Cheap Guitar worth getting set up?

[CoachL23]

Hi,

 

I bought a Ibanez GRGR121EX Electric for my first guitar 3 years ago from cash converters. £90

 

I have been using it to learn on seriously the last two years with Rocksmith and it's been pretty good. I am now noticing fret buzz on the thick strings and also have to hold quite hard to get my chords to sound clean.

 

I am wondering if I should start looking for a new guitar? or pay the £40 to a guitar tech to get it properly setup?

 

I like playing mainly Rock on it but aspire to blues at some point.

 

Thanks

 

[Unforgiven]

The good part with cheap guitar is that they are wonderful learning tools. You have a good occasion to learn how to set it up yourself without risking to damage a 500$ guitar. I know many players who succeded at their first try plus you get the satisfaction of having done it yourself. There are many sites that will provide you with simple guidelines as to how and what to do. There may even be some posts regarding this in here, there was one on SA but I'm not familiar with the site here. In any case, Google is your best friend.

[Olorin]

Personally i would buy a new one and buy some new stuff for the old one.

 

That have a simple reason.

 

You can put in stuff for 100 Bucks and it can sound like crap for you. If that happen u still have a new one that sounds good for u. Plus u  still got one set up guitar for training purpose. There is no better way to learn how everythings work, espacially when your new guitar had some problems. Then you allready know how u can fix it and that only because your old guitar is your allrounder training tool.

[thlunasa]

Yeah, if you have the spare time to try your hand at luthiership, that's the real value of a cheap guitar!

I'll assume you've already tried replacing your strings.

 

Where's your fret buzz?

Frets 0-4 are usually a nut problem (on a Gio the nuts are terrible, so just replace it)

Frets 4-19 are usually a truss rod problem (ignore everyone saying messing with the truss rod is dangerous, if you have excess bow then it can't possibly hurt to dial in a tiny amount of backbow at a time)

Frets 19-24 are usually a bridge problem (again, Gios don't have great bridges, check on Jemsite etc to find out what you can drop-in-replace... If nothing can drop-in-replace, it's time to adjust your action and/or do some filing and intonation)

 

Regarding your chords, now would be also a good time to file/sand down your neck to the actual Wizard profile of 17-20mm, which should reduce the amount of pressure you need to hold chords.

Alternatively, it could be a fret integrity thing (you've been playing 3 years, after all). Consider doing your own fret crowning. 

 

Alternatively, replace the neck! (be careful, even if you have a 56mm neck there's no guarantee a 56mm Super Wizard Prestige will fit in the pocket, for example. also, intonation might be an issue)

[snowdog]

Definitely worth setting up. I'd suggest having a go yourself as long as you don't have a floating bridge to complicate things.

 

Have you changed your strings to a different gauge or brand..? Could be the cause of the problems.

[Olorin]

If it would be the reason using bigger strings for example. then its just a question of adjustment (mostly)

[Hostilian]

When I adjust my truss rod its never more than 1/8 of a turn at a time; giving it a day before adjusting again..

I'd give that a go first..

 

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[Ally]

I got a rip of strat 7 years ago as my first guitar, cost like £100 with the amp, always had trouble playing it, was why i gave up trying to learn. But then end of last year i decided I wanted to learn and got one from cash converters, a Stagg which cost £110, and I love it, as a beginners guitar, learnt far more on that than I ever did on the strat in 7 years. My boyfriend was playing my strat on monday ( i was using my stagg on RS and him, being a much better player than me, was playing along to what I was playing which was helping me get my timing right cos i'm useless lol) and even i noticed how rubbish sounding it was compared to my Stagg

 

So in essence I would say yes, now you know more, think about a better guitar, or even see if it is worth just doing it up to make it sound better. Thats what my boyfriend said to do to mine, but I insisted I needed another guitar, yet I still have the old one as well.

[CoachL23]

@@snowdog @@thlunasa

I have replaced the strings with help. I used some Ernie Ball super slinky custom gauge 2223

 

Buzz is on the Low E from 3rd fret down.

 

Thanks for all the advice I will look into the DIY setup it could be a good project.

[thlunasa]

@@snowdog

Floating bridges don't complicate things!

...Having never owned a fixed bridge, I am probably not qualified to say that.

But like, with a double-locking tremolo, adjusting the action and nut is a snap! I think it would be harder on a fixed-bridge, but maybe that's just 'cause I don't own one.

 

@@CoachL23

3rd fret down? As in, 1-3? Nut problem.

As in, 3-24? That would be 3rd fret up, hahaha.

Sounds like a truss rod problem.

[snowdog]

A floating bridge guitar is much harder to setup. Takes a lot longer and a hell of a lot more tuning. Once you've got it correctly setup though it's great to play a guitar that doesn't go out of tune, even if you go mental on the whammy bar lol

 

I've got a Tremol-No so it's easy to change strings once you put it in Hardtail Mode and do them one at a time, saves you having to repeat the almost endless tuning and re-tuning that you have to do during that very first setup!

[MVega]

The good part with cheap guitar is that they are wonderful learning tools. You have a good occasion to learn how to set it up yourself without risking to damage a 500$ guitar. I know many players who succeded at their first try plus you get the satisfaction of having done it yourself. There are many sites that will provide you with simple guidelines as to how and what to do. There may even be some posts regarding this in here, there was one on SA but I'm not familiar with the site here. In any case, Google is your best friend.

 

Yes, nothing like a cheap guitar to test the waters. I'd say about the only part of a setup you can't really handle at home is if the nut needs replacing or the slots need to be recut, because that requires specialized tools.

 

The rest of it is pretty easy and not dangerous for the guitar, as long as you take it easy and follow instructions.

 

Adjusting the trust rod is probably the trickiest, but most essential part. There's no need to wait a day between turns though. The neck will respond fairly quickly to any changes, as long as the truss rod is functioning properly.  it depends on the thickness of the wood. With a thin neck like an Ibanez, there shouldn't be an issue at all.

 

If the buzz is happening from the 3rd to 24th fret, that might suggest a bit of neck hump (truss rod not tight enough), when you want it to bow (truss rod applying force). This might have happened if you changed to lighter strings. Or there's been a change in humidity levels. Or the truss rod just worked loose from too much head-banging.

 

But if you say the strings are hard to fret, then it probably isn't a  hump. A worse possibility would be wear on the frets, which would require a fret replacement, and that would cost more than the guitar's worth.

 

You can test the nut slots-- they might have worn out over time, or the new E string is thinner than the old one. Try taking a tiny piece of aluminum foil, folding that so the string rests inside of that in the slot. If that helps, then you can either leave the foil there, try to repair the slot (baking soda and superglue works like magic), or bring it to a tech for a replacement.

[CoachL23]

Wow! So much information I will look into the truss rod as the buzz is 3-24.

 

I am not saying that the guitar is unplayable just wonder if I am making it harder to progress.

 

What tools will I need for the truss rod adjust?

 

£40 is starting to sound quite attractive looking at all these scary tech terms.

[Hostilian]

You normally get a little truss rod tool with a guitar (basically a spanner with a screwdriver at the other end).

Take off the truss rod plate and see if you have any tools that can turn the hex nut. I think you need to loosen the truss rod, to allow the neck to 'bow' more, reducing buzz but increasing the 'action'.

Tightening the truss rod works against the string tension, meaning it would try to straighten the neck. Potentially producing more buzz as the action is lower..

 

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[MVega]

Sure, it looks a little daunting at first, but as long as you follow the steps in the proper order -- truss rod adjustment first, everything else comes after -- you'll see, it's not that difficult. It's not like working on a car. It's more like working on a bicycle - like putting air in the tires.

 

For the truss rod, be certain you have the right-size tool It should fit exactly. (I'm sure if you type the model of the guitar and 'truss rod tool' in google, you'll get that information). When loosening/tightening, you should never need to force it. It should simply turn quite easily. Never use the wrong size tool -- once you've stripped the nut, everything becomes more difficult (spoken from experience!)

 

Before doing anything to the truss rod, you'll want to place a capo at the first fret, and hold the low E down at the 14th fret, then use a spark-plug gauge to measure the gap at the 6-7th fret. It should be at about 0.25 mm above the actual fret (the metal). (more or less depending on your preference).

 

Measuring is the first step.

[snowdog]

And make sure you only tighten/loosen the truss rod a small bit at a time and tune the guitar afterwards. After you've done that then leave it overnight and retune if necessary in the morning. The neck needs to 'settle' after any adjustments to the truss rod and you need the guitar tuned to pitch afterwards.

 

When I say tighten/loosen a small bit at a time I personally never use more than an eighth of a turn but you should be okay doing a quarter at a  time.

[CoachL23]

Thought I would update this. I pussied out on making any adjustments to the guitar, Even though I will use this thread for the future when I get more brave and have a area to work on it.

 

I took a lesson and the teacher is also a guitar tech. He said he could setup the guitar for me but he said it was not needed. It was a good guitar and played fine.

 

I came to the conclusion that its the interface between the chair and the fret board :)

 

Thanks for your advice, I will keep practicing. 

[Nocaster_]

Some fret buzz will always be present on pretty much ANY electric guitar. It's just a consequence of low action. I have played plenty of guitars, from 100€ super market copies to Gibsons and AM Fenders. And there is always at least some string and some fret where there is a little buzz.. I don't even notice it anymore. It's part of an electric guitar. Pickups usually don't register the buzz.

 

Also make sure you fret the notes right on (behind) the fret wire and the string is straight and not a little bent as this can create buzz.

[CoachL23]

@@Nocaster_ Thank I will listen out for it. I need to change the strings in a month or so anyway, The teacher said they could do with changing. I will work a stinging tutorial in to my next lesson.

 

Feels like there is a lot to learn.