Guitar Action Help

Gear
#1

Hello everyone. My guitar’s action is 3mm on the low E at the first fret and 5mm at the 24th fret! My truss rod had 3mm of relief when checking it at the 9th fret. My trem is set perfect and flush as far as the knife edge is concerned.

If I lower my action anymore at this point, I get unbearable fret buzz, and my string buzzes or chokes out the note on the fret directly above the one I’m playing.

If anyone can offer any tips on how to rectify this, I’d really appreciate it. Shim the nut? Shim the neck? I know I could take it to a shop, but I prefer trying things myself. Thank you!

#2

Where is your fret buzz when you attempt to lower it?

#3

At the fret higher than the one I’m playing.

#4

All across the neck though?

#5

My misunderstanding. Yes.

#6

If you go from no buzz, lower it a tad at the saddles and all of a sudden it buzzes all across the board, it sounds like the action is as low as it can be on the saddle side. You could tighten the truss rod to see if that works. Based on you saying 3mm at the first fret though, sounds like the nut might be too high, unless the strings aren’t properly seated at the nut… You wouldn’t happen to be using very thick gauges that the nut isn’t filed for?

#7

Yes sir in fact I am using thick gauges. I always played 9-42s in E standard. I recently joined a metal band that tunes to drop A. I wanted to retain the same tension as when I’m in standard, so I of course had to increase my string gauges. The low E is a 62!

#8

Ok well that could be the issue, can you look at the nut and see if the strings are properly seated? Sounds like you might need to file the nut for the increased string thickness.

#9

:man_facepalming:t3:Thank you, I’m a freakin bonehead and didn’t even think about the increased gauge size in relation to the nut. It definitely could be filed down a bit for the low E (A) string. I really appreciate you responding to my post!!

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#10

Anytime man! I’ll add that some people suggest having a whole different nut just for thick strings, in case you want to go back to your E standard set and the additional width causes stability issues.

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#11

That’s a fantastic idea. Thanks again!

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