Buzzy E

Problem (somewhat) solved. Thank you very much for your help, Savour and hoosierhiver.

I have a Mitchell MU-70, which I think is fine for my first uke except for one problem: the enormous buzz on the E string, first fret. It's the only problem I've really had with it.

Is there anything I can do to fix or improve this? Could I take it to a repair place? If so, would it be cheaper and easier to replace it altogether than get it fixed? I don't think it's my playing, because the other strings sound fine with the same amount of force, and no matter how hard I press, it's still there.

I feel really bad about not noticing this before I bought it (or very shortly after,) but it's my first uke and I had no idea what to look for. I could live with it, but it ruins a lot of chords.

Solution: I took it to Guitar Center where I bought it. The man who worked there played around with it for a few minutes, then went to look in the back to see if they had more, so they could swap them. They only had an MU-100, but they said they had an MU-70 coming in by next week, and they could call when it came in. They never even asked for a receipt. (I know they only sell it there, but I was surprised that they weren't being difficult.)

Im still new too, but I messed around with a guitar before playing a uke, and what would sometimes make that happen is if your nut was worn down. The nut is the white thing above your first fret. But it seems weird that it would be it, because its new and that usually takes awhile to happen. If you look closely at your E string, is it completely off the fret board?

No, it's completely there. At the most, the slot might be a bit slanted, but it's hard to tell.

I took it to Guitar Center today (no uke shops around here) and they said they'd replace the whole thing. Which will be a bit sad, but good in the end.

Anyway, thank you very, very much for your help.

I've only seen a few Mitchells and the impression that I got was that,they are pretty cheap and that there isn't any QC here in the states.I think they just ship them out to customers without ever taking them out of the box from China.I imagine the frets need work.

hoosierhiver said:

I've only seen a few Mitchells and the impression that I got was that,they are pretty cheap and that there isn't any QC here in the states.I think they just ship them out to customers without ever taking them out of the box from China.I imagine the frets need work.

Click to expand...

What does QC stand for?

I know it wasn't made in China (the label says it was Indonesia and I have no idea if that's better or not,) but you're probably right about the general cheapness. I just don't really have experience with good quality ukes in person to compare it to. (I've only heard them on YouTube, which doesn't have the best sound, and never played them.) To me, the quality of the sound (other than the one fret) seems like the higher end of adequate (if that makes any sense?...)

Anyway, thanks for your help.

I have a Greg Bennett UK70 (since approx October 2008) and I am experiencing a buzzing E but only on the open string or first fret. Buzz free elsewhere on the fret board and the other strings. There seems to be space between the string and the fret. I was thinging of changing the string to see if that makes a difference.

Luna, I'd be interested to hear whether a replacement nut fixes the problem.

Just done a search on "buzz" and there appears to be a lot of threads on the subject.