I have a 10 string stick with standard tuning. The A & E strings in the bass (strings 9 & 10) keep fretting out up to the 7th fret. AFter the 7th fret it sounds fine. I have tried adjusting the truss rod and raising the nut screws. However, I can't get rid of the buzz when I play between the 1st to 7th fret. This is especially pronounced on the E string.

The strings do seem to be raised off the fretboard.

Is there anything else I can do to get rid of the buzz?

Alex -

I had that same problem with the 10th string on my 10 String. It turns out that there was a slight kink in the string. Once I replaced the string, problem was solved. You didn't say what size strings you were using (mine was medium), but you might check that. BTW, the kink was only noticeable when I loosened the string - it could not be seen when the string was at tension.

Hope that helps,

Jim

Hi Alex,

Jim's suggestion about checking for damaged strings is a good one. A small kink in a string, from having been struck, will cause it to fret out very easily.

Please forgive some questions that might seem "obvious" but a little more info would help solve the problem.

1. Is your truss nut "loose", meaning is it spinning freely? if so then you might need to have it "push" the truss rod instead of pulling it (this is on of the cool things about Emmett's truss design).

If there is still an arch in the board and you have loosened the truss so that the nut is spinning freely, you can spin the nut all the way down to the "bridge end" of the truss threads and have it "push" as well.

If you like in a place where it is extremely humid this is sometimes necessary.

2. Are you hearing the strings buzz behind the fretted note (unamplified)? on an instrument with very low action like The Stick, this can happen. you won't hear it coming out of your amp if this is the case.

I hope that helps. Looking forward to your response.

Thank you Jim and Greg. I will give these a try this weekend.

By the way Greg. Just to let you know I am realy enjoying your "The Stick Book" Vol 1. I am finding it very helpful and the lessons are arranged very well with regard to increasing difficulty.

I will also replace the strings and I will let you know the results.

Thanks again.

I checked the truss nut and it wasn't loose. I also pulled the string off and there weren't any kinks in it. However, I managed to find a few papers that came with the Stick when it arrived in December. It mentioned that if several frets are buzzing (in this case frets 1 through 7) it could be the bridge screws. I adjusted these and now it sounds perfect. I also changed the strings.

The issue actually came about in Spring. The stick played fine from December to mid-May. However, it started getting very rainy in Toronto and all of a sudden the strings started fretting out. I had initially loosened the truss rod and this fixed all but the 9th and 10th strings. After adjusting the bridge screws this corrected the issue and now it plays like it did back in December. I suspect I may run into issues in winter when it gets very dry and I'll probably have to re-adjust things.

Thanks again for your help.