Dead note on my acoustic

[Ernie Ball 1988]

I have a Washburn acoustic.. pretty good for $250 at music123.. solid top, grover tuners.. anyway when I got it it buzzed real bad so I took it to the local guitar shop and they fixed it for me. Everything is still good but now when I play E 12th fret on the high E string you can still kind of hear the note but it sounds different (its not too bad).. kind of like the string is rubbing up against the next fret and sounds like a string hitting metal? Yeah I know.. its real hard to explain. So I really don't wanna take it to the shop again cause they charge way to much so I guess the real question here is do you think that a string change will do the job ?

[frpax]

Sounds to me like a truss-rod adjustment is in order. Not much of an adjustment, though

[Bytor1975]

I agree with frpax. Ever so slighty loosen the truss rod. Just a teenie bit.

[Ernie Ball 1988]

Eh.. how do I do that? :)

[nothin but the blues]

I agree with the other guys, sounds like they did a poopy job setting it up (not uncommon with Tech's at Guitar Center).

You can try adjusting your truss rod on your own, however with someone inexperienced doing it, I would really bring it to a reputable tech, or luthier to have it set up. When you start making such adjustments, your also going to be taking the risk of throwing off your intonation, and your headaches will be much greater than they are now.

Of course I understand the financial situation too, and your not dealing with a several thousand dollar guitar. So, I would recommend you only to 1/4 turns at a time, you need to be very careful, as it could case major damage. The place to adjust your truss rod will either be located on the headstock of your guitar, or just inside the sound hole (depends on the maker). It will be a hex screw that you need to turn. Turning the hex one way will bend your neck back, and the other will bow it forward.

Here is a decent article about adjusting a truss rod.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/TrussRods/TrussRodAdj/tradj.html

Just take your time...

Good luck with it, and let us know if you have any other questions we may be able to help answer. :thumbsup:

[Bytor1975]

I just want to add something really quick.. make sure you use the correct sized allens wrench when turning the truss rod. You don't want to put the wrong size one in, and mess up the inside of the truss rod end by the wrong sized wrentch slipping or spinning inside it! Being it is a Washburn, I am betting that it is a metric sized allens wrench that fits in there. Hopefully the guitar came with an allens wrench with it!

[nothin but the blues]

Thanks for adding that Jason! :thumbsup: Stripping the head of the trust rod is def. something you don't want too do! haha!

[Ernie Ball 1988]

Thanks for the info guys! I'm gonna have a look at it tommorow. :thumbsup:

[tenthumbs]

And give er a little time to 'breath' in between truss rod adjustments.

[frpax]

And give er a little time to 'breath' in between truss rod adjustments.
Yeah, I'd give it a 1/4 turn. If that doesn't do it, then wait 20 - 30 minutes and give it another 1/4 turn. I can't imagine that you'd need any more adjustment than that.

[vintage_brat]

before you start cranking on the neck. and its only one string doing it I would check the saddle height for that string. The other thing to check is for a high fret. With it being an outside string it may just be a matter of tapping the fret back to where its seated.
Another thing is String guage. if they used a lighter string or even a different brand of string (yes they do very somewhat)when they set it up it could be riding too low in the saddle.

There are numerous ways to check the relief. Fret the guitar at the first fret and simultaneously at the 2nd to last highest fret. and see how the neck lies in relation to the strings.
There are 2 things you should see here. first the strings should arc away from you to match the radius of the neck. Second you should see a gap (relief) between the string and the frets. The largest gap should be between the 7th and 12 frets. Standard relief is about .007 of an inch (low E side) some require more some less depending on how well the frets are crowned and leveled. If you dont have feeler guages use a heavy pick or 2 medium picks stacked to get an idea of how high the relief is.
If the gap looks like a roller coaster then you have frets that arent properly set. If you havent set frets before locate a good luthier (not GC) to have them properly set and leveled.

In setting relief if you tighten the truss rod you create relief in the neck.
If you loosen the truss rod it allows the neck to relax and become more flat from nut to heel. As the other members have said you only want to move it about 1/4 turn at at time.
You will need to retune between each tweak and check relief.
Intonation might vary slightly but usually not unless you create a huge bow in the neck. (which isnt what you want.)
If you want the easiest and cheapest route go up one size to a heavier gauge string and that will raise the strings in the nut and saddles and alleviate the buzz.

From what was stated it sounds like an action/ fret issue more than a truss rod adjustment. Usually if its a truss rod related problem all strings will fret out at the same frets.

Hope this helped
VB