret to about 9 or10, and then support the headstock, put 6lbs of wt. on each shoulder, and see what the extension is doing under load. Then I can sand the appropriate amount of drop off to avoid a rising tongue.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I agree that you will probably need to pull the frets & level the board. You will be much happier once that hump is dealt with & the board is straight.
But, in the meantime... Make sure the string balls are properly seated against the bridge patch. You can get some pretty weird buzzes if the strings get hung up on the pins & the balls aren't in firm contact with the plate.
I have seen this problem quite often & look there first if I get a guitar with an unusual buzz. A mirror & flashlight will tell the tale.

before ylu start pulling frets it would be a good idea to find out which fret(s) are buzzing.

one way is to use an analog multimeter set to ohms, attach one lead to the string between the saddle and pin touch the other to the suspect fret, fret the string(capo is useful here) and to pluck see if there is s circuit formed, i.e. there us iittle or no resistance if the needle is bouncing around. if the resistance remains high/infinite, a steady needle, there is no circuit and move on to next fret or string.

frank fords articles at frets.com on buzz causes and locations is the best i've read.

you haven't mentioned whether you have measured the neck angle to the bridge, string height at bridge, etc.

the neck angle should have been locked in before the neck was glued on.