I just realised that my neck relief was a bit extreme by most other people's standards, so I flattened the neck out nearly level. It all seems easier to play now, and with a bit of saddle tweaking the fretboard is largely buzz-free. Broad strokes at this point, of course, I'm just experimenting. The open low E string, however, is all buzz. I realise now I had adjusted the neck relief to such extremes to make this problem go away, but now I think that I was just cut a bad nut by Local Luthier.
The low E is visibly closer to the first fret than all the other strings when no strings are fretted. This is definitely the source of the buzz. This, combined with the problem of the g-string ringing behind the nut and requiring me to fit a string dampener made out of old pickup wire where other vintage one-string-tree Teles do not have an old-pickup-wire string dampener, leads me to think that the nut may be less than ideal.
Here is a picture of the first fret, no strings fretted. What d'y'all think?
Comments
Without seeing the rest of the guitar it's impossible to say. I'd say try raising the bridge a tiny amount for a start, to remove/reduce the buzz.
ICBM will be along in a minute with a better solution.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
Adjusting relief out is more likely to create buzz in the middle of the neck, because you have effectively lowered the action where the arc in which the string vibrates is at its greatest. A capo at the first fret will tell you if this is the case. Assuming it is, you need to raise the saddle.
The other possibility is that the first fret is slightly high on the bass side. A photo taken from the bass side as others have said, would be helpful.
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