Do Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars have naturally buzzy necks?
Fret buzz is when you play your guitar and the strings literally make a buzzing sound; this buzzing can happen whether strings are played open, or maybe your Strat neck only buzzes when playing chords on certain frets.
There are some Strats and Teles by Fender or Squier you'll play that have absolutely no fret buzz problems at all, while other same-brand guitars - even the expensive ones mind you - buzz all over the place.
Why is this? Well, I'll list off the obvious and non-obvious reasons why a Fender or Squier neck will buzz out on you.
The obvious reasons
Neck needs a truss rod alignment
If the neck relief isn't set properly, the strings will buzz like crazy. Check your neck relief to make sure it's proper. If you have absolutely no idea how to align a truss rod, head over to your local guitar store and have the in-store guitar tech do it. It's not expensive.
Bridge saddles are set too low
If the truss rod is properly aligned and you're still getting fret buzz, raise the saddles slightly and this may cure the problem.
Note: You can have both the truss rod and the saddles set up properly at the same time if you have an on-site guitar tech do it in the guitar store. In fact it's usually a good idea to have the tech do both at the same time, and he won't charge you any extra for it.
Pickups are raised too high
This is an easy one you can do yourself. Pickups that are raised very high can cause string buzz. Grab a screwdriver, lower your pickups a few turns and the buzz may go away.
REMEMBER: Standard Strat and Tele pickups are low-output by nature, and while raising them does increase output volume, the drawback is that you may get string buzz because of that. If the output is too low for your liking after you lower your pickups, consider getting a BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer pedal to compensate for that.
The non-obvious reasons
Saddle type doesn't adjust high enough
With Strats and Teles you either have bent steel saddles, Telecaster-style two-strings-per-saddle (usually made of brass) or modern block saddles.
Here's a few links to some guitars so you can actually see what I'm talking about:
The Squier Bullet Strat has block saddles on it.
The Mexican-made Fender Standard Stratocaster has bent steel saddles on it.
The Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster '50s has Telecaster-style two-strings-per-saddle saddles on it.
From a top-down view, you may not see the difference between the block and bent steel, but trust me, they're very different.
The least-buzz-prone saddle type is block.
Why is the block saddle better for fret buzz prevention? Because you can raise them higher than bent steel saddles. If you look at the top of a bent steel saddle where the "hump" is that the string rests on, once you raise the saddle as high as the screw length is, you can go no further because the screw will fall out. With a block saddle you have extra vertical mass for the screw to go through and can therefore raise the saddle much higher if you need to.
In plain English: With block saddles you will never have to set them super-high because you have a lot of vertical height adjustment at your disposal. But with bent steel, on some Strats and Teles you may wish you had just a few more millimeters of vertical adjustment to kill fret buzz, should your Strat or Tele be buzz-prone.
Bridge is set too flush to the body
This only applies to Stratocaster type guitars.
If you take off the rear plate of your Strat, you'll see a tremolo block, 3 to 5 springs connected to that block on one side, the other side with hoops that are hooked to the tremolo claw, and two screws connecting that claw to the body.
Note: The tremolo claw is called a claw because the 5 flaps where the spring hoops go around are bent back on purpose in claw-like style so those hoops stay put.
The part to pay attention to is the tremolo claw screws. Those two big screws control how much "float" the bridge has on a Stratocaster.
The DEEPER the tremolo claw screws are into the body, the more the bridge will be flush to the body and the tighter it will hold its position. The SHALLOWER the tremolo claw screws are, the more the bridge will FLOAT above the body and the looser it will hold its position.
Most Strat players - including myself - don't prefer a floating bridge because it's annoying to keep in tune.
However, having tremolo claw screws that are screwed in too deep can cause string buzz.
You can cure this problem by loosening your tremolo claw screws to where the bridge just starts to float - and I mean barely. That tiny amount of float may adjust the angle of the string over the saddle just enough to cure string buzz problems.
You'll have to experiment to see how much or little you need to loosen your tremolo claw screws before your bridge starts to float a tiny bit.
And remember: Any time you adjust your tremolo claw screws, you'll probably have to adjust your saddle heights and possibly readjust your intonation slightly as well. When you adjust how much the bridge floats, your strings will probably go wildly out of tune and buzz all over the place at first. That's totally normal. Adjust what you need to and hopefully the buzz problems will go away.
"I've done all of the above and I still get fret buzz. What can I do?"
Let's say for the moment you did every single thing above. You took your guitar to a tech, who adjusted the neck relief and saddles properly. Then you lowered your pickups, switched out to block saddles and adjusted your bridge to have a tiny amount of float...
...but the damned thing still has fret buzz.
You basically have two more options at this point.
1. Have a luthier perform a fret leveling
This isn't cheap to have this service done, and you'll be without your guitar for a while because it's a slow job. There's also the huge risk that your guitar will play like a completely different instrument when you get it back - and it may not be something you like. In other words, a fret leveling may ruin how the guitar plays when in your hands. Sure, the frets will be perfectly leveled, but the leveling may take away the character of the guitar.
2. Change the nut
A guitar tech can do this, and it's an easy job. In addition, if the strings rest too high when sitting in the nut, this can be adjusted by filing away excess (it's suggested to have the tech do that) until you get them to the height you feel comfortable with.
Changing the nut fortunately doesn't change the playing characteristic of the guitar, but it may change other things, such as sustain of the string. And yes, there is such a thing as "too much sustain".
My suggestion if considering a nut change is this: If you're totally happy with the way your guitar plays and sounds but you're buzzing out like crazy and think installing a new nut will cure the problem, seek out a nut material that is exactly the same as what you have right now so there will be no surprises.
"I have a 'perfect Strat (or Tele)' that was set up professionally. Everything is correct, and there is absolutely nothing else I can have fixed, modified or replaced on my guitar - yet I'm still getting fret buzz. What now?"
This is where the bitter truth hurts.
Some Strats and Teles will naturally have necks with fret buzz and there's not a damned thing you can do about it simply because of how certain Fender electric guitar necks are made.
Fender and Squier necks are curvy by design. Vintage spec is a "V" or "soft V" shape (the back of the neck has a bit of a point to it in the center line) with a 7.25-inch radius fretboard, and modern spec is a "C" shape (the back of the neck is rounded more like the shape of a letter C) with a flatter 9.5-inch radius fretboard. These designs are for all intents and purposes the roundest necks you could play...
...and rounder necks sometimes gets a bit buzzy on the frets; that's just the way it is.
I'm sure some of you out there have picked up an expensive (as in the over-$1,200 range) Strat or Tele in the guitar store, strummed a few chords, heard string buzz and then shook your head in disbelief. You probably thought, "How can something this expensive buzz like that?" Chances are pretty good that expensive Fender axe was properly set up, and the fret buzz it makes is just part of what the guitar is supposed to play like.
Am I saying that certain Fender guitars are supposed to have fret buzz? No. But I am saying that certain Strat and Tele setups are more buzz-prone than others.
For example, a new Fender American Vintage '57 Stratocaster built to total vintage spec with the soft V-shape neck, 7.25-inch radius, bent steel saddles and smaller frets like they made in the old days will probably buzz out like crazy. And it's also probably true the cheap-as-hell Squier Bullet Strat with the modern C-shape neck, 9.5-inch radius, block saddles and medium jumbo frets will buzz a lot less, if at all.
Does this mean the cheap-ass Bullet is better than the '57? No. But it does mean that modern Strat dimensions mated with modern hardware is sometimes the better choice for you, the player.
Strats and Teles are not "automatic" guitars and never have been
On a final note, I know for a fact that Strats and Teles can be challenging to get a good sound out of. Nothing about either guitar is "automatic", and you have to really work at it to wrangle a good tone out of them.
What I'm saying here is that Strats and Teles are quirky by nature; this is why whenever a heavy metal player picks up a traditional 3-single-coil Strat or two-single-coil Tele, he'll play it for a few moments and then say, "This guitar plays and sounds like crap. I hate it." The reason the metal dude says that is because Strats and Teles are totally out of his element. If the guy is totally used to playing super-low-action Ibanez RG guitars with super-flat fretboards and pickups with super-hot output, of course he'll hate the Strat and Tele. He'll encounter a little bit of fret buzz and instantly judge the guitar to be a complete piece of crap because of that...
...and that's okay. Some guys and gals just don't like Fenders and Squiers. But there are others like myself that like the personality of Fender design. Once you come to understand the beast that is Fender design, you start to enjoy the guitars they make a whole lot more.
Rich's Bad Guitar Lessons: Fake Pedal Steel Sound on a Fender Stratocaster
Note on the video: It's long. Almost 24 minutes. However it's worth your time to check it out because if you were wondering how I got that pedal steel sound out of a Stratocaster, the video will show you exactly how it's done.
There are a few things mentioned in the video, and here are the links to them:
I have an article explaining in detail the difference between staggered and flat pole pieces in pickups here.
The guitar being played in the video is the Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS.
I strings I mentioned are D'Addario EXL120.
The compressor pedal I briefly mentioned is the BOSS CS-3; a favorite of many guitar players.
we all live in a capital i
I discovered something amazing on Netflix. Sesame Street: Classics. It starts with 1974 and goes from there.
I've watched a few episodes and I can't even begin to describe how unbelievably heartfelt it all is. When I was very little, my mother had a standing rule that during the day that the TV would be on "nothing but channel 2", which was (and still is) WGBH Boston, a public television station. As such I watched many, many, many hours of Sesame Street. And it worked, because I was reading before everyone else in kindergarten. In fact, I was - and this is no joke - scolded by a teacher because I was reading books before all the other kids were. Fortunately my father was involved in the Board of Education for the town and that teacher very quickly let me read whatever I wanted after that once my father found out I wasn't allowed to do so because of some ridiculous "everyone at the same pace" rule. Sesame Street taught me to read, and that's the 100% truth.
One of the animated shorts from the first season features the song Capital I, written by Steve Zuckerman. You may not know who he is, but you know his work. He has a huge number of television credits including Full House, The Golden Girls, Friends, Everyone Loves Raymond and many more.
I'm just starting to watch the '74 season, and Capital I is in the first episode. Although I remembered 99% of the shorts and skits from when I was a kid, this one was new to me and it just blew me away. I love the song so much I'm actually thinking of learning it on guitar. Yes, it has a total hippie vibe to it, but that just makes it all the more awesome. My only complaint about it is that it's under a minute long.
Capital I sounds like a very serious song, but it's not. It's just a simple acoustic tune with seriously powerful bellowing vocals in front of it. On a kid's show. Sesame Street back in the day had so much balls to broadcast great stuff like this.
Here are the lyrics. You can totally read between the lines on this one. Or at least I can.
We all live in a capital I
In the middle of the desert
In the center of the sky
And all day long we polish on the I
To keep it clean and shiny, so it brightens up the sky
Rubbing it here, and scrubbing it there
Polishing the I, so high in the air
As we work, we sing a lively tune
It is great to to be so happy on a busy afternoon
And when we're through with the day's only chore
We go into the I, and we close the door
Capital I
Capital I
Capital I
Capital I
Now there's two immediate interpretations that pop into my head here. If you replaced I with eye, this could be read as a mind journey, or complete escapism. The lyrics go way, way deeper than they appear on the surface. Like I said, it's just really ballsy stuff. And very, very clever.
I was born in the '70s, but the mid-70s seasons were rerun like crazy during the late 1970s and early 80s when I was watching Sesame Street most heavily. And to say these shows remind me of my childhood is a huge understatement. Some of the animated shorts as well as the puppeteering skits touches on memories I haven't thought of in many years.
Back when my father was alive I talked with him about Sesame Street, he told me about times when I was so engrossed in the show, just sitting there, watching, and he'd watch me mouth along to what the show was teaching. Dad knew what was going on. I was learning. While I thought it was just a way to pass the time, my brain was getting filled with knowledge. And like I said, it worked.
To truly appreciate 1970s era Sesame Street, you basically have to be from my generation. Those who are younger than I won't get it - but that's okay. I'm not saying my generation is any better or worse than another, but the children's television we had was freakin' AMAZING.
Confession: I have never played a guitar that felt or sounded perfect on the first try
I bought a Fender Stratocaster recently. Was the purchase of the guitar one of those magical moments in the guitar store where the instrument felt perfect when I played it and I just "had to have it"? Nope. In fact, the guitar played and sounded like absolute crap in the store. The strings were old, slightly rusted and scratchy, the cord I used to plug into the amp was almost broken beyond repair, and the amp I used was a crappy little Marshall that sounded plastic and terrible. So why did I buy it? I'll explain that in a moment.
I've played quite a few guitars over the years. Fender, Gibson, Squier, Epiphone, Jackson, Dean, B.C. Rich, etc. I've played new guitars, somewhat-used guitars, beat-up guitars, vintage guitars, guitars that were well worn-in, guitars that were old but not worn-in at all, pristine clean guitars, dirty full-of-gunk guitars and so on. While I haven't played them all (who could?), I've put my hands on a good number of them, and the result is always the same with me. No guitar I've ever played felt or sounded perfect on the first try.
With any guitar I acquire, I won't know if I actually like it until it's broken in. For example, my 2010 Squier Bullet Strat is now well-worn-in and has a neck to die for. It plays amazingly well and has single-coil pickups that are bright and even somewhat "screechy" to some ears, but I dig it. She's a great player. Yeah, there are dings in the neck now. Yeah, the pick guard is all scratched up. But she can sing because my hands have been on that guitar enough to break it in proper and make her sing.
The Fender I bought for features first because of the way its electronics were done. When I got it home, I first did a video on it, then right after that switched out the strings. After that I played it for a day, then adjusted the saddles. I haven't even opened up the back plate yet, and haven't intonated it yet either. First setup of any guitar I buy usually takes several weeks, because I have to play it a ton before I get to all the stuff I need to adjust.
Anyway, I'm fast learning that the Fender I bought wants to be played. She's a totally different animal compared to the Squier axes I have, but over time I'll be able to set her up to where it will be just right for the way I play. In my experience it takes time before a guitar truly feels like yours.
While testing the Fender I have now in the guitar store, it played and sounded like crap like I said, but I saw the potential that she could be something wonderful, and she is fast becoming just that.
Things I know in advance whenever I enter a guitar store
I'm not saying all guitar stores are like this, but I always experience the following whenever I'm in one:
- No new guitar will be set up correctly, even if there's a sticker on it claiming it was set up.
- The strings on any new guitar I pick up will be old or rusty (when you see black lines, that's rust). This is because most guitars regardless of price are shipped with strings that started to rust even before it arrived at the store.
- The back of the neck for any guitar will feel like plastic because it's been sitting on the wall or the floor collecting dust and hasn't been cleaned (possibly for weeks). When you pick it up, you're mashing all that dust right into the neck, hence the plastic feel.
- The fingerboard will also feel like plastic for the same reason the back of the neck does.
- Tuners on new guitars - even the expensive ones - won't feel right at all because they've hardly been used. For example, when you pick up an expensive axe, go to tune and the tuner actually clicks noticeably, that means it probably hasn't been adjusted for weeks.
Cheaper guitars in the store believe it or not always play and sound better than the expensive ones. Why? Because cheaper axes are picked up and played more because they're more affordable. Expensive axes just sit.. and sit.. and sit for weeks or even months on end. And of course they're always mounted high or put in glass cases so nobody can get to them unless they specifically request it.
I have never experienced a perfect-playing or perfect-sounding guitar in the guitar store; that's never happened to me. I know that whatever I get will require setup and many hours of play before it's broken in properly.
I'm not saying the 'magic moment' can't happen in a guitar store when you pick up certain guitars, but it's never happened to me in my years of playing. I know that whatever I buy needs to be played and played often for a while before it can truly sing for me.
Rich buys a 2012 Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS (with extra info)
For the second time in my life, I have bought a Fender guitar. Okay, well that's not entirely accurate. The first true Fender Stratocaster I ever owned was bought for me by my father in 1993 USA Standard for an 18th birthday present. I still own that guitar but it has a busted neck that needs replacement. However the new guitar I just purchased, the 2012 Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS, I bought myself today.
The MP HSS is the lowest-cost Fender-branded Stratocaster that currently exists. It is "Crafted in China", meaning it's a China-made guitar. Being it is part of the Modern Player series, it is distinctively different compared to a normal Strat concerning the way it operates.
Being this is the lowest-priced Fender Strat, it's inexpensive. In fact, it's even less expensive than some upper-end Squier guitars. I did not pay anywhere near full price for this because I traded in my acoustic guitar for it being that I never played it, and the fact the Modern Player Strat just dropped in price by 25 bucks on top of the steep discount most retailers are giving the guitar now.
My guess is that Fender is having a hard time selling China-made Fender-branded guitars. For some reason people think "China" means "junk". That's not the case here.
I've read in a few places that people think this guitar is nothing more than an upper-end Squier with a Fender label on it. I don't agree with this for several reasons:
- There is no Strat in Squier's lineup that comes anywhere close to the features the Modern Player offers.
- The frets are perfect. No sharp edges, no surprises.
- Proper Strat profile and not the "slim" version.
- Proper Fender details everywhere from truss rod hole to neck bolt plate.
- Premium dot inlays.
- A far superior cut of maple for the neck compared to Squier brand (you can see this the moment you look at it).
- Proper tight neck fitting with no obvious gaps in the neck pocket.
The Modern Player Strat is definitely all Fender all around and significantly upgraded compared to Squier brand. Most people would give this guitar a miss just because of its country of origin - and that's just fine because it means I got a better deal on it.
The Modern Player gives you 7 different tones, and does it in an interesting way. Tone 2 is a push-pull that splits the humbucker to a single-coil, so that means you have the following pickup selections:
- Bridge - Humbucker
- Bridge - Single-Coil
- Bridge + Middle - Humbucker + Single-Coil
- Bridge + Middle - Single-Coil + Single-Coil
- Middle
- Middle + Neck
- Neck
Tone 1 (middle knob) controls the tone for the middle and neck pickup. Tone 2 (bottom knob) controls the bridge alone. This is very different from a Standard in the respect that the bridge is usually "always on 10" (not affected by tone control whatsoever), the middle is controlled by Tone 2 and the neck is controlled by Tone 1.
The bridge humbucker does have adjustable screws on the outer coil near the bridge, which means you can adjust it manually to have staggered-style poles if you want - and that's a very nice touch. Fender didn't have to do that, but did anyway offering the player even more control over the sound.
The dot inlays are off-white, which looks like vintage clay color, and they're perfect. When you run your finger over them, you absolutely cannot feel the edge of any dot. This is something normally reserved for premium Fender guitars, but it's standard on the Modern Player.
Pickups are definitely better than Squier. There's more top and bottom end, and fortunately this is controlled easily with the tone knobs.
All the knobs have a nice curve to them, meaning no "jumpy" nature when adjusting volume or tone.
I honestly didn't think the guitar was going to be as good as it is. The Modern Player HSS is a total "sleeper" Strat. For all intents and purposes you could call this a "Basic SuperStrat" and that would be accurate.
The Modern Player may be a Chinese Fender, but there's no way this could be called a Squier with a Fender label on it. It's total Fender all the way around, the quality is there, and is definitely deserved of the Fender brand label.