String buzz on Strat

Jonathanthomas83

Brand new Custom Shop Strat and there's a bit of buzz on the low E and A at around the 5th to 6th fret.

Nut, I expect is fine, I'm no expert. Put a straight edge on it today and there's a shallow downward bow to the neck which looks fine, again, I'm not an expert.

1.6mm clearance under the E at the 17th fret, perfectly set as per Fender's optimum setup specifications.

So I'm at a loss, I didn't wanna alter it at all, but it needs adjusting to get rid of some of the buzz.

I've never done this before and don't really know where to start, saddles or truss rod?

ICBM

1.6mm on the low E at the 17th is way too low in my opinion. I would aim for more like 2-2.5mm at the 12th.

But even so, if it's only buzzing at the 5th and 6th it sounds like there is a slight hump in the neck, or a high fret or two.

By downward bow do you mean concave, ie a gap between the straightedge and the middle of the neck? If so that's correct. to assess it more accurately, hold the guitar in the normal playing position and fret the G string at the first fret and the 17th. Look at the gap between the string and the 7th/8th frets - it should be about half the string diameter, or a bit less, but there must be a gap. If there isn't, you need to slacken the truss rod.

It won't be the nut because if it was, the problem would be on the lowest frets.

To assess the bridge height, simply play a note on a fret above the 12th on the top E string, bend as far as you would normally, and keep playing - if the note buzzes or chokes out at the top of the bend when you dig in a bit, the bridge is too low.

The other main possibility is that the neck pickup is too high - the magnetic pull can do strange things to the string vibration, especially on the low E and A strings, and around the 12th and 5th frets - because the neck pickup is at harmonic nodes of the string when played there.

If none of that seems to be the problem or to fix it, there may be something worse wrong with the neck, but don't worry about that until you've looked at everything else.