RevWill
Well-known member
Over the past couple of weeks I noticed the strangest thing with my tenor Fluke. It has the rosewood fingerboard with metal frets and is strung with Worth Browns, which sound great on it BTW.
My C string had developed an irritating buzz when played open. Sounded like fret buzz. I thought, "that's weird. I shouldn't have fret buzz on a Fluke with a zero fret." They are generally set up perfectly. I shimmed the nut slot with a piece of paper, buzz still happened.
Upon closer inspection I noticed that the zero fret was quite dirty and tarnished-looking, as though it had developed a bit of patina. So I loosened the strings and moved them off the fretboard and took my wife's fingernail brick to the fret. It's one of those deals with four very fine grits that you can use to polish your nails using only friction. I rubbed the patina off with a medium grit, then buffed it with the finest grit (which feels almost like a sheet of smooth rubber) and danged if that fret didn't look all shiny and new. Best of all, the buzz is gone.
Moral of the story - dirty frets can cause a buzz, and it can be fixed for $2 with a gadget from Wal-Mart; free if your spouse already has the gadget.
Secondary lesson - Dirty Frets would be a great name for a band.
My C string had developed an irritating buzz when played open. Sounded like fret buzz. I thought, "that's weird. I shouldn't have fret buzz on a Fluke with a zero fret." They are generally set up perfectly. I shimmed the nut slot with a piece of paper, buzz still happened.
Upon closer inspection I noticed that the zero fret was quite dirty and tarnished-looking, as though it had developed a bit of patina. So I loosened the strings and moved them off the fretboard and took my wife's fingernail brick to the fret. It's one of those deals with four very fine grits that you can use to polish your nails using only friction. I rubbed the patina off with a medium grit, then buffed it with the finest grit (which feels almost like a sheet of smooth rubber) and danged if that fret didn't look all shiny and new. Best of all, the buzz is gone.
Moral of the story - dirty frets can cause a buzz, and it can be fixed for $2 with a gadget from Wal-Mart; free if your spouse already has the gadget.
Secondary lesson - Dirty Frets would be a great name for a band.
