SBMM JP70 fret buzz

[Osteoporozis]

Hey folks,

This John Petrucci sig model has been my main instrument for almost two years now but it seems its time has past now that I've found the love of my life. I was gonna hold on to it anyway because there's a lot of sentiment there, but this new 8 string is really just such dramatically higher quality that I know I'll never play it again. So I'm looking at passing it on to a friend for a decent price - just one problem.

As long as I've had this thing it's had some really nasty issues with fret buzz - the 15th fret on the A and D strings just doesn't play, period. I don't know about the rest of everyone but that's a kind of important area for me. I've taken it in to the local shop twice now and the guy tells me there's nothing he can do about it, it's just a nuance of extended range guitars (my new 8 string would disagree but nevermind that for now). I've played with the action and tension, set the strings as high as possible, and the truss rod seems fine. The only other thing I know of to try is a fret level, but I don't know if I should bother or not.

So, is this an expected problem for this tier of seven strings? Should I sell it to my buddy, bad frets and all and leave him to deal with it or dump a bit more money into it first?

 

[cardinal]

Without seeing it, I suspect that perhaps the 16th fret has become unseated in the middle, causing it to rise up and cause buzzing at the 15th fret. Or the 15th fret was hammered in too harshly and sits too low.

If you have something straight and rigid (maybe a credit card) that will span three frets, you can rock it across the frets to see if one of them is obviously too high or too low.

Uneven frets aren't necessarily "expected" more these types of guitars, but it certainly happens. I would take it to a competent repairman (hard to find, actually) and ask him to level frets 12-24. It might cost only $50-60, and the guitar will be better than new.

But make sure the repairman doesn't just start leveling. Make him check to see if the problem is a fret bowing out of the slot in the middle of the neck. Because if that's the only issue, he should just be able to glue that fret down without doing otherwise unnecessary fret leveling.

 

[Petar Bogdanov]

If it's just the 15th fret and not the frets below it, then it's a low 15th fret. It needs leveled, or a refret of that one particular fret. Fret.

Of course, you should confirm this with a fret rocker. Definitely find a competent tech, though. Yours is either lying or ignorant.

 

[weirdoku]

Just want to add you'd probably want to straighten the neck first before checking the frets. If you know the neck is straight then it's the frets.

 

[Osteoporozis]

Thanks a bunch for the tips. I was just afraid it wasn't a problem that's fixable - I wish I'd taken it to someone else sooner now, because the way I had set the action to compensate made playing the guitar very uncomfortable. I'll feel much better about selling it knowing that the next owner isn't gonna have to deal with it.

Now, before I go knocking on doors looking for someone competent, anything I should look for in a shop before taking it in? Or does anyone know of anyone good in southeastern WI/northeastern IL?

 

[vick1000]

...it's just a nuance of extended range guitars...

Utter nonsense. Never take anything to that idiot again, even if it's for free.