Crazy advice from the guitar store employee

[viralz]

Long story short...

I went to the music store to get some advice about some fret buzz on my guitar. The guy said the problem was probably caused by the fact that my guitar's wood lost all of its humidity and got too dry.

Here comes the fucked up advice....

He suggested that I put my guitar in a plastic bag and hook it up to a humidifier for 24 hours so the wood would get its humidity back.

Now.... I have no clue if the guys is right or not.........but in my mind there is no fucking way I'm putting my 1K guitar in a plastic bag with water.

Any thoughts?

 

[exoslime]

haha.. what a ....

now, the thing is. when the season changes.. the humidity in the air and in your home changes too, and that can/will affect the guitars.. the only thing you need to do is to adjust the trussrod on your guitar a bit, and everything is fine again.

If you are unsure about that, check out some guitar manuals, tutorials on the web, but dont let this guy from the guitar shop setup your guitar..lol

for example this one:
http://www.espguitars.com/ESP_Owners_Manual.pdf

cheers and good luck
exoslime

 

[Skinny Viking]

just keep the guitar in its case when you're not using it or keep it in a temp controlled environment. As stated above, you may need to make a slight adjustment to the truss but not much else

 

[guitarguru777]

The guys is "kinda" right but hes kinda addressing the wrong problem.....

I live in the desert and I can tell you NOTHING is worse for a guitar. What he was talking about was keeping your guitar humidified. If the area around your guitar is too dry it causes the neck to shrink and what normally happens due that contraction is frets can come unseated from their slots. They can either move side to side or up and down. If they move up and down this can cause buzz.

Best thing to do is get one of these
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Grover-Guitar-Case-Humidifier/dp/B004GLHF4I[/ame]

Keep it moist and keep it in your case with your guitar and you should be fine from this ever happening again.

 

[friendforafoe]

Fret buzz could be caused anything really from needing a truss rod, neck, or action adjustment, or even different guage strings, but I do get what he was saying, even though it was a tad extreme (I would NOT do his method btw). When I was stationed out in the Middle East, my guitars were exposed to some horrible temps and conditions (I'm talking a heat index of 140 degrees Farenheit with 100% humidity ... UGH), but thankfully I take care of em like they were my children ... just don't put your kid in a guitar case ... they don't like that too much

 

[ThatGuitarGuy]

If you have an acoustic guitar this is even more of an issue.

Have you looked at the condition of your frets? I know that I need to get my acoustic guitar's first 5 frets or so replaced because they're worn and causing a buzz here and there. That problem can occur on an electric as well.

The suggestions above are great as well in regards to general "set up."

 

[cyril_v]

General rule of thumb is if it's within the first 5 frets, usually a truss rod adjustment is needed. Further down the neck it could be caused by having your action too low. Besides that it could be loose strings or maybe even the actual frets. It could be multiple things actually and if you can't diagnose the issue, I'd recommend taking it to a tech...

Using massive amounts of humidity to cure an issue would be a last ditch effort. I've actually seen a tech strap a guitar down, put lots weights hanging off of the headstock and go at it with a steamer at different intervals while adding more and more weight over the course of a day to fix a neck... that thing was twisted to hell and back though.

 

[silvermaples]

This won't fix the fret noise (truss rod adjusment would be my suggestion) but if you feel you fretboard is overly dry and are worried about the wood a lot of luthiers will use Linn Seed oil to make the fretboard shine and keep it from drying out. Don't use a lot but its not bad to condition the wood every year or two, we need these things to last right

-Cheers
Cory

 

[Clockwork]

This won't fix the fret noise (truss rod adjusment would be my suggestion) but if you feel you fretboard is overly dry and are worried about the wood a lot of luthiers will use Linn Seed oil to make the fretboard shine and keep it from drying out. Don't use a lot but its not bad to condition the wood every year or two, we need these things to last right

-Cheers
Cory

Linn Seed oil is definitely good to have for those unfinished rosewood and ebony fretboards. Also a good trick is to perforate a metal box like an altoids tin and put a moist sponge in it and leave it in your case, help humidify things in a stable environment.

 

[Damage, Inc.]

I've actually seen a tech strap a guitar down, put lots weights hanging off of the headstock and go at it with a steamer at different intervals while adding more and more weight over the course of a day to fix a neck... that thing was twisted to hell and back though.

Yes, this will soften the glue between the neck and fretboard, and will help straighten the neck out. It's usually a temporary fix though. As far as the truss rod, IMO it will help the most in between the fifth and twelfth frets. If your first few frets are buzzing, the culprit is most often a string nut that is too low.

 

[cyril_v]

Yes, this will soften the glue between the neck and fretboard, and will help straighten the neck out. It's usually a temporary fix though. As far as the truss rod, IMO it will help the most in between the fifth and twelfth frets. If your first few frets are buzzing, the culprit is most often a string nut that is too low.

Touche, I must've gotten things mixed up. :Spin:

 

[viralz]

Ya it only took 1/4 of a turn with an Allen key to fix it