5th String Buzz

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Epiphone Banjo Pickers

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Where Epiphone players can come and talk about strings, setup and other tweaks to get the best tone/sound from their banjo

72 Members, Created 11/26/2011 -

Administrators: MightyMOBanjo (owner)

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From MightyMOBanjo on 7/3/2013 5:53:06 AM

All of a sudden I started to get a buzz on my 5th sting. Thought that the head might have loosen so I tighten it up, but that did not help. Looked like the bridge may have moved a little, straighten it up but that did not help either. Had someone look at the neck, and we both thought that it looked ok (although I am not good at seeing these things). I thought that the 5th string nut may have sunken into the neck, but don't know. I have not changed the strings in a while, I know when I would get a buzz on one of my guitars I will change the strings and that would stop it, and is probably one of the 1st things I should have done before making this post. And if I pluck the 5th string on all the frets the buzz stops on the 7th fret. So does anyone have any ideas? It is driving me crazy.

2 Comments
	Klondike Waldo says: 7/3/2013 5:44:23 PM Could it be you need to tiighten the head a wee bit?
	benderb9 says: 7/3/2013 6:03:29 PM if it buzzes open to the 7th fret the nut may have sunken or had the groove in it go below the right height. if it is only buzzing at the 6th fret and stops at the 7th it is a fret I'd wager. Is the action good along the length of the fret board for the other strings? Stewart MacDonald and Elderly have little pieces of bone for the 5th string nut. You might try sawing a piece off a dog bone or even a guitar nut and putting it into a cordless drill and sand it down to size. You can also try a heavier gauge 5th string and that might help. New strings are the first place to start and then start going through the easy stuff. I put some pretty heavy (by banjo standards) strings on mine and it sounds great to me. Good luck...I needed a magnifying glass to see the 'lil bugger when I changed mine out. It was too low out of the gate on my Epi MB200. In fact the whole thing needed adjusting and it was a LOT better when it all got done. Just be patient doing the work and study up before you do anything...mostly almost anything you can do is easily un-done.
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