This is an old classical guitar, it might be up to seventy years old. It buzzes with every note but it’s the loudest on the G string. Please help.
With instruments that old there might be many reasons: action too low, uneven frets, degraded nut… The best thing you can do is bring it to a professional luthier. A good one can find what’s your problem in 2 minutes and fix it.
Alright, thank you.
Since that’s a classical guitar something you can try for free is tightening the tuner pegs: there should be a screw holding the gear wheel and if it’s loose try to tighten it with a screwdriver BE GENTLE, DON’T OVERDO IT.
If you’re lucky it might be it, otherwhise do as I said earlier and bring it to a luthier.
Looks like the nut is pretty worn, check 1st fret action across all strings? Any hidden cracks in the wood? Have you checked for loose screws, either mounting the tuners, the tuning gears or the tuning pegs themselves? I’m more of an electric guy, but I’d start there and see if the problem reveals itself.
I agree about the nut. Also, the windings look pretty wonky and uneven. Are they making contact with the cutout in the headstock before they go onto the nut? Might be causing some vibration there.
Sorry, what cutout do you mean?
Where the posts around which you wrap the strings sit. I dunno if it has a particular name, but in woodworking, those two oblong “windows” on either side of the headstock would be cutouts.
It looks like your windings on the top and bottom strings might be making contact with the sides of those cutouts, and that could be causing some unwanted vibration.
Ideally, all of your strings would have nice coils that wind across the post (towards the middle, in this case), wrapping in tight coils that touch. They should also wind a certain number of times, but I dunno what the recommended number of windings is for a classical guitar. Typical guitars are 2-3 for the heavier strings and 3-5 for the lighter strings. Look up some guides on how to correctly string a classical guitar.
I see, thanks so much!
Oh good call, that’s a possibility. also, I’m not familiar with non-steel strings, is it possible that something delaminates in nylon ones?
I had a similar thought, but I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure they’re solid throughout. It’s why you have to be careful not to overtune them, because they will stretch too much and be permanently deformed.
Thanks for the great advice, but there are no cracks or anything, I tightened all the screws and it’s not fret buzz. the sound is still there
If you have a capo, you could test it on the first fret (or second, or third, etc.) and see if your problem stops. I had a guitar with a worn nut that put a couple strings just low enough to always buzz against the first fret.
Other places to check for buzzing include:
- The ends of the bridge knots. These should have been tied so that they are looped into the knots of the other strings, but if they are sticking out and touching the soundboard you may get some vibration.
- Same of the ends of the strings around the tuning pegs. It looks like these have been trimmed so that there isn’t any extra string after the knot around the tuning peg, but if there is it will sometimes touch the headstock and buzz (I don’t trim mine, so this happens to me sometimes).
- Someone else mentioned that your strings are touching the wood due to how they are wrapped - also a possibility. I’d loosen the strings and push those wraps further onto the post.
- And just a wild guess - were you playing while wearing a shirt with buttons?
Seems like someone filed down the nut for lower action but might have gone too deep or made the channel too wide. If it sounds like you’re playing a sitar it’s probably the latter.
Thanks, its definitely not as bad as a sitar lol it’s just a buzzing present while playing. I’ll take it to a luthier eventually though.
That’s simple to check. Does it buzz when you play first fret? If yes, it’s probably not the nut.
The plate that the tuning pegs sit on looks loose at the top right of the picture, just above the peg for the g string (heh heh, g string 😁 ). Try playing the g string and holding the plate in place.
If it’s not that, try putting your finger on the other parts while you’re playing, one at a time until the noise stops.
I think there’s a fair chance a tuning peg is rattling, and also second your suggestion of putting a finger on each one, one at a time.
Thank you so much! I’ll try that when I can. Euheuh, you said G string.
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I’m confused with the gauge and type of strings.
Looks like it’s strung Ebeadg. The top 3 look nylon, but the low strings looklike something else.
Agree with others opinions about nut, winding, and pegs (machine head).
Edit: Sorry for being confused, I promise to know everything next time. So I can also downvote people who are unsure about a thing.
It’s a normal set of strings at eadgbe. shit, is the low e supposed to be at the farthest peg?
Edit: I don’t think so, no, what confused you here?
Edit 2: the thicker strings are nickel wound nylon. This is pretty normal
The guage just looks off to me. (I’ve never used nylon)
Your D looks so thin (relative to your other strings) it looks like my B and your G looks like my A.
But I’m using copper, or bronze, or something… it’s been a while.
You’re comparing steel strings to nylon. No comparison
The basses on a classical guitar are nylon filaments wrapped in silver or nickel plated copper; the trebles are solid nylon or carbon fiber. The tension and gauge required is drastically different for those strings different because of the materials.
Here’s the gauges for a particular set of classical strings I’ve used in the past:
- E/1st .024
- B/2nd .028
- G/3rd .034
- D/4th .0291
- A/5th .0354
- E/6th .0433
And you’re right that the G and A, and B and D strings look to be of similar size! But when these strings are put under tension, they reach different pitches.
Thanks. I was thinking the tension of nylon would be different, didn’t realize there was that much difference between them and standard metal wound strings.
No problem! Another difference between classical strings and acoustic/electric strings is that tension is how nylon strings sold by tension instead of gauge; the gauges are mostly there for reference.
It’s also common to mix tensions between the basses and trebles or use a string from a different manufacturer or material set. I don’t think this practice is as common with the steel string/electric world.
I did not know that. Thanks.
Is there a tension tool for stringing / tuning?
Are nylon/carbon/classical more susceptible to breaking than metal/acoustic?
(I have done repairs on electric and acoustics - my books only separate into those 2. Classical not mentioned)
I appreciate your friendliness and knowledge.
Happy to share (I don’t get the opportunity very often to just talk about the classical guitar itself!).
You don’t need a tension tool or anything; you’d wind the string like normal up to pitch. If you’re new to restringing them, I’d suggest using a tuner that displays the frequency in hertz so you don’t over-tighten. I eventually got to a point where I can hear/feel when it’s close to pitch.
Some caveats though: Nylon strings stretch. So it typically takes awhile for them to settle and stay in tune. I learned in college that tuning them up a full step would stretch them enough to set overnight as opposed to a week. Also, with high tension strings specifically, you have to wind the string a lot for it to reach the correct tension, so the only tool I’d recommend is a string winder (but definitely not an automatic one).
Because the strings are tied off on both ends, they will slip out if the knots are tied in the wrong direction or without enough wraps on the pegs or the wrong knot on the bridge. At higher tension, they slip with much more gusto.
In my experience, steel/electric strings break more often. I never had classical strings break until I started using a specific brand (Hannabach). Apparently this brand is notorious for shitty D strings, which is exactly which one broke repeatedly for me. Luckily, for most classical sets you can buy individual strings, so for every set I would buy, I’d get a redundant D string - and I would always end up using it. Changed brands and no more broken strings.
