Guitar is messed up.

[rbchampion24]

Ok I'm sorry if this is the wrong section but... I just got a Epiphone les paul special 2 for christmas and just recently started playing it. Now say when I play a "E power chord" the string will ring against the metal seperating the frets. And it does not play clear in my amp its always ringing. I have a Epiphone studio 10S. It also makes a buzzing noise when i plug it into the amp.

[cbarrow7625]

Sounds like the neck on your guitar needs to have the truss rod tightened. If you look straight down the neck from the headstock to the bridge (or vice versa) you might see that the neck is bowing up towards the strings a little or that it is perfectly flat. The neck should actually have a slight curve away from the strings (not much just a tiny bit). That leaves clearance for the strings to vibrate above the frets.

On one end of the neck or the other (depends on the guitar) there is a place to adjust the neck tension - the truss rod. Tightening it (clockwise) will make the neck bow away from the strings, loosening it will make it bow toward the strings.

Now, if that does not appear to be the problem, then it might just be that the bridge is set too low. You simply need to raise the bridge up a little (or the individual string saddles if there is individual adjustment there). Just do it a little at a time until it feels right.

Most likely you will need to perform some combination of both adjustments to get it right. Google "truss rod adjustment" or "guitar action setup" and you will probably get a ton of instructions on how to do this with far more detail than I have provided.

[John_H]

On one end of the neck or the other (depends on the guitar) there is a place to adjust the neck tension - the truss rod. Tightening it (clockwise) will make the neck bow away from the strings, loosening it will make it bow toward the strings.

This is wrong. loosening the rod will add relief. If you aren't sure about what you're doing, take it to a pro.

[cbarrow7625]

Thanks John. My bad. Not enough caffeine in the system yet....

[John_H]

MMMM coffee..

[Robert M. Martinelli]

Just a footnote, as the symptoms you' re facing show an excessive truss rod tension ( which makes the neck convex ) I strongly suggest to loosen the truss rod ASAP, otherwise there is the possibility for the neck to "get seasoned" in this convex position and if is stays that way too long even loosening the truss rod will not help.

A small hint on how to simply check for the correct amount of relief:
You can check the correct amount of relief by pressing the low "E" at the first and last fret at the same time, thus using the low "E" string as a "reference ruler", and verify that around the 7th-9th fret you have a concavity ( clearance between the low "E" string and frets ) around 0.04" ( 1 mm ), this is usually enough to let the strings move freely without touching the frets and should eliminate any "buzzing". Some guitars need more, some less, but ALL need at least a little concavity. Convexity is a critical condition and should be promptly removed.


As already stated, loosening the truss rod adds relief ( because the string tension prevail ) tightening it makes the neck more convex ( because the truss rod tension prevail ).

Hope this helps

Best regards

Bob

[Regis]

I highly recommend taking the guitar to a pro for a proper setup. It should cost about $25.

Tell him what kind of action you like, and he will adjust the neck and action to your liking. I know a lot of guys do their own setups but the chances of getting it right the first time having no experience is small.

Good luck!