What causes Fret Buzz? … and How to Fix it!

So. You’ve got a guitar that you love. It looks, feels, and sounds great… but, some (or all) of your strings are buzzing against the frets and it’s driving you nuts. Let’s take a look at some of the common causes of fret buzz and the appropriate ways to address each one. By the way, this is just an overview and not an in-depth tutorial.

Let’s first define what “fret buzz” is in the first place. Fret buzz is the annoying sound caused by a guitar string rattling/buzzing against a fret wire when the guitar string is being plucked or played. There are three common causes of fret buzz:

Frets are not level with each other (some are taller, some are shorter)
String Action is too low
Neck does not have enough “relief” (neck is too straight, or bowing backwards)

Note: I did not include technique as a cause of fret buzz, but it is worth mentioning because, at a certain point, the cause of fret buzz is the player and not the guitar. Basically, if the player attacks the string too aggressively on a perfectly fine guitar, fret buzz will still occur.

#1 – Frets are not level with each other

The rule is the frets on your guitar are supposed to be level with each other. That means they should all be the same height. There is an exception to this rule (upper fret “fall-away”), but I will not be getting in to that here. When the frets are not level with each other, that means some of the frets are shorter and some of the frets are taller. It’s the tall frets that the string physically comes in to contact with, resulting in fret buzz. The string does not buzz against the low frets. Pictures will probably help illustrate what I’m saying. Read For More Information – https://www.haloguitars.com/store/blog/what-causes-fret-buzz-and-how-to-fix-it/

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