Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
User avatar
Sonichris
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 968
Joined: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:56 pm
Location: Wear gloves - I'm in the Rockies

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by Sonichris » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:46 pm

I had an Electric XII with a similar ( I think) issue. It turned out to need a shim because the bridge was as low as it could go in the body, so much so that it wasn't sitting on the bridge height adjusters at all, and it caused a rattle. I raised the bridge just a little, like maybe a half turn once I was sure the screws were hitting the metal plate below, and it went away. But the string height wasn't optimal, so I put a very slight shim in it, (maybe a business card in the end of the pocket) and re-adjsuted the action. No more buzz or rattle, and perfect action.

I can see in your picture yours is very low in the adjustment. Could be the same thing.

Food for thought.

User avatar
akpasta
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:34 am

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by akpasta » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:49 pm

Sonichris wrote:
Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:46 pm
I had an Electric XII with a similar ( I think) issue. It turned out to need a shim because the bridge was as low as it could go in the body, so much so that it wasn't sitting on the bridge height adjusters at all, and it caused a rattle. I raised the bridge just a little, like maybe a half turn once I was sure the screws were hitting the metal plate below, and it went away. But the string height wasn't optimal, so I put a very slight shim in it, (maybe a business card in the end of the pocket) and re-adjsuted the action. No more buzz or rattle, and perfect action.

I can see in your picture yours is very low in the adjustment. Could be the same thing.

Food for thought.
Thanks for your account. I only discounted it before because I asked a shop whether a shim would help and they told me likely not because the break angle is already steep enough. I have tried adjusting the bridge height (to a playable higher level) to no avail, I suppose I could raise it to an unplayable height just to see if it goes away. If it does, then a shim would be a possibility.

User avatar
akpasta
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:34 am

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by akpasta » Wed May 22, 2019 7:49 am

I tried raising the bridge height to an unplayable higher level to see if the higher break angle (like using a shim for example) would fix the buzz, to no avail.

I've taken the guitar back to a shop and we'll figure it out. There's also a user on this board who's offered to send me some spare saddles so if it is indeed saddle buzzing I can experiment cutting grooves or modding the offending string saddle to see if I can fix it.

I have a hard time believing all xii's have saddle buzz due to the rounded saddle design, I really hope it's something else.

The guitar has been re-fretted and had a new nut made. Even though this sounds 100% like saddle overtone sitar-buzz who knows, maybe there's something else contributing to it.

User avatar
akpasta
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:34 am

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by akpasta » Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:17 am

Btw, I took this guitar to a different shop than the one who originally re-fretted it and made a new nut for it and asked em to do a fret dress and make me a new nut and it cleared everything up. Even though the issue REALLY seemed like a saddle buzzing, it was coming from the frets, they said that it wasn't quite done exactly right and there was some upswing near the bottom of the fretboard that was causing the buzzing. Finally got this thing sorted, it's amazing hahaha.

User avatar
mgeek
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1436
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:03 pm

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by mgeek » Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:45 am

Glad you got this sorted, it was getting painful to read! ;D

User avatar
Tele295
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 99
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:05 am
Location: Ventura, CA
Contact:

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by Tele295 » Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:37 am

Have you eliminated the possibility that the springs are buzzing?
Jill Martini & The Shrunken Heads - all aloha, all the time

User avatar
akpasta
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:34 am

Re: Fender Electric XII Saddle Buzzing

Post by akpasta » Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:56 am

Tele295 wrote:
Sat Jul 13, 2019 7:37 am
Have you eliminated the possibility that the springs are buzzing?
Oh yes, about a year ago haha. This has been going on a while.

Post Reply