String buzz on new strings...

[MikeSoT]

So I took my guitar to my local shop to get it set-up and restrung and everything seemed okay at my last band practice, but then I plugged in at home....

Everything strung open plays fine but as soon as I start to fret anything on the low strings they buzz to all hell. On a clean sound it comes right through the amp and distorted it's not really noticeable but the notes ARE getting choked because of the buzz. It's mainly on the low strings up to the 12th fret (everything before this buzzes), high strings are fine. And no the action isn't low at all and I'd like it to be even lower but this certainly gets in the way of that....

I'm dying to learn how to just set the damn thing up myself because any help I try to find online ends up being either extremely abrupt or contradictory to something else I read. It's turning in to a really irritating process, hence why I decided to give it to the local shop, but even THEY can't do it right so at this point I'm basically  :crazy2: :minigun: :chain:

I could really use some factual help on the matter and I have a feeling someone on the forum can do so, so please prove me right dudes! I would really appreciate it!

EDIT: And just to be sure strings DO buzz with low action, correct? I imagine it's not supposed to be completely noticeable like it is in my case, but I am also assuming it's not something that can be 100% eliminated.

[Dave Sloven]

Check the neck relief.  Could be an incorrectly adjusted truss rod.  It might also be the case that it was adjusted in one environment that was much more/less humid than your practice room, and then it moved out when exposed to the other environment again.

[MikeSoT]

Check the neck relief.  Could be an incorrectly adjusted truss rod.  It might also be the case that it was adjusted in one environment that was much more/less humid than your practice room, and then it moved out when exposed to the other environment again.

I think that might be it....I forget how sensitive guitars can be.

[BigB]

So I took my guitar to my local shop to get it set-up and restrung

Don't know what the average "guitar shop tech" is worth where you're living but down here there are _very_ few I'd trust to properly setup a guitar. Learn to do it by yourself or go to a real luthier (or both), it'll save you a lot of time, pain and good money.

I could really use some factual help on the matter and I have a feeling someone on the forum can do so, so please prove me right dudes! I would really appreciate it!

EDIT: And just to be sure strings DO buzz with low action, correct? I imagine it's not supposed to be completely noticeable like it is in my case, but I am also assuming it's not something that can be 100% eliminated.

I'm not the most qualified here by far, but yes, the lower the action the more fret buzz you're likely to have, and even with perfectly leveled frets, perfect (and stable...) neck relief adjustment etc, you _will_ get fret buzz at some point - and loose attack, sustain and volume too (physical factor : frets dampening the strings vibrations).

I of course understand it's first and foremost a matter of personal taste and playing style (tl;dr : subjective matter ahead <g>), but unless you really need it (doing a lot of tapping etc) I don't see the point of a low action as far as I'm concerned . Give your strings some space to move and they'll reward you with a much better, livelier, juicier, and just plain bigger tone.

[forestcaver]

If you want a book to read on setup, I can recommend the Erlewine book: The Guitar Player Repair Guide....

[Dave Sloven]

If you want a book to read on setup, I can recommend the Erlewine book: The Guitar Player Repair Guide....

I have this book and I agree, it's very useful. I also have the guitar tone book by Gallagher, which is useful for understanding the likely effects of various changes to your guitar and set-up.

[MikeSoT]

If you want a book to read on setup, I can recommend the Erlewine book: The Guitar Player Repair Guide....

Looks interesting, I'll definitely give it a look!

Thanks for the tips dudes. 8)