OffsetGuitars.com

Hey all, not a stranger to Jazzmaster setup - I consider myself pretty well versed - but I'm getting some weird indistinct buzzing from my '65 Thin Skin. The neck pocket is cut at 1 degree, and there's plenty of bridge height, and I'm using a Staytrem bridge.

It'll buzz when I play around the middle of the neck, but the buzzing seems to be coming from nowhere. It isn't fret buzz. I'm assuming it's coming from the bridge, but it really feels like it's coming from a non specific area in the center of the guitar body. Anyone ever experience this?

I get unexplained buzzes that come and go sometimes.

Plugged in or unamplified? Once i had the pickguard or something inside the guitar. a wire, a screw, a rhythm circuit bracket who knows?.

Or maybe is the bridge. Something buzzes but ultimately doesn't come through the amp? Often I figure the saddles aren't actually ideal shape on any jazzmaster really.

yes. I have a particular JM (and I have many) where the pup selector switch (the lower one) will give off an indistinct rattle when I'm at certain frets, even with easy going finger-picking. took me half a year to find out. I took the thing apart a hundred times, even was afraid the culprit might be the truss rod.

strum that thing and do the test: touching/pressing down on/keeping in place every single component with your left hand, keep strumming, running up and down the strings. last time i ran into a similar issue was what seemed like a gazillion years ago, so it took me a while to remember the procedure: strum/pick, or have someone else do it, and try to 'force' every single part of the guitar into a static position and run your best ear along the guitar.

i was close to freaking out, since i 'knew about setup' and still couldn't find that nasty rattle until i asked my neighbour (who can't play) and i sat there, crouched in front of her, asking to change the guitar's orientation (sitting/standing/gig position), running my fave ear up and down the guitar, touching the guitar here and there, letting go, etc., just to find out that the ff'ing super expensive brand 3-way-togle switch was to blame.

guess this won't help in an immediate sense, but it's a good troubleshooting procedure. have someone else strum, and find the spot by touching stuff and running your good ear over the guitar. hope yo find that nasty rattle.

sometimes it's little stuff that won't bother you through an amp. but if you oftentimes play un-amped, you'll notice stuff (as in: i expect any guitar to sound great acoustically). hanging on the couch, no amp involved, and every time you hit a certain spot, the thing goes wrrrrghaaargh. plug in during rehearsal, and that thing is totally fine, electro-mechanically-wise, you get compliments for your amplified sound, but at home, when yer all alone, the thing will keep driving you nuts. that's where you'll need to start making compromises or just say: i want this thing to sound good without an amp, i want it to sound good when i'm hanging on my couch without a 67 plexi.

standard setup is just part of it. if you often play unplugged, you'll notice things that a 'regular player' will never notice/care about. does that noise ring through the (cleanish? overdrivish?) amp or is it only when you unplug?

Weirdly enough, I just had my JM in for a set up. Not much needing done, some adjustment on the truss rod, fret polishing, etc. Was playing great, it still is, but a bit of buzz developed in the open low E.. raised the action a wee bit on the bass side, no more buzz when open, but now mainly on the 5th fret low E! It seems to be coming from the conical screw directly under the low E, but I can’t figure how it was buzzing when open, and now on the fifth fret! If any of the experts around here have any ideas, I’m all out ha.
To the OP, I once had a Jag that was buzzing from underneath the pickguard, done my nut in for what seemed like years. Apparently there was a little bit of old solder causing it, so hopefully it’s easy to sort man!

Ya it's unplugged, and it doesn't really come through the amp. Still really annoying though! I guess I'll try to see if I can figure out the culprit. Thanks.

I figured it out. It's they rhythm circuit bracket buzzing. If I hold my finger on it while I strum it stops. Unfortunately it seems that tightening the screws doesn't really fix it... I really don't feel like taking this thing apart again.

Maybe you could wedge something between the bracket and the pickguard to dampen it.

If you can get some tiny rubber o-rings or something that aren't super tall, that would pretty much kill any vibrations, and if you tighten it down pretty hard with those on (a couple of nuts might help with that) then it should stay in pretty much the same place.

adamrobertt wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 08, 2021 9:32 am

I figured it out. It's they rhythm circuit bracket buzzing. If I hold my finger on it while I strum it stops. Unfortunately it seems that tightening the screws doesn't really fix it... I really don't feel like taking this thing apart again.

the screws on my bracket came stripped from new doing exactly this, so worst case the screws or bracket threads are stripped out. best case you just need a washer. you should be able to take a peek without removing the strings.

i use surgical tubing cut thin like o-rings/gaskets or metal lock washers on my rhythm circuit screws, especially the switch.

adamrobertt wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:27 am

Hey all, not a stranger to Jazzmaster setup - I consider myself pretty well versed - but I'm getting some weird indistinct buzzing from my '65 Thin Skin. The neck pocket is cut at 1 degree, and there's plenty of bridge height, and I'm using a Staytrem bridge.

It'll buzz when I play around the middle of the neck, but the buzzing seems to be coming from nowhere. It isn't fret buzz. I'm assuming it's coming from the bridge, but it really feels like it's coming from a non specific area in the center of the guitar body. Anyone ever experience this?

I had the exact same problem and it came from the Staytrem bridge . There’s a easy and quick solution explained on the Staytrem website :

https://staytrem.com/epages/950002362.s ... tent_page1

I ended up fixing this by layering some blue painter's tape and wedging it under the bracket and retightening. All good now.