Hello, I have some fret buzz on my first and second frets of my E and A strings. I am trying to fix this myself because I want to learn. I think this means I need to adjust the truss rod, right?
However, the bolt thing to my truss rod looks completely stripped:
I can’t really turn it.
Does that mean I need to make a new nut now if I want to get rid of this buzz?
Several things go into string setup and buzz
If it’s a new problem, truss rod is probably the most likely to have changed recently (wood moves), followed by fret wear.
If this guitar has always done this, it could be anything in its setup. Depending on how bad it is, it could even be intentional, the low strings are more likely to buzz and some folks are ok with it on an electric in order to get lower action on all the strings.
It’s unlikely to be (only) your nut though - once you fret a string, the nut is removed from the equation, so it can’t be the source of 2nd fret buzz (edit: any fretted buzz).
If you want to fully diagnose it rather than guess& check, you’d want a long straight-edge to check the neck straightness, a short straight-edge to check for unlevel frets (you can get a specially designed one called a fret rocker), and any small thing like a credit card to ‘measure’ your string action height at various frets.
Fixing the truss rod is a good repair to do anyway*, though. Hope this helps!
This is a new problem, so I’m guessing I was on the right path looking at the truss rod. Was bummed to see the truss rod nut stripped. I just watched a video on using a fret rocker, I’ll check with that method and see if I have uneven frets.
I do have buzzing on the open E and open A strings too, which is why I thought it could be something with the nut. You are completely correct about after I fret the 1st though.
This was very helpful, thank you!