# Fret Buzz on PRS Silver Sky?



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

I recently bought a PRS Silver Sky and had it shipped from Olympia, WA to ON. (Couldn't find a black one anywhere else.) A great neck on this guitar but with lots of fret buzz up and down the neck, though not with open strings. The guitar is set up to PRS spec, which is give or take .008 relief, 2.5/32 at twelfth fret low E. The neck looks totally straight. Others who have one say there's little buzz at factory spec. I have a medium kind of touch. Perhaps, just ignore factory spec....


----------



## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

Would really surprise me that the bridge would be the culprit. If your neck is perfectly straight, that looks like your problem. It needs a little relief. Builder's specs are a ballpark figure, each guitar is different. Olympia WA must have high humudity and your house must be drier. Wood on some guitars move accordingly to humidity. Truss rods have to be adjusted saesonally on some of my guitars from winter house heating to summer open windows.

I never measure, I do it according to the guitar response. Here's how a friend showed me and it works great 100% of the time.

First, get the neck straight. You turn the truss rod ¼ turn at a time, then check relief. If the neck is too concave, turn the truss rod nut clockwise to remove excess relief. If the neck is too convex, turn the truss rod nut counter-clockwise.

Begin by tuning to your normal pitch, i.e. if you normally play in drop D, tune to drop D. Retune between each adjustment. Start by setting the bridge height for frets 16 to 22, so that the strings play buzz free at the lowest possible height.

Start with low E. Plucking normally play fret 16. Lower the bass side of the bridge until it buzzes, raise until clear. Now play it from fret 16 to fret 22. Raise slightly if needed. Check A and D and raise slightly if needed to get clean notes. Remember to retune between steps. Then do the treble side. If you bend notes up here, try a few typical bends, to make sure they don't buzz out.

When all strings play clean go to the lower frets and neck relief. Play the high E string from fret 1 to fret 15, increasing relief (loosening trussrod counter clockwise) to relieve buzz or decreasing relief (tightening trussrod clockwise) to lower the string height. So tighten, by fractional turns (1/4 of a turn), until it buzzes and back off until it doesn't. If you bend strings , do your typical bends to insure they don't buzz out. Once satisfied, check the other strings and make small adjustments as needed, loosening by the slightest amount (1/8th of a turn) to relieve buzzing.

Once you have acceptable relief, (i.e. no buzz) and easy action, set your intonation and you're done.

This is the opposite order of most setup directions. It is based on performance and not measurements; hence, I don't take any. It works because the neck is immobile between frets 16 and 22. The trussrod only affects lower frets. By setting the upper end first, you know any buzzes are coming from too little relief. This method works for most guitars, with truss rods.


----------



## cdntac (Oct 11, 2017)

Can you hear the buzzing through an amp? If not, don’t obsess about it. 

I too don’t worry about measuring. I just set a guitar up so it plays as well as possible. Some can have lower action than others.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

cdntac said:


> Can you hear the buzzing through an amp? If not, don’t obsess about it.
> 
> I too don’t worry about measuring. I just set a guitar up so it plays as well as possible. Some can have lower action than others.


Yes, I can hear it through the amp at lower volumes. I'm accustomed to some buzz, so I guess i'll need to make other adjustments.


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

I find the Silver Sky is a bit buzzy at factory spec, if it doesn’t happen with open notes it is usually that you need to have a touch of relief in the neck and perhaps raise the action a bit. My rosewood SS played much better with the saddles about 1 turn above factory spec and a bit of neck relief-about 0.10 (less buzz, no fretting out) The maple one I have now is perfect from the factory, I havent changed anything. I’ve never had any buzz from the bridge, tuners, springs or anything else.

It is possible it has a high fret, and the little vintage frets do wear more quickly than I’m accustomed to, so have the frets levelled and crowned would probably be the next step


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

BGood said:


> Would really surprise me that the bridge would be the culprit. If your neck is perfectly straight, that looks like your problem. It needs a little relief. Builder's specs are a ballpark figure, each guitar is different. Olympia WA must have high humudity and your house must be drier. Wood on some guitars move accordingly to humidity. Truss rods have to be adjusted saesonally on some of my guitars from winter house heating to summer open windows.
> 
> I never measure, I do it according to the guitar response. Here's how a friend showed me and it works great 100% of the time.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll give it a go. I read of various owners having no buzz with factory specs, so I"m thinking, why not me too?! My strat has more relief and higher strings and plays fine. And like you say, the guitar will acclimatize for awhile.


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

This is a good starting point, the neck adjustment is super easy on this guitar-just make sure you tighten the truss rod cover when you’re done, it can buzz (forgot to mention that one)


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

zdogma said:


> I find the Silver Sky is a bit buzzy at factory spec, if it doesn’t happen with open notes it is usually that you need to have a touch of relief in the neck and perhaps raise the action a bit. My rosewood SS played much better with the saddles about 1 turn above factory spec and a bit of neck relief-about 0.10 (less buzz, no fretting out) The maple one I have now is perfect from the factory, I havent changed anything. I’ve never had any buzz from the bridge, tuners, springs or anything else.
> 
> It is possible it has a high fret, and the little vintage frets do wear more quickly than I’m accustomed to, so have the frets levelled and crowned would probably be the next step


Thanks. I will increase relief and string height where needed. My strat has more of both and plays fine. Each guitar, a character of its own, I guess.


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

coyoteblue said:


> Thanks, I'll give it a go. I read of various owners having no buzz with factory specs, so I"m thinking, why not me too?! My strat has more relief and higher strings and plays fine. And like you say, the guitar will acclimatize for awhile.


It’s a good point-PRS tends to run the action really low-it can work well if you have light touch and perfect humidity etc, but I prefer a bit of forgiveness in my guitar


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

zdogma said:


> This is a good starting point, the neck adjustment is super easy on this guitar-just make sure you tighten the truss rod cover when you’re done, it can buzz (forgot to mention that one)


This video doesn't play. If it's a PRS one, I may have seen it, but if not, please share the url. Thx. Actually it does play if I click the play symbol and not the whole image. I see a selection...is it the StewMac you're suggesting?


----------



## zdogma (Mar 21, 2006)

The pickup height adjustment is in here as well:


----------



## NashvilleDeluxe (Feb 7, 2018)

If it plays cleanly with open strings, it's not a "mechanical buzz," or sympathetic ringing of some loose part. Assuming you didn't re-string with a different gauge than factory:

1) Do your measurements again, but with a capo in 1. 
2) Bring it up to 2.5/32" with the capo in place. Check for buzz, and if it's present, play all the way up the neck until you get a clean note. Wherever it plays clean...that may be a high fret.
3) If it plays cleanly after putting the capo in 1 and raising the action, but the action measures too high with the capo off...your nut is high.

Young guitars do all kinds of shifting, fret-poking, settling, etc.
Will, at @la grange guitar workshop


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

zdogma said:


> The pickup height adjustment is in here as well:


Thanks, this is the set up I was going for!


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

NashvilleDeluxe said:


> If it plays cleanly with open strings, it's not a "mechanical buzz," or sympathetic ringing of some loose part. Assuming you didn't re-string with a different gauge than factory:
> 
> 1) Do your measurements again, but with a capo in 1.
> 2) Bring it up to 2.5/32" with the capo in place. Check for buzz, and if it's present, play all the way up the neck until you get a clean note. Wherever it plays clean...that may be a high fret.
> ...


Thanks, will check this out. To be clear, you're suggesting raising the saddles before adding more relief? And yes, mechanical buzz is not the issue.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

coyoteblue said:


> Thanks, will check this out. To be clear, you're suggesting raising the saddles before adding more relief? And yes, mechanical buzz is not the issue.


Putting a capo on the 1st made no difference on height at the twelfth.


----------



## NashvilleDeluxe (Feb 7, 2018)

coyoteblue said:


> Thanks, will check this out. To be clear, you're suggesting raising the saddles before adding more relief? And yes, mechanical buzz is not the issue.


I am suggesting that, yes. 0.010" relief is more than enough on an electric guitar with level frets. 
Okay, so raise your saddle (just one string is fine for testing) until you find a culprit fret in the higher register. 
The guitar should play cleanly with the original specs you gave...we're just trouble-shooting to find where it needs help.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

NashvilleDeluxe said:


> I am suggesting that, yes. 0.010" relief is more than enough on an electric guitar with level frets.
> Okay, so raise your saddle (just one string is fine for testing) until you find a culprit fret in the higher register.
> The guitar should play cleanly with the original specs you gave...we're just trouble-shooting to find where it needs help.


Right, did that and the guitar plays well, though relief measures a bit higher and 12th fret is at 3/32. Not a big deal. I'll look for that fret as well in the coming days.


----------



## Jeffery Young (Mar 5, 2019)

Some excellent suggestions here. Just to add a bit on fret height... it would not be impossible that 1 or 2 frets are a bit high. Just one fret, especially higher up the fretboard, can really affect overall setup. Checking relative fret height (i.e., 3 at a time) using even a credit card can be useful in at least ruling out whether you have any particular frets causing problems.


----------



## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

coyoteblue,
I don't know your experience in guitar tuning
You may know enough to risk adjustments, but not enough to be successful. You also need the right tools.
I'm not saying this is your case, I don't know you.

I have often read similar experiences on forums. After long discussions it turned out that the member was completely wrong.


----------



## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

Check pickup heights. Get them too close and you'll be in for major and seemingly inexplicable buzz.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

Latole said:


> coyoteblue,
> I don't know your experience in guitar tuning
> You may know enough to risk adjustments, but not enough to be successful. You also need the right tools.
> I'm not saying this is your case, I don't know you.
> ...


Thx. I have basic knowledge and ability for setups. Refining a setup and understanding the interplay between truss rod and saddle height adjustments is hit and miss.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

Jeffery Young said:


> Some excellent suggestions here. Just to add a bit on fret height... it would not be impossible that 1 or 2 frets are a bit high. Just one fret, especially higher up the fretboard, can really affect overall setup. Checking relative fret height (i.e., 3 at a time) using even a credit card can be useful in at least ruling out whether you have any particular frets causing problems.


Thanks...will do, though after raising saddles most of the buzz disappeared. No buzz through the amp now and little to none through the amp.


----------



## coyoteblue (Feb 8, 2006)

Smylight said:


> Check pickup heights. Get them too close and you'll be in for major and seemingly inexplicable buzz.
> [/QUOTE
> Pickup height was not a problem though it sounded like it might be...thx.


----------

