2022 Gibson SG Standard 61’ fret buzz?

[Taskam]

Bought a new Gibson SG Standard 61’ in mid 22’. For some reason I though I should go against the tried and true saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it..”

I ordered a DIY conversion post kit from https://faberusa.com/ that allowed me to uproot the original stock inserts which originally allowed the stock ABR1 bridge thumb wheel screws to screw into the original threaded inserts. After replacing the inserts with the new Faber USA inserts(which included threaded posts and separate add on thumb wheels you thread onto the new inserts/threaded posts, instead of just the original threaded hole inserts for the stock thumb wheel posts to screw into Gibson provided.) with posts already successfully installed, so all I had to do was screw on the separate thumb wheels that came with the kit. Did so. Everything seemed fine and besides thinking I was gonna permanently damage my new Gibson SG Standard 61’, the DIY kit was easy and took only 5 min. or so. After making sure the neck relief was .010 and made sure the string action was 5/64th exactly at the 12th fret for the low E and 3-4/64th on high E, there was a slightly noticeable fret buzz with the low e string (even slightly the G string as well.) when picking up.
No pick? No fret buzz. Am I just being anal about this whole thing, or should I adjust something in your opinion? I just want string action to be 5/64ths (or lower) with NO fret buzz. Neck relief at .010 inches. Thanks for reading and any replies are appreciated.

 

[Colnago]

Bought a new Gibson SG Standard 61’ in mid 22’. For some reason I though I should go against the tried and true saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it..”

I ordered a DIY conversion post kit from https://faberusa.com/ that allowed me to uproot the original stock inserts which originally allowed the stock ABR1 bridge thumb wheel screws to screw into the original threaded inserts. After replacing the inserts with the new Faber USA inserts(which included threaded posts and separate add on thumb wheels you thread onto the new inserts/threaded posts, instead of just the original threaded hole inserts for the stock thumb wheel posts to screw into Gibson provided.) with posts already successfully installed, so all I had to do was screw on the separate thumb wheels that came with the kit. Did so. Everything seemed fine and besides thinking I was gonna permanently damage my new Gibson SG Standard 61’, the DIY kit was easy and took only 5 min. or so. After making sure the neck relief was .010 and made sure the string action was 5/64th exactly at the 12th fret for the low E and 3-4/64th on high E, there was a slightly noticeable fret buzz with the low e string (even slightly the G string as well.) when picking up.
No pick? No fret buzz. Am I just being anal about this whole thing, or should I adjust something in your opinion? I just want string action to be 5/64ths (or lower) with NO fret buzz. Neck relief at .010 inches. Thanks for reading and any replies are appreciated.

Did you use brand new strings when installing the new parts?

 

[Taskam]

Did you use brand new strings when installing the new parts?

I did. Typical Ernie Ball 10-46 regular.

 

[living room rocker]

Did you make a big adjustment to the neck relief when going through your routine? Is your buzz when picking the strings open, in other words, not fretting them anywhere?

 

[lcw]

Try to get .012 relief on the low E and also check the high e - that should be .010. I bet with the low E at .010, you're at like .008 on the high e.

Remember 1/8 to 1/4 turn at most on truss rod at a time. Tune to pitch and recheck relief and action.

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

A tiny difference in bridge (saddle) height can make a significant difference in buzz. There's no guarantee the Faber saddles or the grooves cut in them are the exact same height as the originals. So even if the bridge is at the "same" height, there may be string height variation.

Most people measure relief at .010 - down at the thousandths level - They see .008 or .012 as major changes. That's a difference of .002. All good.

Then they measure action by 64ths. Converting 5/64 action to thousandths we get .078. And if you're off by 1/128" - a half a 64th - on the action (that's .008) that could be making the difference, We sweat the relief being +/- .002 and we can't eyeball action much below .016 changes!

Practical application of this ramble? Adjust the bridge up 1/128". .008. On the Faber, I think that's like 1/8 turn of the wheel. See if that fixes it. You won't be able to visually measure that i.e. it will still be "5/64" action, but it will be a tiny amount higher and it might fix that buzz.

 

[Colnago]

Maybe put it all back to 100% stock form and see if the buzz is still there. I’m betting it is and you just didn’t notice it before as you weren’t paying that close of attention as you hadn’t just performed a modification so there was no need to question its sound.
If the buzz is gone, then we need to really find out what is going on.

 

[Taskam]

Maybe put it all back to 100% stock form and see if the buzz is still there. I’m betting it is and you just didn’t notice it before as you weren’t paying that close of attention as you hadn’t just performed a modification so there was no need to question its sound.

If the buzz is gone, then we need to really find out what is going on.

A tiny difference in bridge (saddle) height can make a significant difference in buzz. There's no guarantee the Faber saddles or the grooves cut in them are the exact same height as the originals. So even if the bridge is at the "same" height, there may be string height variation.

Most people measure relief at .010 - down at the thousandths level - They see .008 or .012 as major changes. That's a difference of .002. All good.

Then they measure action by 64ths. Converting 5/64 action to thousandths we get .078. And if you're off by 1/128" - a half a 64th - on the action (that's .008) that could be making the difference, We sweat the relief being +/- .002 and we can't eyeball action much below .016 changes!

Practical application of this ramble? Adjust the bridge up 1/128". .008. On the Faber, I think that's like 1/8 turn of the wheel. See if that fixes it. You won't be able to visually measure that i.e. it will still be "5/64" action, but it will be a tiny amount higher and it might fix that buzz.

Followed your advice and it’s good now. I bought the Faber USA conversion kit with posts and bridge. Ended up just returning the bridge and keeping the posts(didn’t like how the stock thumbwheel posts had such wiggle). Faber USA’s insert posts are rock solid stable imho but that’s just me. Threw the stock ABR-1 back on, followed your adjustment recommendations exactly and now it’s perfect. In hindsight I was overthinking and tweaking it too much. Thanks for the valuable input!

 

[Taskam]

Did you make a big adjustment to the neck relief when going through your routine? Is your buzz when picking the strings open, in other words, not fretting them anywhere?

No. Only when fretting. I was pretty careful with adjusting the neck. I don’t trust myself to not mess something like that up as I’m definitely no expert. Evidence of that is me being the OP to this thread lol. Before fixing, it just buzzed off the next fret up. Tried everything besides adjusting the neck, got a little fed up and decided to carefully adjust it with 1/8th turns and bring it from .016 to .010 on low E string side. Mostly Les’s Nemesis advice and (I think..) the Faber posts to an extent are what did it for me. But I probably could have fixed it without spending any money at all. I’ll take the whole thing as a learning experience. Now I’ll never try to touch it again unless absolutely needed lol. Thanks for the input.